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Killing of Haniyeh’s children, grandchildren ‘does not happen randomly’: Analyst
Sultan Barakat, professor of conflict and humanitarian studies at Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, told Al Jazeera that the assassination of Haniyeh’s family members could have been specifically carried out to derail the ceasefire negotiations.
The Israeli military would have identified the three children and the three grandchildren of Haniyeh, he said, adding, “I think someone must have taken the decision to go ahead.”
“We have seen, over the last ten days or so, the moral tide turning against Netanyahu and this coalition across the world” he said. The Israeli prime minister, in the latest round of ceasefire talks, had “to climb down more than Hamas”, he added.
However, to be able to reach an agreement, “you have to establish a minimum level of trust between the two sides”, Barakat said, noting that any trust that existed before would have been “demolished” after today’s attack on the Hamas leader’s family members.
Haniyeh to Al Jazeera: Killing of family members won’t affect Hamas’s demands
The Hamas leader says the attack on his family is evidence of Israel’s “failure”, adding that it will not change the group’s position in ongoing indirect ceasefire talks.
He stressed that Hamas would not withdraw its demands, which include a permanent ceasefire and a return of displaced Palestinians to their homes, saying that Israel would not be able to achieve its aims through politics and talks.
“If they think that targeting my children at the peak of these talks before the movement’s [Hamas’s] response is submitted will cause Hamas to change its positions, they are delusional,” Haniyeh said, referring to Israel.
“The blood of my children is not more valuable than the blood of the children of the Palestinian people … All the martyrs of Palestine are my children.”
Far-right Israeli minister says no one from Hamas ‘immune’ from Israeli attacks
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has congratulated the Israeli army and Israel following the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s three children. “None of the leaders of Hamas who … still hold our hostages, is immune from our long hand. With God’s help we will reach everyone,” he said in a post on X.
Smotrich, the far-right leader of one of the pro-settler parties in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, has repeatedly called for the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. He has also reportedly threatened to leave Netanyahu’s coalition if Israel strikes a deal with Hamas that he perceives as unfavourable.
Global, regional powers must force Hamas to accept proposed deal: Gantz
Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz says, “It is time to exercise all forms of pressure on Hamas” so the group accepts a US-led ceasefire push and releases all Israeli captives. “Apart from the military pressure, the political and diplomatic pressure is imperative, which I addressed with the US and other regional states,” he said.
“Hamas leaders must know that in addition to the military cost, they will be forced by global and regional states to pay a higher price if they undermine the proposal currently on the table,” Gantz added.
Qatari PM, Palestinian president offer condolences to Haniyeh: Hamas
Hamas posted on Telegram that Ismail Haniyeh, head of the group’s political bureau, has received a call from Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, in which he “offered condolences on the martyrdom of a number of his children and grandchildren in a treacherous Zionist bombing”.
In a separate post, the group said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also offered his condolences.
Israeli politician: Attack on Haniyeh’s family ‘shows lack of political wisom’
On X, Yair Golan writes that the targeting of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s children and grandchildren, who were killed in an Israeli strike earlier today, was timed poorly.
“However justified and appropriate [the killings] may be,” he said, “Carrying out such dramatic actions, on the eve of a possible deal for the release of the abductees, constitutes another serious layer in their lawlessness”.
Yair Golan is an Israeli politician and former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli army. He was also the deputy minister of economy, and served as a member of the Israeli parliament, known as the Knesset.
