Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh says three sons killed in Gaza strike

Ismail Haniyeh is the head of the political apparatus of Hamas outside Gaza and the Palestinian territories. Israel makes no distinction between the different branches of Hamas – military and political – and says they are all terrorists.

After he was told that his three sons and their children were targeted and killed, Haniyeh said that the lives of his children are no more valuable than those of any other Gazans. And that it wouldn’t affect Hamas’ position in the ceasefire talks in which he is a leading negotiator.

The Americans want Hamas to soften their position, so perhaps killing Haniyeh’s children may not be the best way of achieving that.

There are critics of Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel who claim that he wants to prolong the war and he doesn’t want to do a ceasefire deal. And at the same time, Netanyahu is under immense amounts of pressure from the US to reach a compromise and allow an exchange of Palestinian prisoners in return for the hostages in Gaza.

It’s now emerged that the Israel Defense Forces deliberated targeted the Haniyeh family, claiming that they were “on the way to carry out an act of terrorism.”

So it might be seen by his critics as further proof that Netanyahu and the Israeli government are not committed to a deal.

As we've been reporting, the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, says three of his sons and several of his grandchildren have been killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza.

Eyewitnesses say that a car carrying three of Ismail Haniyeh's sons and several of his grandchildren was hit in Al-Shati camp on the beach to the west of Gaza City.

They say the members of Haniyeh's family were on their way to visit a family member to celebrate the first day of the Muslim holiday, Eid.

Haniyeh received the news in the Qatari capital, Doha, where he lives - as he was visiting Gazans receiving medical treatment.

His response was to thank God for the honour bestowed on him by what he called the martyrdom of his sons.

He also accused Israel of killing them in order to try to shift Hamas' position in the current ceasefire talks. He said that would not happen.

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Sara El Shaer, another 10 year-old girl from Gaza, tells BBC Arabic's Gaza Lifeline programme that despite the collapse of their house and the loss of their things "due to the fierce bombing of war, we will celebrate and rejoice in Eid".

But not all the children are celebrating, some are reluctant this year. Like Thuria El-Masry.

"I am seven years old, during Eid I want to celebrate it, but because of the violent bombing, I do not know how to be happy.

"I want to be happy on Eid night as I used to be before, and to take the Eid gifts and play with other children", Thuria says.

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The mood in occupied East Jerusalem is sombre. Members of one Palestinian community told me, “there is no Eid”.

Ilham, 35, lives a stone’s throw away from al-Aqsa mosque – the third holiest site in Islam, where it is believed Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven. It is also sacred in Judaism and known as Temple Mount.

"It's a spiritual gift," Ilham says. "Everyone envies me for it. They say to me, 'You're so lucky!'"

The social worker is one of about 450 Afro-Palestinians, descendants of pilgrims from Chad, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sudan, who live in an enclave in part of the old city's Muslim quarter, that were once prisons used by the Ottomans before the British took control over Jerusalem in 1917.

But Ilham tells me that there is no happiness this year. "We haven't decorated our homes; we have no visitors. Only the spiritual and ritualistic elements of Ramadan remain."

Members of the Afro-Palestinian community and the wider Palestinian community in Jerusalem say prayer in the past month has become a form of resistance and Eid is only being celebrated in name.

More now on reports that three sons and at least two grandchildren of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh have been killed in an air strike.

Haniyeh told Al Jazeera that the deaths will not affect the group's demands in ceasefire talks with Israel, which have failed to yield an agreement despite growing international pressure.

"Our demands are clear and specific and we will not make concessions on them. The enemy will be delusional if it thinks that targeting my sons, at the climax of the negotiations and before the movement sends its response, will push Hamas to change its position," Haniyeh told Al Jazeera.

"The blood of my sons is not dearer than the blood of our people," he added.

Hamas has, in public at least, stuck with its initial demands of a permanent ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops and the return of displaced Palestinians to northern parts of the territory without restrictions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile insists that Israel will continue fighting until Hamas is destroyed and hostages are free.

Read more on truce talks - Can US pressure deliver Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza?

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Eid celebrations marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan are taking place in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinians say today's Eid is markedly different from previous years, amid Israel's ongoing war.

Father-of-four Ahmed Qishta, 33, tells AFP new agency that there has never been "such an Eid - all sadness, fear, destruction and a grinding war".

Abir Sakik, 40, who had to flee her family's home in Gaza City and is now living in a tent in Rafah, says Gazans "want to rejoice despite all the blood, death and shelling".

"We are tired and weary, enough, enough of war and destruction."

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are also praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest site.

Nurse Rawan Abd, 32, from Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem tells AFP it is "the saddest Eid ever, at the mosque you could see the sadness on people's faces."

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We're reporting today that with the threat of famine looming in Gaza, few Muslims are able to hold a traditionally opulent Eid.

Andrea De Domenico, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tells the BBC that the lack of "abundance of food and festive ornaments" means today is "not an Eid like others".

He says UN organisations are negotiating with Israel to get more aid into Gaza, and that many challenges remain, even for the trucks that do get into the enclave.

"We have done a calculation, from 1 April to 9 April, collectively 14 convoys that have been going to the north have been waiting 29 hours to get the green light to get through the checkpoint.

"There are so many challenges that are still there, are still unresolved and those depend, and are under the control of the Israel military, and so we are really engaging with them daily to try to figure out solutions and improve the situation," De Domenico says.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh received the news of his sons' and grandchildren's deaths as he was visiting wounded Palestinians who had been taken to the Qatari capital Doha for treatment.

