Gaza civil defense says Israeli strike kills 10 relatives of Hamas chief

GAZA STRIP

The Gaza civil defense agency said an Israeli air strike early on Tuesday killed 10 members of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh's family, in an attack the Israeli military did not immediately confirm.

"There are 10 martyrs... as a result of the strike, including Zahr Haniyeh, sister of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh," Mahmud Basal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defense, told AFP, also reporting "several" wounded.

Hamas in a statement named the Haniyeh family home as being bombed in a list of "massacres" it said were committed by Israel in the Palestinian territory.

It said the alleged bombing showed Israel "continues to defy all international laws, human norms and values by deliberately targeting innocent civilians and committing the most horrific massacres against them".

Haniyeh lost three sons and four grandchildren in an Israeli strike in April in central Gaza, with the military accusing them of "terrorist activities".

Haniyeh at the time said that about 60 members of his family had been killed since the war broke out on Oct. 7.

Israel launched its war on Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,190 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

Hamas seized 251 hostages. Of these 116 remain in Gaza, although the army says 42 of them are dead.

Israel's offensive has killed more than 37,600 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.