Israeli army admits air strikes that killed family members of Hamas chief

The Israeli army announced responsibility for the overnight air strikes on areas in Gaza that left family members of the head of the Hamas group, Ismail Haniyeh, dead including his sister.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Israeli army said its fighter jets struck two buildings in the Beach refugee camp and the Al-Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza, claiming the Hamas used them.

The Israeli military statement also said that it struck Hamas members which said they were involved in October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli locations around Gaza, and holding Israeli captives in Gaza.

The statement claimed that the attacks were carried out using "precision munition" and based on intelligence activity.

The Israeli army did not mention that the air strikes killed family members of Haniyeh but the Israeli Army Radio said the army statement was on the air strike that killed his family members.

The Palestinian Civil Defense stated that its teams have so far removed the bodies of 13 people killed in Israeli air strikes on two schools used as shelters and a home in Gaza.

International outcry

Israel, flouting a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an October 7 attack last year by Hamas.

More than 37,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 86,100 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.