He said he thanked God for what he called the "honour bestowed on me with the martyrdom of my children and grandchildren".

He also said that the incident would not affect the demands of Hamas in the current ceasefire talks.

The Israeli army has so far not commented.

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We've just reported that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh says three of his sons have been killed in an air strike. Here's some background on Haniyeh, the man widely considered Hamas's overall leader.

A prominent member of the movement in the late 1980s, Israel imprisoned Haniyeh for three years in 1989 as it cracked down on the first Palestinian uprising.

He was then exiled in 1992 to a no-man's-land between Israel and Lebanon, along with a number of Hamas leaders.

After a year in exile, he returned to Gaza. In 1997 he was appointed head of the office of Hamas's spiritual leader, strengthening his position.

Haniyeh was appointed Palestinian prime minister in 2006 by President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas won the most seats in national elections, but was dismissed a year later after the group ousted Abbas' Fatah party from the Gaza Strip in a week of deadly violence.

Haniyeh rejected his sacking as "unconstitutional", stressing that his government "would not abandon its national responsibilities towards the Palestinian people", and continued to rule in Gaza.

He was elected head of Hamas's political bureau in 2017.

In 2018, the US Department of State designated Haniyeh a terrorist. He has lived in Qatar for the past several years.

Read more about the group's main leaders

President Biden says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making "a mistake" with Israel's operation in Gaza.

Speaking to the American Spanish-language network Univision, Biden says the Israeli air strikes which killed seven aid workers were "outrageous" and calls for a ceasefire.

The hour-long interview was recorded last Wednesday before airing on Tuesday night. Watch the moment he talks about the mistake he believes Israel is making.

We've been hearing more testimonies from people in Gaza.

Feda'a Murjan is living in Rafah, and while she tries to celebrate Eid, her thoughts are preoccupied with memories of Habiba, her eight-year-old daughter who was killed on 13 October.

"As you know we all used to gather, wear the best clothes we had, [eat] the best chocolate and celebrate days of happiness and joy - but unfortunately this Eid is very different from any Eid before," Feda'a tells BBC News.

"I'm a defeated, sad mother. No words can describe the terrible, horrible combination of very bad feelings".

Feda'a says Habiba died after an airstrike hit her neighbour's house, "without any warning before", partly reducing her own home to rubble.

"She was drawing a picture at the table," Feda'a says.

She adds that people in Rafah are suffering from a lack of food, water and medical treatment, and have nowhere else to go.

"It's not safe at all - they are bombing here, they are destroying the homes over the heads of the people here. There is no safe space in this little spot of the world".

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said 400 plus aid trucks have entered Gaza on each of the last two days. But the UN has said that figure was less than 250 on Monday.

But why the different figures?

The UN says Israel only counts what it screens and allows over the border, whereas the UN counts the trucks that arrive at their warehouses in Gaza.

“It's complicated, and let me be upfront here, we will never get these truck numbers to match,” said the UN’s Jens Laerke.

According to the UN, all trucks entering Gaza are checked by Israel. But screening requirements mean they are typically only half full, says the UN.

After border checks, goods are moved onto a new set of vetted trucks to travel on into Gaza.

These trucks are filled nearer to capacity. This means the number of trucks arriving at UN warehouses is often lower than the original number screened at the border.

Israel denies hindering humanitarian relief into Gaza.

We’ve asked the Israeli authorities whether they only screen half-full lorries and why, but they haven’t responded.

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No trucks have entered Gaza via the Erez crossing despite the recent announcement by Israel that it would be reopened, a charity says.

"If the Erez crossing opens it would be step in the right direction, as it would make it possible for aid to come straight into the north," says Karyn Beattie, team leader for Save the Children's response in Gaza, but adds that so far "not a single aid truck" has come through.

Israel has said that the crossing, which has been closed since 7 October, would reopen following the deaths of seven aid workers in an air strike on 1 April.

The crossing's reopening would bring more aid into the north, where starvation is most acute.

Aid agencies and foreign officials have long urged Israel to open more crossings. Read more on the possible reopening of aid routes here.

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BBC Arabic’s Gaza Lifeline programme is continuing to speak to children in Gaza today about celebrating Eid this year.

Nabeel Sami Al-Saroura, who is 10 years old, tries to stay positive. He says that despite the war and the fear, he is "determined to enjoy Eid like other children in the world."

"Last year's Eid was full of joy, but this one is filled with fear and shelling because of the war and the continuous bombing," he says.

"Despite the destruction of our homes and the loss of our belongings, and despite the sadness dominating the streets, we will celebrate and rejoice this Eid," he says.

Yousra Adnan Abu Ataya, who is 12 years old, also says that she wants to enjoy Eid. "We are children and we have the right to rejoice in Eid".

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I've been speaking to Elham, a 40-year-old mother in the southern city of Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering. Elham's home is now a mass of rubble, bar one room that survived the bombing - and that her family now lives in.

I asked her how - if at all - she was marking Eid.

"We have no Eid, no new clothes, no semblance of celebration," she told me.

"It's a very sad day full of tears for our children who were martyred in the war, including my sister's children."

Eid-al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast. It's usually a day for gathering with family and eating large meals.

But amid a looming famine, the situation in Gaza looks very different. Elham says she's unable to afford the little food available.

"I have no food for myself," Elham says.

"My children have bread and cheese, but I have nothing."

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