In a tragic turn of events, three sons and three grandchildren of Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Wednesday, as reported by the family.

Haniyeh, aged 62, confirmed the deaths in an interview with Al Jazeera, stating that his sons, Hazem, Amir, and Mohammad Haniyeh, "were martyred on the road to liberating Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.".

The family members were traveling in a car through Gaza's Shati refugee camp to visit relatives on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr when they were struck by a missile. Abdel-Salam Haniyeh, Haniyeh's eldest son who survived the attack, expressed his grief and gratitude in a Facebook post. He wrote, "Thanks to God who honored us by the martyrdom of my brothers, Hazem, Amir, and Mohammad and their children."

The Israeli military confirmed the execution of the airstrike, stating that all of Haniyeh's sons were operatives of Hamas' armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. However, they refrained from commenting on any other casualties.

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Haniyeh, who currently resides in exile in Qatar, where Al Jazeera is based, condemned the attack in a phone interview. He stated, "The criminal enemy is driven by the spirit of revenge and murder and does not value any standards or laws." Despite the personal loss, the Palestinian politician remained resolute, asserting that the deaths of his family members would not coerce Hamas into compromising on their "clear and specific demands" amid ongoing cease-fire talks with Israel.

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Haniyeh, who was appointed to Hamas' top political post in 2017 and has been acting as the group's chief diplomat and negotiator since leaving Gaza in 2019, expressed his defiance. He said, "The enemy will be delusional if it thinks that targeting my sons, at the climax of the negotiations and before the movement sends its response, will push Hamas to change its position." He added, "The blood of my sons is not dearer than the blood of our people."

The current supreme Hamas leader in Gaza is Yehya Sinwar, who orchestrated the October 7 attack on Israel that instigated the ongoing war, now in its seventh month.