Cairo, Egypt. A senior Hamas official said an Israeli air strike killed the son of Hamas chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya as the group’s leaders held talks in Cairo aimed at safeguarding their truce with Israel.
Hamas official reports death after Wednesday night strike
Basim Naim, a senior Hamas official, said Azzam Al-Hayya died on Thursday after succumbing to injuries from an Israeli attack on Wednesday night. Naim said he was the fourth son of Hamas’ exiled Gaza chief to have been killed in Israeli attacks.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment.
Previous strikes and past attempts on Al-Hayya
Naim said Khalil Al-Hayya, who has seven children, has survived multiple Israeli attempts to kill him. An Israeli strike in Doha last year targeting Hamas leadership killed his son, though Al-Hayya survived, and two other sons were killed in Gaza strikes in 2008 and 2014.
Al-Hayya comments and mediation efforts
Speaking to Al Jazeera after the Wednesday night attack, before his son’s death was announced, Al-Hayya accused Israel of trying to undermine mediators’ efforts to push ahead with U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, overseen by his so-called “Board of Peace”.
“These Zionist attacks and violations clearly indicate that the occupation does not want to abide by a ceasefire or by the first phase,” Al-Hayya said.
Cairo talks and second phase of Gaza plan
The strike came as leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian factions held talks this week in Cairo with regional mediators and the Board of Peace’s lead envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, officials said, aimed at pushing Trump’s Gaza plan into its second phase.
Officials said the plan, which Israel and Hamas agreed to in October, involves Israeli troops withdrawing from Gaza and reconstruction starting as Hamas lays down its weapons.
Disarmament remains a sticking point
Hamas’ disarmament remains a sticking point in talks to implement the plan and cement the October ceasefire that halted two years of full-blown war.
How do you assess the prospects for extending the ceasefire as negotiations move into the plan’s second phase?
