Israeli strike on Gaza hospital kills Hamas leader, teen

An Israeli air strike on a hospital in southern Gaza has killed at least two people, including a senior Hamas official and a 16-year-old boy, Hamas and health officials have said.

Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, was killed while undergoing treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis late on Sunday, Hamas said in a statement.

“We condemn this latest crime, which adds to the occupation’s long record of terrorism, violating sanctities, lives and medical facilities,” the Palestinian armed group said in a statement.

“It reaffirms its disregard for all international laws and conventions and its continued policy of systematic killing against our people and leadership.”

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed that Barhoum had been the target of the attack.

Israel’s military said the attack had been carried out with “precise munitions in order to mitigate harm”, following an “extensive intelligence-gathering process”.

Barhoum’s assassination came just hours after Hamas said Israeli forces had killed Salah al-Bardawil, another member of the group’s political bureau, along with his wife, in a strike on a tent shelter in Khan Younis.

Israel has killed four members of Hamas’s political bureau since Tuesday, when its forces resumed major military operations in the enclave following a weeks-long impasse over the next stage of its ceasefire with Hamas.

Source: Al Jazeera