Israel Defends Air Strike That Killed Hamas Leader's Wife & Son

Israel today justified air strikes on Gaza that killed the wife and baby son of Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif by saying he was a legitimate terror target 'just like Osama bin Laden.' Hamas earlier accused Israel of breaking the latest ceasefire with a barrage of rockets that also killed 11 other Palestinians,
saying it had opened 'a gateway to hell'.

The militant group fired rockets at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem which caused no casualties but demonstrated the Islamist movement could still bring the Gaza war to Israel's heartland despite heavy bombardments in the five-week conflict. Israel responded by accusing Hamas of breaking the truce with rocket fire eight hours before it was due to have expired.

It recalled its negotiators from truce talks in Cairo on Tuesday, leaving the fate of the Egyptian-brokered efforts hanging in the balance. Describing Deif as a legitimate target, Israeli cabinet minister Gideon Saar told army radio: 'Mohamed Deif deserves to die just like (Osama) bin Laden. 'He is an arch murderer and as long as we have an opportunity we will try to kill him.'

He said he could not confirm whether the head of Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, had been killed during the air strike late Tuesday in Gaza City. Three bodies were pulled from the rubble. Hospital officials identified them as Deif's wife, his seven-month-old son, Ali and a 20-year-old man. The mother and son were buried at a cemetery in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip this afternoon.

Earlier, Yaakov Perry, Israel's science minister and former security chief, said: 'I am convinced that if there was intelligence that Mohammed Deif was not inside the home, then we would not have bombed it.' A Hamas official said that Deif does not use the house.

Hamas used its Al-Aqsa television channel to urge Palestinians to attend the funerals of Deif's wife and son who were killed in the raid that wounded at least 45 others, emergency services said.

Appointed head of Hamas's armed wing in 2002 after his predecessor Salah Shehade was assassinated, Deif has already escaped five previous assassination attempts by Israel. The Israelis see him as 'the brains' behind the campaign of suicide bombings that targeted buses and public places in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem until 2006 and consider him 'personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of civilians'.

 Source: DailyMail UK