Deputy Head of Hamas's political bureau Ismail Haniya on Thursday consoled over the phone the family of slain Palestinian officer Mazen Arabiya, from Occupied Jerusalem, and hailed their steadfastness and high morale.

Haniya said in his telephone call that the blood of Arabiya and all martyrs of Jerusalem intifada would not go in vain, describing their sacrifices as the path to liberation.

Arabiya, who was a Palestinian Authority intelligence officer and a father of 4, was killed in early December by Israeli soldiers at the entrance of the town of Hizma to the northeast of Jerusalem after he opened fire at them.