JERUSALEM.- The leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyehwas visiting wounded Palestinians from Gaza in a hospital in doha (Qatar), where he lives, when he received the tragic news that three of his children and three of his grandchildren had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Al-Shati refugee camp, in the north of the Palestinian enclave.
The moment in which the news was communicated to him was recorded in a video, which quickly went viral on social networks due to its surprising lack of reaction. Far from breaking down, the leader of the terrorist group nods and calmly leaves the hospital room. He later made an official announcement through the Qatari news network Al Jazeerawho published the video on their social networks.
In his statements, the Hamas leader confirmed the death of his children Hazem, Amir and Mohammed, and three of his grandchildren (who Palestinian media identified as Amal, Khalid and Razan)but he assured that this would not affect the group’s demands in negotiations to approve a ceasefire in the war with Israel. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet (intelligence service) later claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Thank God for the honor of my three children and three grandchildren becoming martyrs,” said Haniyeh, who also assured that There are already 60 relatives who have died at the hands of Israel for decades.
“All our people and all the families of Gaza residents have paid a high price with the blood of their children, and I am one of them. With this pain and blood, we create hope, a future and freedom for our people, our cause and our nation,” he expressed.
“The occupation believes that by attacking the leaders’ children, it will break the resolve of our people. We tell the occupation that this blood will only make us firmer in our principles and adherence to our land. The enemy will not achieve his objectives”, he remarked.
He is not the first family member that Haniyeh has lost as a result of Israel’s bloody military offensive in response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas. Barely a month after they began, his granddaughter Roaa Hammam died from the bombings.
Who is Ismail Haniyeh?
According to a report by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Hamas has a leadership structure with leaders in the political, military and social branches. The general policy is established an advisory body (called politburo) that operates in exile, while Local committees manage territorial issues in Gaza and the West Bank.
Ismail Haniyeh ice the current political head of Hamasafter replacing Khaled Meshaal in 2017. As of 2020, operates from Qatar, supposedly because Egypt restricts their movement in and out of Gaza.
Some Hamas leaders settled in Qatar after falling out with their former base country, Syria, when Palestinian refugees participated in the 2011 uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad. Other figures also operate from Türkiye.
Haniyeh is an early Hamas activist, a former dean of the Islamic University of Gaza and a graduate in Arabic literature. He spent several stays in Israeli prisons in the late 1980s, as Israel accused him of leading the terrorist group’s security wing.
As a member of the Islamist movement’s political bureau and private secretary to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (killed in an Israeli attack in 2004), he rose through the ranks of the party and ultimately led to victory during the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006.
He was appointed prime minister of a unity government, then dismissed by Palestinian National Authority (PNA) president Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip.
“We are on the verge of achieving a great victory,” he said on October 7, after the Hamas attacks on Israeli soil, in a speech televised by Al-Aqsa, the Hamas television channel.
On the same day, in images broadcast by the Hamas media, he appears along with other directors of the organization, in his office in Doha, jubilant in front of a television screen that transmits images of the deadly attack by the Islamist movement. Then, he and his acolytes launch a prayer to “give thanks to God for this victory.”
Agencies AFP, DPA and Reuters