Israeli Airstrike on Gaza Kills One, Wounds Senior Hamas Official's Son
Al Jazeera Staff
An Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on Wednesday killed one person and seriously wounded Azzam, the son of Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas's political bureau and its chief negotiator. Three other airstrikes the same day killed four more people, including a senior police colonel.
An Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on Wednesday killed one person and seriously wounded Azzam, the son of Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas's political bureau and its chief negotiator in indirect talks with Israel.
According to medical staff, the attack occurred in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, wounding at least nine other Palestinians.
On the same day, two other airstrikes killed four people, including a senior colonel in the Gaza police force.
Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera that his son Azzam was seriously wounded in the attack. He identified the deceased as Hamza al-Sharbasi.
“I say to the occupier and to all who hear us, we are a people with a just cause. Neither the killing of our sons nor the sacrifice of leaders intimidates us,” al-Hayya stated. “Our sons are the sons of the Palestinian people, and my son, like the sons of others, is a son of our people, with no distinction. Our feelings for them are the same.”
Al-Hayya had previously lost three sons in earlier Israeli assassination operations—two in Gaza during the 2008 and 2014 conflicts, and a third killed in an Israeli attempt to eliminate a Hamas leader in Doha, Qatar last year.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
“Targeting Azzam Khalil al-Hayya with shelling is the peak of moral and ethical degradation,” wrote Taher al-Nono, a Hamas official and aide to al-Hayya, on Facebook. “Shelling and killing only make the negotiator more steadfast in his position, in defending the rights of the people and their will for freedom,” he added.
The attack on Azzam al-Hayya followed two other Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday in the Zeitoun neighborhood, north of Gaza City, and another in the al-Mawasi area to the south.
According to medical staff, the strike on Zeitoun killed three Palestinians from the same family and wounded several others as they tried to erect tents near the Salah al-Din Mosque.
The remaining attack killed Naseem al-Kalazani, head of the anti-drug forces in Khan Younis, as Israeli forces struck his vehicle near the al-Mawasi area. At least 17 others were wounded, medical staff said.
Hamas condemned the violence as a “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire agreement signed last October. It argued that the attacks were “a continuation of the ongoing extermination war against our people in the Gaza Strip.”
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 837 Palestinians have been killed since last year's ceasefire, and 2,381 others wounded.
In total, at least 72,619 people have been killed and 172,484 wounded since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza in 2023. The majority of victims are children and women.
Much of Gaza lies in ruins, while the United Nations said conditions across the territory “remain dire and often life-threatening, while humanitarian operations continue to be restricted.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli security cabinet met earlier this week to discuss resuming the genocidal war after Hamas refused to comply with Israel's demand for full disarmament. Hamas emphasized that its weapons should only be addressed as part of a framework leading to a Palestinian state. It also demanded that Israel stop expanding control in Gaza and increase aid deliveries there.
