Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Tuesday that the death of his sister and her family members in an Israeli attack in Gaza will not change his positions and the positions of Hamas.

If Israel thinks it will, Haniyeh said, then it is delusional. "I say again and again that the shaheeds of my family are the shaheeds of our people and the shaheeds of our people are also the shaheeds of my family, since there is no difference between the shaheeds and Allah has taken them all into his arms to pave the way towards victory and freedom," he said, stressing that that the blood of the shaheeds demands that Hamas continue on its path with full determination.

On the efforts to end the war, Haniyeh said that Hamas presented a position based on maximum flexibility on the condition that this would lead to an end to the "crimes", an end to the aggression and a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, he stated, still adheres to its position that any agreement that does not include a ceasefire and an end to "aggression" is an invalid agreement.

He called on the international community to intervene to stop the "aggression", to bring in humanitarian aid and to provide for the needs of the residents of Gaza.

Haniyeh also said that all ideas regarding the "day after" the war and the reorganization of the “Palestinian home” must be Palestinian in their essence, and no one, neither Israel nor any other party, has the right to interfere in them.