The Hamas terrorist organization officially announced on Friday evening that Khalil al-Hayya, one of its leaders who was targeted in Israel’s strike in Qatar earlier this week, was not eliminated in the strike.
A statement from the terrorist organization, quoted by Channel 13 News, said that al-Hayya "carried out the funeral prayer for his martyred son who was killed in the strike and for those killed in the assassination attempt, under special security arrangements."
Hamas did not release any photos or other documentation to substantiate the claim.
On Thursday, Hamas published photos from the funeral in Doha for those eliminated in Israel's strike. The images showed senior organization officials Osama Hamdan and Izzat al-Rishq, but al-Hayya was nowhere to be seen.
Earlier in the week, al-Rishq was named among those who were in the building that was struck in Doha. Al-Rishq, a member of Hamas's diplomatic bureau and the head of its office of Arab and Islamic relations, operated for years from Jordan, Syria, and Qatar.
Al-Hayya is the acting leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the elimination of Yahya Sinwar. He resides in Qatar after years of operating in Gaza. He joined Hamas during the First Intifada, was imprisoned in Israel in the 90s, and survived several elimination attempts.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)