The home of a senior Hamas political leader was destroyed in an alleged Israeli airstrike Saturday, officials said.
Ismail Haniyeh’s family home, located in the Shati refugee camp on the northern outskirts of Gaza City, was hit Saturday morning, according to Hamas-run media in Gaza.
There were no immediate details on possible deaths or the exact extent of the damage.
At the time of the strike, Haniyeh’s house was being used by her two sons, senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad said.
Haniyeh was elected as the political head of Hamas in 2017, and has been living in luxurious “exile” in Qatar since 2019.
News of the latest strike comes amid continued calls for a ceasefire as the Palestinian death toll exceeds 9,200, less than a month after Hamas’s brutal October 7 attack on southern Israel.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is appalling,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said late Friday. “The whole population is traumatized, there is no safe place.”
Palestinian rescuers try to put out a fire as they stand on the rubble of a collapsed building following an Israeli military attack on Khan Yunis.AFP via Getty Images
Guterres warned that civilians and infrastructure must be protected as Israel continues its retaliatory bombing of Gaza, and said civilians should not be used as human shields.
He also urged Hamas to release about 240 hostages it has held since Oct. 7.
During his third wartime visit to Tel Aviv on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed President Biden’s own call for a temporary halt to the fighting to address the humanitarian dilemma.
Civilians survey the ruins following the strike in Khan Yunis on Saturday.AFP via Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, said there would be no such lull until Hamas released all hostages.
“The bombing is getting closer day by day. We don’t know where to go,” said Gaza City resident Adly Abu Taha.
Taha has been sheltering in the Al-Quds Hospital area, on the western outskirts of the city, for the past three weeks.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to Tel Aviv this week to discuss aid for Gaza.REUTERS
The Israeli military has said that Hamas has important military resources in Gaza City, including underground tunnels, command centers and bunkers.
Israeli officials have repeatedly urged residents of northern Gaza to move south in anticipation of their bombardment – despite the fact that those in the southern part of the territory are unable to leave.
Israel also continues to target southern Gaza, where it says it is also targeting Hamas members.
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“People never sleep. The sound of explosions never stopped,” said Raed Mattar, who took refuge in a school south of Khan Younis after fleeing the north on Saturday.
About 1.5 million people in Gaza – or 70 percent of the population – have fled their homes in recent weeks, according to the UN.
An airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza early Saturday destroyed the home of at least one family.
A large number of Gazans have tried to leave their homes. Hama leader Ismail Haniyeh himself is currently in Qatar.AFP via Getty Images
Emergency workers pulled six injured people and three bodies – including a child – from the rubble.
In addition to airstrikes, the Israeli army has confirmed that ground troops with armor and engineering corps are operating in the south to remove stealth traps from buildings.
Hamas terrorists were seen emerging from the tunnel during the operation, and were later killed by Israeli forces, the army claimed.
At least 9,200 Palestinians have been killed in less than a month. AFP via Getty Images
The Israeli military said they were also targeted by attacks carried out from tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip.
Outside Gaza, Israel’s military said on Saturday that it attacked Hezbollah militant cells and observation posts in Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s first public address on the war on Friday suggested that an escalation was possible, but he did not fully throw himself behind his Hamas ally.
On Saturday, Blinken was set to meet in Amman, Jordan, with diplomats from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestinian Authority, which rules the West Bank.
In addition to trying to organize the delivery of aid to Gaza and allow foreigners to leave the area, Blinken is seeking help from allies to free the hostages. And he is reportedly looking to get Jordan and other Arab countries to reflect on the future of Gaza.
So far, leaders in the region have backed down on American demands that they play a bigger role in the war.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
