Hamas female leader dies of illness in Gaza

A female lawmaker of Islamic Hamas movement, known as "mother of struggle," died of illness in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, Hamas' parliamentary bloc said. Mariam Farhat, 64, died 24 hours after she returned from Egypt, where she had received hepatitis treatment. Farhat became a star in Gaza with the nickname of "mother of struggle" or "mother of martyrs," after three of her sons, all Hamas militants, were killed by Israeli fire in separate incidents. In 2002, she appeared in a homemade video to bid farewell to her 17-year-old son who was about to embark on an attack against Israeli targets. Her son managed to infiltrate into an Israeli settlement in southern Gaza and killed five students before he was shot dead.