An Israeli air strike on the southern metropolis of Khan Younis in Gaza has killed prime Hamas political chief Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas official has advised the BBC.
Locals say the air strike killed each Bardaweel, considered Hamas’s highest-ranking political chief, and his spouse. Israeli officers had no quick remark.
Well being authorities within the Hamas-run Palestinian territory mentioned at the least 18 folks had been killed in Khan Yunis and additional south in Rafah thus far on Sunday.
Israel resumed heavy strikes on Gaza earlier this week – in impact ending the primary section of a ceasefire that lasted nearly two months. It blamed Hamas for rejecting a brand new US proposal to increase the truce.
Hamas, in flip, accused Israel of abandoning the unique deal – mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US. It envisaged the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the following launch of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners – along with negotiations to finish the warfare totally and reconstruct Gaza.
In an announcement on Sunday, Hamas mentioned Bardaweel, 66, had been praying alongside along with his spouse when an Israeli missile struck their tent.
A father of eight, Bardaweel was certainly one of Hamas’s most distinguished political figures.
Born in Khan Younis refugee camp, he was identified to be near Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and is taken into account a part of the second technology of Hamas management, following the motion’s founders.
He headed the political wing of Hamas’s parliamentary bloc and was re-elected to the group’s political bureau in 2021.
Following the killing of Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha throughout the ongoing warfare, Bardaweel was considered Hamas’s highest-ranking political chief.
The air strike that killed Bardaweel was a part of one of the vital intense waves of aerial bombardment in southern Gaza because the collapse of the ceasefire settlement final Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Crimson Crescent Society advised the BBC that Israeli forces had been surrounding a number of of the organisation’s ambulances as they tried to achieve an space hit by an Israeli strike in Rafah.
He added that a number of paramedics had been wounded, and get in touch with had been misplaced with one of many trapped groups, which has been besieged for hours.
The Israeli army issued evacuation orders for residents of the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah after the realm was hit by heavy shelling and a restricted floor assault.
The assault included tank hearth from Israeli forces positioned alongside the Philadelphi Hall on the border with Egypt, and helicopters additionally took half within the assault.
Alaa al-Din Sabah, a resident of the neighbourhood, mentioned in a voice message to the BBC: “Bullets are raining down on us prefer it’s pouring. A girl was shot and is bleeding. Ambulances could not attain her.”
“I can see one of many paramedics mendacity on the bottom, screaming.”
The Israeli army launched a marketing campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border assault on 7 October 2023, wherein about 1,200 folks had been killed and 251 had been taken hostage.
Greater than 49,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run well being ministry says, and there’s large-scale destruction to properties and infrastructure within the Strip.
