Three sons of Hamas leader Haniyeh killed in Israeli airstrike

Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamist group and Haniyeh's family said. The three sons - Hazem, Amir and Mohammad - were killed after the car they were driving in was bombed in Gaza's Al-Shati camp, Hamas said. Haniyeh has been the tough-talking face of Hamas' international diplomacy as war with Israel has raged back in the Gaza Strip, where his family home was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike back in November. In the seventh month of a war in which Israel's air and ground offensive has devastated Gaza, Hamas wants an end to Israeli military operations and a withdrawal from the enclave, and permission for displaced Palestinians to return home. Haniyeh's eldest son confirmed in a Facebook post that his three brothers were killed. "Thanks to God who honoured us by the martyrdom of my brothers, Hazem, Amir and Mohammad and their children," wrote Abdel-Salam Haniyeh. Appointed to the group's top job in 2017, Haniyeh has moved between Turkey and Qatar's capital Doha, avoiding Israeli-imposed travel restrictions in blockaded Gaza and enabling him to act as a negotiator in the latest ceasefire negotiations, or communicate with Hamas' main ally Iran. Israel regards the entire Hamas leadership as terrorists, accusing Haniyeh and other leaders of continuing to "pull the strings of the Hamas terror organisation".