A senior Hamas leader, Salah al-Bardaweel, was killed along with his wife in an Israeli airstrike on the southern city of Khan Younis early Sunday, a Hamas official confirmed.
The attack comes amid intensified Israeli bombardment across the besieged Palestinian enclave, with at least 32 people killed in the past 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The airstrike targeted a residential area where Bardaweel, a senior member of Hamas' political bureau, was reportedly praying in a tent with his wife when the missile struck. Israeli authorities have not yet commented on the strike.
The renewed escalation follows the breakdown of a ceasefire agreement that had been in place since January 19. Israel resumed its military operations on Tuesday, accusing Hamas of violating the truce.
Hamas, however, has rejected the allegations and blamed Israel for abandoning the agreement brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States.
Meanwhile, heavy Israeli air raids continued across Gaza, with intense bombardment reported in Khan Younis and Rafah, where residential buildings were flattened, leaving several civilians trapped under the rubble. Civil defense teams are struggling to rescue survivors amid the ongoing attacks.
In central Gaza, bombings were reported in the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps, while massive explosions were heard from the Netzarim Corridor.
Israeli drones and fighter jets have been flying at low altitudes, causing sonic booms that have triggered panic among already displaced families.
The war, now in its sixth month, was triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed, and 251 taken hostage.
Since then, more than 49,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, with widespread destruction to homes and infrastructure, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
