The sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an IDF airstrike in the Shati neighborhood of Gaza City, Arab media reported on Tuesday morning

According to the reports, 13 people were killed, including nine of Haniyeh’s relatives.

The IDF spokesperson responded to the reports by stating: “Air Force fighter jets, with the intelligence guidance of the Shin Bet and IDF, attacked two buildings in Shati and Daraj in the northern Gaza Strip while they were being used by Hamas terrorists. The terrorists were operating from school premises that the organization used as a shield for terrorist activity. The terrorists were involved in planning many terrorist plots against Israel, and some of them were involved in holding hostages and took part in the October 7 massacre.”

The spokesperson added that in order to minimize harm to civilians, the attack was carefully planned, using “aerial surveillance, precision munitions and additional intelligence information.”

In April, three of Haniyeh’s sons were killed in an IDF strike in Gaza. The sons were killed as they were engaging in terror activities. One of the sons was a Hamas commander and another one was involved in holding Israeli hostages.

Also in April, one of Haniyeh’s sisters who married an Israeli Bedouin was arrested at her home in Tel Sheva in southern Israel for terror-related charges and was later indicted on charges of identifying with a proscribed terrorist organization and incitement to terrorism.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)