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Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip yesterday as they were making family visits during the first day of the Eid al-Fitr.

The Israeli military confirmed carrying out the attack, claiming the three sons as operatives in the Hamas armed wing. The three sons - Hazem, Amir and Mohammad - were killed when the car they were driving in was bombed in Al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City, Hamas said. Four of Haniyeh's grandchildren - three girls and a boy - were also killed in the attack, Hamas said. Asked about the four grandchildren killed in the airstrike, the Israeli military said there was "no information on that right now".

Haniyeh, based abroad in Qatar, has been the tough-talking face of Hamas' international diplomacy as war with Israel has raged on in Gaza, where his family home was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike back in November.