TEHRAN- Dozens have been killed in new Israeli massacres in Gaza, including an airstrike on the house of the Hamas political bureau chief that killed his sister and other relatives.

Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes on various areas in Gaza City, north of the Strip, killing at least 32 people and injuring 139 others amid the genocidal war that has been ongoing for 264 days now. 

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) intensified its bombardment of Gaza City, targeting shelters for the displaced and several houses. 
The IOF attacked Abdel Fattah Hamoud School, killing 8 Palestinians. Reports say fires have engulfed the area. 

Likewise, the IOF targeted Asma’a School, which also shelters displaced people in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, killing several people, including children, and injuring others. 

Also in the Shati refugee camp, the IOF committed a massacre against the Haniyeh family after bombing their home. More than 13 people fell victim to the massacre, with several still under the rubble, according to reporters on the ground. 

Among the victims of the massacre was the sister of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, whose three sons and four grandchildren were assassinated by the occupation regime on April 10. 

In western Gaza City, Israeli forces targeted a group of Palestinians killing several and injuring many others. 

In eastern Gaza City, specifically in the Shejaiya area, the IOF targeted a house belonging to the Zameli family. Civil defense teams retrieved the bodies of two women and tried to transport several others who sustained injuries. 

An Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed five people, including three children. 

The IOF also struck a house in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, resulting in deaths and injuries. 

In southern Gaza, Israeli bombardment continued throughout the night targeting al-Mawasi, west of Rafah with artillery shells. 

Al-Mawasi is supposedly a humanitarian zone, which Tel Aviv has repeatedly ordered Palestinians to travel to for their own safety. 

According to the latest figures released by the Gaza Health Ministry, the death toll in the enclave has risen to over 37,685 Palestinians and more than 86,100 others have been injured since October 7. The majority of them are women and children. 

Meanwhile, victims of Israeli airstrikes remain under the rubble and on the streets, as ambulance crews and civil defense teams are unable to reach them amid ongoing Israeli shelling. Efforts by rescue teams are also being hindered by the IOF, targeting the rescue workers. 

Assassination policy 

The IOF’s attempts to suppress the resistance have not been limited to massacres of Palestinian women and children or even assassinating resistance leaders. 

They also extend to assassinating those close to the leaders, their children, grandchildren, and extended family members.  
Experts say this policy aims to not only undermine the Palestinian resistance and the supportive environment it enjoys, but also to bolster the morale of settlers who have

witnessed the failure of their government and army to defeat the resistance forces. 

Tel Aviv started the policy on October 10, 2023, by bombing the home of the father of the commander of the armed wing of Hamas, Mohammed Deif, in Khan Younis. Among those assassinated was Deif’s brother. 

In the massacre of the Shahin family, committed by an Israeli airstrike on a residential building on November 11, 2023, Haniyeh’s young granddaughter, Ruaa, lost her life. Ruaa was studying medicine at the Islamic University in Gaza. 

In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, the Israeli occupation destroyed the house of the former deputy head of the Hamas political council, Saleh Arouj, on October 27, despite Arouj having long abandoned the post.  

Before the assassination of senior Hamas leader Saleh al Arouri in the Lebanese capital Beirut on January 2, the IOF arrested his sisters, Dalal and Fatima al-Arouri on December 14. 

Another sister of Haniyeh was also subject to Israeli arrest earlier this month. 

Despite all of this and more, the policy appears to have failed. 

After the IOF assassinated Haniyeh’s three sons and four grandchildren on April 10, nothing changed on the battlefield. The Israeli army suffered greater losses but popularity for armed resistance rose. 

While Palestinian leaders, their sons, and grandsons are assassinated, the Palestinian resistance movement remains entrenched among the Palestinian people.