The family of Ismail Haniyeh, the former political chief of the Palestinian resistance organisation Hamas, has lost more than 75 very close members in the ongoing Gaza war with Israel, while about 250 members of their extended “al-Hajj” clan have died in the war, his son Abdul Salam Haniyeh has said. The claims could not be independently verified.
Abdul Salam Haniyeh made the claim in a special interview with the Turkish news agency Anadolu Agency to mark the second anniversary of Ismail Haniyeh’s killing.
Pointing to a family photograph hanging on the wall during the interview, Abdul Salam said a large portion of the relatives in the picture had been killed in Israeli attacks. On 10 April 2024, the day of Eid al-Fitr, three of Ismail Haniyeh’s sons — Hazem, Amir and Mohammad — and their children were killed in an Israeli air strike, he said.
Recalling his father, Abdul Salam said: “At home my father was a teacher, an adviser, a political leader and a most affectionate friend. He always advised us to stay close to ordinary people and to serve them.”
Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated while in Tehran to attend the swearing-in of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, on 31 July 2024. In December 2024, the then Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, formally acknowledged Israel’s direct involvement in the killing.
In the interview, Abdul Salam highly praised Turkey’s political and humanitarian support for the Palestinians, saying that under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s leadership Turkey was playing a strong role in securing Palestinian rights on the international stage.
He expressed hope that mediation by Egypt, Qatar and Turkey to accelerate a ceasefire in Gaza would succeed. In his view, it is through such a deal that the reconstruction of Gaza and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces would be possible.
Describing the brutality of the war, he said: “More than 30,000 children have died in Gaza. The Palestinian children’s earnest appeal to the world is to be allowed to escape the violence and to be given the chance to study and live a normal life like children in other countries.”
According to Palestinian authorities, Israeli forces have continued to violate the agreement even after the ceasefire took effect on 10 October 2025. Since the ceasefire alone, 1,222 more Palestinians have been killed and 4,053 injured in Israeli attacks, they said.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, the total number of people killed in the devastating war, which has been going on since October 2023, has reached 73,349, with 174,162 injured.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report