Israeli army admits carrying out airstrikes that killed family members of Hamas chief

By Anadolu staff

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli army on Tuesday announced responsibility for the overnight airstrikes on areas in Gaza City that left family members of the head of the Hamas group, Ismail Haniyeh, killed including his sister.

In a statement, the Israeli army said its fighter jets struck two buildings in the Beach refugee camp and the Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, claiming they were used by the Hamas group.

The Israeli military statement also said that it struck Hamas members which said they were involved in Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli locations around Gaza, and holding Israeli captives in Gaza.

The statement claimed that the attacks were carried out by using "precision munition" and based on intelligence activity.

The Israeli army did not mention that the airstrikes killed family members of Haniyeh but the Israeli Army Radio said the army statement was on the airstrike that killed his family members.

The Palestinian Civil Defense said its teams have so far removed bodies of 13 people killed in Israeli airstrikes on two schools used as shelters and a home in Gaza City.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack last year by Hamas.

More than 37,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 86,100 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar