Gazans are unfortunate, as are the families of Hamas leaders.
On April 10, the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, disaster struck the family of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's Politburo, as Gazans gathered in the rubble to pray.
The car in which Haniyeh's sons were travelling was pinpointed by bombs fired by Israeli drones near a refugee camp in Gaza, killing three of his sons and killing four of his grandsons.
Less than a month ago, on March 17, the Haniyeh met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Kejian in Qatar to exchange views on the Gaza conflict and other issues.
Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not say the details, everyone who knows the Palestinian-Israeli situation knows very well that this is heavy news. After all, Hamas has a strong public opinion base among the Palestinians, and if it does not recognize this reality and does not directly contact Hamas, how can China mediate the key issues in the Middle East? And to mediate the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it must start by mediating reconciliation among various Palestinian factions. So, this Haniyeh is an entry point, and his own influence is a spiritual symbol and a banner of Hamas.
Israel's engagement with Haniyeh today is in fact a testament to its importance. Haniyeh was once a close admirer of Hamas's late spiritual leader, Yassin, and was Yassin's chief of staff, negotiating with the Palestinian self-government and related parties on Hamas's behalf. He was elected chairman of the Hamas Politburo in 2017 and moved from Gaza to Qatar, where he assumed the position, commanding remotely.
Chania had 13 children, 3 died and 10 remained. On 17 October last year, ten days after the Israeli hostages were taken captive by Hamas, Haniyeh's home in Gaza was bombed by Israel, killing 14 people, including Haniyeh's brother and nephew. This time, his son and grandson were targeted out during the campaign.
Why is Haniyeh working in Qatar and not in Gaza, for fear of being blown up?
Haniyeh knows the value of his life, and his key purpose in Qatar is to circumvent the travel restrictions imposed by Israel in Gaza, which is like a prison, and without Israel's consent, how can a prominent figure like him enter and leave the Erez checkpoint freely? Therefore, others can play a more effective leadership role in Qatar, especially when they go to Iran, they are separated by a sea, they can come and go freely, and no one can restrict them.
If the Haniyeh were to be in Gaza, he would either be exposed in the process of directing communications and would be targeted and hunted by Israel, or he would have lived in the dark in the tunnels and would not dare to go to the ground at all, and his political energy would have been niled.
Israel has long hated him, believing that he is a nail in the coffin in the negotiation process, and has been obstructing him in order to get rid of him as soon as possible. To be honest, it is not entirely unthinkable for Israel to make a move in Qatar, but it would lead the negotiations to a dead end.
When the leader of Hamas is the leader, his nerves must be thicker than ordinary people, and when his children and grandchildren were killed, he behaved at the first time when he received the news, which was unimaginably calm.
Haniyeh not only did not cry and beat his chest, but he also thanked God for "bestowing them the honor of martyrdom", saying that the attack on his children and grandchildren was "a treacherous and cowardly attack", and that it was pure wishful thinking to use assassination to shake his goals and demands in the negotiation of the ceasefire agreement.
Haniyeh said that he had nearly 60 family members killed in the fighting, including nieces and nephews, and that his losses were comparable to those of other Palestinians.
The "martyrdom" of Haniyeh's children and grandchildren will objectively only increase his prestige, but for Iran, one of Hamas's staunchest supporters, there are mixed feelings.
The attack on Haniyeh's close relatives came at a time when the consular building of the Iranian embassy in Syria was bombed and Iran had not had time to fight back. The outside world thinks that Israel will strictly defend itself and will not provoke Iran at this moment, but the logic of war is often unexpected, and Israel chooses to start when Iran is still shouting slogans and swearing to retaliate, both on the first day of the new year and on the fifteenth. The plan cannot catch up with the changes, and Iran's retaliation plan will have to be redone.