 "Israeli airstrike at Gaza hospital kills 5, including 'key' political leader of Hamas")
As the ongoing Israel-Hamas war continues to escalate after a brief ceasefire , reports are emerging that an Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital killed five people, including Hamas’s political leader. The Palestinian militant group confirmed the attack on Sunday as they accused the Jewish nation of targeting key figures in Hamas, Reuters reported.
The Gaza health ministry later noted that the Israeli strike hit the surgery department at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Meanwhile, the Israeli military clarified that the attack followed extensive intelligence and used precise munition to minimise the harm to the civilians at the site.
In their statement, Hamas noted that the attack killed a member of its political office, named Ismail Barhoum. Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz later confirmed that Barhoum was targeted in the attack but only referred to him as “a key terrorist” in Hamas and not by his name. Hamas’s al-Aqsa TV noted that the group’s key figure was being treated at the hospital for the wounds he sustained in a previous Israeli attack.
After 2 months of calm Palestinians flee for their lives
It is pertinent to note that Israel has often accused Hamas of systematically embedding personnel in hospitals, schools and shelters, an accusation which the Palestinian group has frequently denied. Several videos from the Sunday incident circulated online that showed a massive fire blazing on the third storey of what appeared to be the hospital.
After two months of relative calm in the region, Palestinians in Gaza have once again started fleeing from their homes as Israel continues to pound the coastal enclave. Last week, another Hamas leader, Salah al-Bardaweel, was killed in a separate strike in Khan Younis. The Israeli military eventually confirmed that it had killed Bardaweel on Saturday.
Both Bardaweel and Barhoum were members of the 19-member Hamas decision-making body, out of which 11 have been killed since the start of the war in 2023, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, multiple explosions echoed through the north, central and southern Gaza Strip early on Sunday as Israeli planes hit targets in those areas.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsOn the same day, the Israeli military said that one of its divisions that had operated in Lebanon, where Israel had fought Hamas’s Iranian-backed ally, Hezbollah, was preparing for possible action in Gaza. The Israel Defence Force (IDF) shared a video of tanks unloading in a field with the caption reading: “Preparations of the 36th Division for Operations in the Gaza Strip.”
On Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry noted that at least 45 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Rafah and Khan Younis. They also confirmed that the death toll in the 18-month-long war has surpassed the 50,000 mark. While responding to the figure, the Israeli military said it did its best to reduce harm to civilians and questioned the death toll provided by health authorities in the Hamas-run territory.
With inputs from Reuters.
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