Israel resumed heavy attacks on Gaza earlier this week, effectively ending a nearly two-month ceasefire.
Israeli Strike Kills Top Hamas Leader, Death Toll Exceeds 50,000. Senior Hamas political leader Salah Bardaweel has been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Locals said the strike also killed Bardaweel’s wife as she prayed in her tent.
Bardaweel, 66, was considered Hamas’s most senior political leader after the deaths of Yahya Sinwar and Rawi Mushtaha in the ongoing conflict. A father of eight, he was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp and was known for his close ties to Sinwar. He previously headed Hamas’s parliamentary bloc and was re-elected to the group’s political bureau in 2021.
The airstrike was one of the heaviest waves of Israeli bombardment in southern Gaza since a ceasefire ended last Tuesday. At least 30 people were killed in Khan Younis and Rafah on Sunday alone, according to health officials in Gaza’s Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The total death toll since the war began in Gaza has now surpassed 50,000.
Israel resumed heavy attacks on Gaza earlier this week, effectively ending a nearly two-month ceasefire. Israeli officials accused Hamas of rejecting a new US-backed proposal to extend the ceasefire, while Hamas accused Israel of abandoning the original deal brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US. The original deal included the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the release of hostages and prisoners and negotiations for a long-term peace settlement.
As the conflict escalates, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to “seize additional territory” in Gaza, signaling a further expansion of Israeli operations in Gaza.
