Targeting Haniyeh's sons reveals ‘extent of the Israeli failure' in Gaza: Houthis

By Aziz Al-Ahmadi

SANAA, Yemen (AA) - The Yemeni Houthi group said Wednesday that the targeting of the sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh reveals “the extent of the Israeli failure in the field” in the Gaza Strip.

“We extend our condolences to the head of the political bureau of the Hamas movement on the martyrdom of three of his sons and a number of his grandchildren as a result of an Israeli aggression airstrike,” the group's spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam wrote on X.

“These great sacrifices, along with the rest of the sons of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, only enhance the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in the face of Israeli arrogance,” he added.

Three of Haniyeh's sons and several grandchildren were killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a car they were in in the Al-Shati refugee camp while they were visiting residents and relatives for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Witnesses told Anadolu that the airstrike “completely destroyed the car, resulting in the killing and injuring of everyone inside it.”

Medical sources told Anadolu that the strike resulted in the killing of Haniyeh's three sons -- Hazem, Amir and Mohammed, and a number of their sons, in addition to injuring others.

The Gaza Media Office accused the Israeli army of committing a “massacre” against Haniyeh's family during a round of social and family visits for Eid al-Fitr.

It emphasized that “this crime comes as a continuation of a series of ongoing occupation crimes against civilians, children, and women despite the sacred atmosphere of Eid al-Fitr.”

Israel has waged a military offensive against the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 33,500 victims since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, which killed less than 1,200. It has also imposed a crippling blockade on the seaside enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while much of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has urged Israel to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​