An Israeli airstrike on a hospital in southern Gaza has resulted in the deaths of at least two individuals, including a high-ranking Hamas official and a 16-year-old boy. The attack occurred late Sunday at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, was receiving treatment.
Hamas confirmed Barhoum’s death in a statement, expressing outrage over what they described as a crime against civilians and a violation of international laws. They accused Israel of a long history of terrorism and systematic killings against the Palestinian people.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz acknowledged that Barhoum was the intended target of the strike. The Israeli military claimed the attack was conducted with precision to minimize collateral damage, asserting that Hamas uses civilian facilities to plan attacks, thus endangering the Gazan population.
This strike followed another deadly attack by Israeli forces that killed Salah al-Bardawil, another Hamas political leader, along with his wife, just hours earlier. Since resuming military operations in the region, Israel has reportedly killed four members of Hamas’s political bureau.
Witnesses reported seeing a large fireball erupt from the hospital, where at least eight other patients were injured. Medical staff at Nasser Hospital described the situation as dire, with hospitals overwhelmed and lacking essential medical supplies due to the ongoing blockade.
Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon at the hospital, shared that the young boy killed was one of his patients, who had recently undergone surgery. He lamented the destruction of the surgical ward and criticized the targeting of medical facilities, emphasizing that hospitals should never be attacked.
The violence in Gaza has escalated significantly, with Palestinian health officials reporting over 600 deaths in the last few days alone. The overall death toll since the beginning of the current conflict has surpassed 50,000, a number that many experts believe may be an undercount.
As the situation continues to unfold, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens, with medical facilities struggling to cope and the population facing increasing dangers.