Jerusalem: Sabah al-Salem Haniyeh, the 57-year-old sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, has been indicted by Israel's state attorney on charges of incitement and showing solidarity with the group, Reuters reported. Sabah is one of Haniyeh's three sisters, all of whom reside in the Israeli town of Tel Sheeva after getting married to Arab Israelis. Sabah was reportedly arrested on April 1 in a joint operation carried out by the police and Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet. As for why, the Times of Israel reports that Sabah sent two WhatsApp messages on October 7 to dozens of contacts including Haniyeh himself, with both of these messages allegedly glorifying the Hamas terror attack which killed around 1,200 Israelis. 

One of the messages which is specifically mentioned in the indictment against her has a line that reads: "Oh God, count them and kill them and don't leave any of them, Oh God."

Additionally, during the raid on her house on April 1, Israeli security forces reportedly uncovered documents and electronic devices that linked her to 'serious security offences."

As such, she has now been charged with three counts of terror incitement and two counts of identifying with a terrorist organisation. The former carries a five-year prison sentence, the former a three-year sentence.