A Gaza hospital and Hamas have confirmed that the son of the Palestinian Islamist movement's chief negotiator died from wounds sustained in an Israeli strike. Azzam Khalil al-Hayya, 23, the son of top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, was martyred after succumbing to wounds from an Israeli airstrike the previous day, according to a statement from Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital.
Details of the Incident
The strike occurred in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday evening, killing one person and wounding ten others, including Azzam Khalil al-Hayya, as reported by Al-Ahli hospital and a security source. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Azzam was the fourth of Khalil al-Hayya's seven sons to be killed in Israeli attacks, according to a Hamas source. Earlier, his brother Hammam was killed in an Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha in September, which killed six people.
Context and Reactions
Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas in Gaza despite living in exile in Qatar, is currently vying for leadership of the movement. He survived the Doha strike. Hamas stated that the killing of Azzam was part of attempts to pressure the resistance leadership and its negotiating delegation, following the occupation's failure to impose its conditions or achieve declared objectives.
Gaza continues to experience daily violence as Israeli strikes persist, with both sides accusing each other of violating the truce. At least 846 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, according to Gaza's health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
