Israeli strike kills Hamas official's son in Gaza

An Israeli strike on Wednesday killed the son of Hamas' chief negotiator, a Gaza hospital and the group confirmed on Thursday.

Azzam Khalil al-Hayya, 23, the son of top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, "was martyred after succumbing to wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike targeting him yesterday," Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital said in a statement.

The city's Al-Ahli hospital and a security source said on Wednesday that a strike on al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City killed one person and wounded 10 others, including Azzam Khalil al-Hayya.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment on the incident.

Azzam Khalil al-Hayya is the fourth of Khalil al-Hayya's seven sons to be killed by Israeli attacks, according to a Hamas source.

Two of them were killed by Israel before the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.

The third, Hammam, was killed in an Israeli strike on Doha in September, which killed six people.

Khalil al-Hayya is the head of Hamas in Gaza despite living in exile in Qatar. He is currently vying for the leadership of the movement.

He survived the strike on Doha.

In a statement, Hamas said the killing of Azzam Khalil al-Hayya "came within the framework of attempts to exert pressure on the resistance leadership and its negotiating delegation, after the occupation's failure to impose its conditions or achieve its declared objectives."

Daily Israeli strikes on Gaza continue, despite the U.S.-brokered cease-fire that came into effect in October.

Israel has killed over 840 Palestinians since the truce began, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Over the same period, the Israeli military said five soldiers have been killed in Gaza.