Gaza/Jerusalem: The Israeli army has killed Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’ politburo, and at least four other Palestinians in an airstrike on the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian medical sources and eyewitnesses.
Local sources and eyewitnesses told Xinhua news agency on Sunday that an Israeli drone targeted the second floor of the emergency building in the complex, where the surgery department is located, with at least one missile, causing a large fire.
Medics confirmed to Xinhua that medical workers immediately recovered the bodies of five people, including Barhoum, along with a number of injured persons, some in critical condition.
“The Israeli army targeted the surgery building inside the Nasser Medical Complex a short while ago, which housed many patients and wounded, and a large fire broke out there,” Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement in the evening.
Later, Hamas confirmed the death of Barhoum, saying he was receiving treatment in a hospital ward when the attack happened, Xinhua news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces said Sunday night that they launched an attack on the Nasser Hospital compound in southern Gaza, claiming they targeted a Hamas official.
In a joint statement, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet domestic security agency described the official as a “key” Hamas militant, who was “operating inside the Nasser Hospital compound” in Khan Younis, without providing the official’s name and identity.
They added that “the strike was conducted following an extensive intelligence-gathering process and with precise munitions, in order to mitigate harm to the surrounding environment as much as possible”.
The strike comes after Israeli operations intensified in southern Gaza, with the military saying earlier on Sunday that it had encircled an entire district and ordered evacuations.
he Israeli military resumed air and ground operations in Gaza earlier this week, blamed on Hamas for refusing to agree to revised terms on extending the first phase of the ceasefire. Gaza health officials meanwhile said the toll from the fighting since October 7, 2023, has passed 50,000.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz in a statement hailed the killing of Barhoum, saying he was “the new Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza, who replaced Issam Da’alis, the previous Prime Minister who was eliminated a few days ago”.
He was at least the fourth member of Hamas’s political bureau killed since last Tuesday, when Israel resumed airstrikes in the territory after an impasse over continuing a ceasefire. Earlier Sunday, an Israeli airstrike near Khan Younis killed Salah al-Bardawil, another senior member of its political bureau.
Barhoum was a member of Hamas’s political wing and had been involved in financial activities for the terror group, according to the European Union, which placed sanctions on him last year. He was also reported to have dealt with Hamas’s finances.
Out of the 20 members of Hamas’s political bureau elected in 2021, 11 have been assassinated during the war in Gaza. Seven are either certain or highly likely to be outside the Gaza Strip.
In a separate announcement on Sunday, the IDF and Shin Bet security agency said two senior Hamas military wing commanders had been killed in recent airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.
Nasser Medical Complex is the second-largest hospital in Gaza and has been subjected to several Israeli attacks since the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023.
(IANS)
