Sister of senior Hamas official reportedly treated in Israeli hospital

Marcy Oster

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The sister of a senior Hamas official reportedly is being treated in an Israeli hospital.

Halamia Shcata, 60, who has cancer, is in critical condition in an unnamed Israeli hospital, the Jerusalem Post reported Monday. She is the sister of Mousa Abu Marzouk.

Marzouk on Sunday criticized the Israeli government’s decision to close both the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings from Israel into Gaza on Saturday, hours after a rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel. Exceptions are being made for humanitarian cases.

The hospitalization of a relative of  a Hamas official, which is not being officially confirmed by the Israel Defense Forces’ Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, comes two weeks after the news that the daughter of Gazan Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was treated last month at a Tel Aviv hospital. Haniyeh’s mother-in-law and year-old granddaughter both were cared for in Israeli hospitals this year.