Dozens dead in renewed massacres

TEHRAN: Dozens of people have been killed in new Israeli massacres in the Gaza Strip. Among other things, an air strike on the house of the head of the Hamas political bureau killed his sister and other relatives.

Israeli warplanes carried out air strikes on various areas in Gaza City in the north of the Strip, killing at least 32 people and injuring 139 others in the course of the genocidal war that has been going on for 264 days.

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) intensified their shelling of Gaza city, targeting emergency shelters for displaced people and several houses.
The IOF attacked the Abdel Fattah Hamoud School, killing 8 Palestinians. Fires reportedly broke out in the area.

IOF also attacked the Asma’a School, which also houses displaced people in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, killing several people, including children, and injuring others.

In Shati refugee camp, IOF also massacred the Haniyeh family after bombing their house. More than 13 people were killed in the massacre and several are still lying under the rubble, reporters at the scene said.

Among the victims of the massacre was the sister of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, whose three sons and four grandchildren were murdered by the occupation regime on April 10.

In western Gaza City, Israeli forces attacked a group of Palestinians, killing several and injuring many more.

In eastern Gaza, specifically in the Shejaiya area, the IOF attacked a house belonging to the Zameli family. Civil defense teams recovered the bodies of two women and attempted to transport several other injured people.

An Israeli air strike on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip killed five people, including three children.

The IOF also attacked a house in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, resulting in deaths and injuries.

In the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli artillery shelling continued throughout the night, targeting al-Mawasi, west of Rafah.

Al-Mawasi is supposedly a humanitarian zone and Tel Aviv has repeatedly ordered Palestinians to go there for their own safety.

According to the latest figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry, the death toll in the enclave has risen to over 37,685 Palestinians since October 7, and over 86,100 others have been injured, the majority of them women and children.

Meanwhile, victims of Israeli airstrikes remain under the rubble and on the streets, with rescue workers and civil defense teams unable to reach them due to ongoing Israeli shelling. The rescue teams’ efforts are also hampered by the IOF, which is targeting rescue workers.

Assassination policy

The IOF’s attempts to suppress the resistance were not limited to massacres of Palestinian women and children or even the assassination of resistance leaders.

They even go so far as to murder people close to political leaders, as well as their children, grandchildren and other family members.
According to experts, this policy aims not only to undermine the Palestinian resistance and the supportive environment it enjoys, but also to boost the morale of the settlers, who

witnessed the failure of their government and army in their attempt to defeat the resistance forces.

Tel Aviv began this policy on October 10, 2023, with the bombing of the house of the father of the commander of Hamas’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif, in Khan Younis. Deif’s brother was among those killed.

In the massacre of the Shahin family, which was carried out by an Israeli airstrike on a residential building on November 11, 2023, Haniyeh’s young granddaughter Ruaa lost her life. Ruaa was studying medicine at the Islamic University in Gaza.

In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, Israeli occupation forces destroyed the house of former deputy chairman of Hamas’ political council, Saleh Arouj, on October 27, although Arouj had long since given up the post.

Before the assassination of senior Hamas leader Saleh al Arouri on January 2 in the Lebanese capital Beirut, IOF arrested his sisters Dalal and Fatima al-Arouri on December 14.

Another of Haniyeh’s sisters was also arrested by Israel earlier this month.

Despite all this and more, the policy seems to have failed.

After the IOF murdered Haniyeh’s three sons and four grandchildren on April 10, nothing changed on the battlefield. Although the Israeli army suffered greater losses, the popularity of the armed resistance increased.

While Palestinian leaders, their sons and grandchildren are being murdered, the Palestinian resistance movement remains anchored in the Palestinian people.