This story originally appeared in the JC Israel Briefing. You can sign up to receive the briefing daily here.
The son of senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya has been killed in an Israeli air strike, while the terror group's leaders were in Cairo discusing the ceasefire.
Azzam al-Hayya died on Thursday after being wounded in a strike the previous night, according to senior Hamas official Bassem Naim. Reuters reported that he was the fourth son of Khalil al-Hayya to be killed in Israeli attacks.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike but a military source told the Jerusalem Post that Hayya’s son was not the target of the attack.
“Khalil al-Hayya’s son is of no interest to us, and if he was harmed, it was because he was somewhere he should not have been,” the military source said.
“If he was harmed, it did not happen because of his family ties, because he truly is not a figure of particular interest to us.”.
Al-Hayya, 65, is one of Hamas’s most senior surviving figures and a member of the group’s temporary five-person leadership council formed after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the killing would not pressure the movement into concessions, according to Reuters, while al-Hayya’s daughter said the family remained committed to “the resistance path” despite repeated losses.
Yesterday, the IDF also announced it had last week killed Ibrahim Abu Tzakar, a Hamas terrorist who took part in the abduction of Mia Schem on October 7 from the Nova music festival.
This story originally appeared in the JC Israel Briefing. You can sign up to receive the briefing daily here.
To get more Israel news, click here to sign up for our free Israel Briefing newsletter.