Hamas circles in Beirut confirmed a corresponding report from the Shihab news agency. They were met in a vehicle in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the northern part of the coastal strip. According to a media report, the Hamas leader welcomed the death of his close relatives.
“I thank God for the honor he bestowed on us with the martyrdom of my three sons and some grandchildren,” the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera quoted the Hamas leader as saying. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the killing of three of Haniyeh’s sons. They were Hamas fighters. Haniyeh, chairman of the Hamas politburo, has lived in Qatar with part of his family for years.
Head of the Islamist Hamas
Haniyeh has been chairman of Hamas’ political bureau since 2017. He was confirmed in his office for another four years by the so-called Shura Council in 2021. He is considered the “overarching” head of the Islamist Hamas, while Yahya al-Sinwar is the head of the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh was born in the Al-Shati refugee camp in 1963 and grew up there in poor conditions. Hamas was founded in 1987 as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood during the first Palestinian Intifada uprising once morest Israeli occupation. The Politburo is considered the highest decision-making body and has 15 members.
The Hamas terrorist attack on the Israeli border area on October 7th, which triggered the Gaza war, killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 people into the Gaza Strip. Israel then announced the targeted killing of Hamas leaders. According to the Hamas Interior Ministry, several of Haniyeh’s relatives were killed in an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip in October.
