Israel-Hamas war day 186: Three of Haniyeh's sons killed

A Lebanese man sanctioned for allegedly funneling millions of dollars to Hamas was found dead in a mountain town outside Beirut, a security source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The security source identified the victim as Mohammad Surur and said he hailed from a northeastern town near the Syrian border and worked in currency exchanges and money transfers, including between Iran-backed terror groups opposed to Israel.

He was found dead in a house in the town of Beit Meri on Tuesday, with several gunshot wounds to his legs, the Lebanese security source said.

That, along with a large of sum money found on the body, led Lebanon's security forces to conclude that Surur had been subject to a violent interrogation, not attempted theft, the source added.

Members of Hezbollah attend the funeral of Wissam Tawil, a commander of Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces who according to Lebanese security sources was killed during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon, in Khirbet Silem, Lebanon, January 9, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/AZIZ TAHER)

Surur was sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which said he had transferred "tens of millions of dollars per year" between the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' external branch, the Quds Force, and Hamas's armed wing the Qassam Brigades.

He would have been 57 at the time of his death, according to biographical details published by the Treasury.

The US and its allies regard a potential Iranian missile or UAV strike against Israel to be imminent, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday night, citing officials familiar with intelligence sources. 

France's foreign minister said on Wednesday there was no immediate plan to impose sanctions on Israel to force it to allow more humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, toning down his stance after tougher remarks made earlier this week.

"There is no plan at this stage for general sanctions against Israel," Stephane Sejourne told lawmakers in the National Assembly.

France recently imposed sanctions against some individuals who it says are linked to violence by settlers in the West Bank, and it will "continue to do so", Sejourne said.

PA HEAD Mahmoud Abbas meets with French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne in Ramallah, this week. Last month, Abbas marked the 19th anniversary of his four-year term in office, the writer notes. (credit: NASSER NASSER/REUTERS)

Comments come after minister suggested sanctions as a possibility 

His comments came a day after the minister in an interview said sanctions could be an option to exert pressure on Israel's government, earning both praise and outrage as the Gaza war divides public opinion in France, home to both large Muslim and Jewish minorities.

IAF jets struck a military building in the Ayta ash Shab area in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah terrorists were staying, the IDF said on Wednesday.

The IDF also struck an additional terror infrastructure in the Khiam area. They added that earlier on Wednesday, forces had fired at Naqoura to remove a threat in the area. 

Yemen's Houthis targeted four vessels, including what was described as a US warship, in the Gulf of Aden, on Wednesday, the Iran-aligned group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech.

Houthi forces have staged attacks on shipping in the Red Sea region for months in the name of solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in Gaza.

Three sons of Hamas leader leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza, Hamas-affiliated news agency Shehab said on Wednesday.

The Iranian-aligned Lebanese outlet al-Mayadeen reported, citing Palestinian sources, that the strike had also killed several of Haniyeh's grandchildren, and that they had been killed in a vehicle in the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. 

That area has been under IDF control for several months. Israel last week withdrew its forces from southern Gaza, and has not yet launched a promised operation in the city of Rafah, believed to be Hamas's last stronghold in the strip. 

Haniyeh, the chairman of Hamas's Political Bureau, lives in Qatar, alongside other members of Hamas's political leadership. 

Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, speaks in a pre-recorded message shown on a screen during a press event for Al Quds International Institution in Beirut, Lebanon February 28, 2024. (credit: MOHAMED AZAKIR/REUTERS)

The group's leader inside of Gaza is Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding in southern Gaza, surrounded by Israeli hostages. 

More than a dozen other relatives reported killed during war

An airstrike in October reportedly killed 14 other members of Haniyeh's family, including his brother and nephew; his granddaughter Roaa Haniyeh was also reportedly killed by the IDF, as was his oldest grandson, Jamal. In February, Palestinian sources reported that Haniyeh's  son, Hazem Haniyeh, had also been killed.

Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 33,482 Palestinians and wounded 76,049 since Oct. 7, the Hamas-governed Gaza Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

There have been 122 Palestinians killed and 56 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry statement added.

The numbers cannot be independently verified and do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

The IDF, Shin Bet, and Border Police arrested nine wanted individuals in the West Bank during a Tuesday overnight operation, the IDF announced on Wednesday.

During the operation in Kalandiya, in the Binyamin Division, soldiers arrested three wanted individuals and seized two rifles and three handguns.

IDF forces night operation in the West Bank, April 9, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

In the Tulkarm area, in the Menashe Division and Samaria Division area, soldiers arrested an additional six wanted individuals and interrogated more suspects.

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The United Arab Emirates has sent a convoy of aid via land that has brought 370 tonnes of aid to northern Gaza. UAE state media, Emirates News Agency (WAM,) reported that “the Joint Operations Command of the Ministry of Defence announced the arrival of the first UAE aid convoy, comprising 17 trucks, bound for the northern Gaza Strip, as part of Operation ‘Chivalrous Knight 3.’”

This is an important development as many countries are trying to move more aid to northern Gaza. In the wake of an airstrike on World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid workers on April 1, Israel opened the Erez crossing to Gaza. The expectation is that this will enable more aid to reach northern Gaza and that aid could come through Ashdod and also via other corridors, such as from Jordan.

The UAE state media report, republished at Khaleej Times, said that the convoy to northern Gaza “is the first aid convoy by a country to arrive in the northern Gaza Strip, entering through the Rafah Border Crossing before arriving through the Karam Abu Salem border crossing to deliver aid to the Palestinians.” Al-Ain media in the UAE appeared to have been able to get first-hand accounts from the aid convoy’s arrival in Jabalya, a neighborhood that borders Gaza City and which was the scene of fighting in December 2023.

A truck crosses from Gaza to Egypt, at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt (credit: MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY/REUTERS)

“In a narrow alley in the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, a group of children lined up with smiles on their faces as they shouted the Eid takbirat,” the report said. ‘Eid Takbirat’ refers to a common Arabic expression that is said during the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, slammed Israel in a speech marking the end of Ramadan. He accused Israel of being behind an airstrike in Damascus on April 1, which killed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammad Zahedi and others in Damascus.

The airstrike hit a building that is part of an Iranian consulate compound, which is used by the IRGC. Iran has vowed revenge in the wake of the attack.

Tasnim News reported the comments of the Ayatollah. “Referring to the Zionist regime's air attack on the Iranian consulate, Ayatollah Khamenei clarified in his lecture: The evil regime itself, which is full of errors and evil, added one more error to its errors, and that was the attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria,” Tasnim noted.

Iran views the consulate as part of its own soil and thus views the attack as an attack on Iran itself. “The leader of the revolution emphasized that the evil regime made a mistake in this matter and will be punished. Of course, we mourned our martyrs,” the leader said.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pray next to the coffin of senior adviser for Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Sayyed Razi Mousavi, during his funeral in Tehran, Iran December 28, 2023 (credit: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA via REUTERS)

The Iranians called on people to take this opportunity to observe the end of the holy month of Ramadan. His speech began with this message of religious devotion, calling on people to be thankful to God and take “our advice is to keep this spiritual reserve for yourself … Especially our dear young people who, thank God, have a desire to remember, pray and be religious.”