An Israeli air strike has killed the son of Hamas’ chief negotiator in U.S.-mediated Gaza talks, as group leaders met in Cairo to shore up a fragile ceasefire with Israel.
Azzam Al-Hayya, son of Khalil Al-Hayya, died of his injuries on Thursday after being wounded in an Israeli strike on Wednesday night (6 May), senior Hamas official Basim Naim said.
He is the fourth son of the exiled Hamas Gaza chief to be killed in Israeli attacks. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment.
Al-Hayya, who has seven children, has survived multiple Israeli attempts on his life. An Israeli strike in Doha last year targeting Hamas leadership killed one of his sons, though Al-Hayya survived.
Two other sons were killed in earlier Israeli attempts on his life, in Gaza strikes in 2008 and 2014.
Speaking to Al Jazeera after the attack on Wednesday night, Al-Hayya accused Israel of attempting to undermine mediators’ efforts to advance U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, overseen by his so-called “Board of Peace.”
The violence comes as Hamas leaders and other Palestinian factions hold talks in Cairo with regional mediators and the Board of Peace’s lead envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, officials said. The discussions are aimed at advancing the second phase of Trump’s Gaza plan.
The plan, agreed by Israel and Hamas in October, envisages the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the start of reconstruction, alongside Hamas laying down its weapons.
Hamas’ disarmament remains a major sticking point in efforts to implement the deal and solidify the October ceasefire that halted two years of full-scale war.
A Hamas official told Reuters on Wednesday that the group had informed Mladenov it would not engage in substantive talks on the second phase until Israel fulfils its commitments under the first phase of the agreement.
At least 830 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire came into effect, according to local medics, while Israel says militants have killed four of its soldiers over the same period.
Israel says its strikes are intended to thwart attempts by Hamas and other Palestinian militants to carry out attacks against its forces.
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