Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya denied reports that his son Azzam, an active terrorist, had been eliminated in an Israeli strike.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, al-Hayya said that his son, Azzam, was seriously wounded in a strike in Gaza City.
According to al-Hayya, “What we heard is that as of now, in the group that was randomly targeted, Hamza al-Sharbati was killed, while my son Azzam and another group of people suffered severe injuries."
On Wednesday, Palestinian Arab reports said that Azzam al-Hayya was killed in a strike in Gaza.
An Israeli official emphasized in response to the report that "al-Hayya’s son was not a target for assassination, but he may have been present at the location where IDF forces struck in Gaza during the day."
Another senior security official said that the son of the Hamas leader in Gaza was defined as an "active terrorist" in the terror organization, and that his presence in the area where terrorists were eliminated indicates this.
It was later reported that the target of the strike in Gaza in which Azzam al-Hayya was killed was a Nukhba commander who led one of the Hamas infiltration points in the Gaza border area during the deadly October 7 massacre.