Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
23-03-2025
GAZA STRIP: An Israeli air strike in the southern city of Khan Younis in Gaza has killed top Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas official told media on Sunday.
Locals say the air strike killed both Bardaweel, a member of the group’s political office, and his wife.
Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
Israel’s military resumed significant strikes on Gaza on Tuesday, blaming Hamas, abandoning a ceasefire agreement that began on 19 January and ended almost two months of calm.
Hamas rejected the Israeli accusations and, in turn, accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement that was signed and brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US.
An official in the Hamas-run health ministry said 32 Palestinians had been killed over the past 24 hours across various parts of the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, Hamas said Bardaweel had been praying along with his wife when an Israeli missile struck their tent, according to media.
Previously a spokesperson for Hamas, he was a recognizable figure, Bardaweel often made appearances on local media.
He is one of around ten Hamas officials reported to have been killed since Israel restarted military operations in Gaza on Tuesday.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
More than 49,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says, and there is large-scale destruction to homes and infrastructure in the Strip.
Israel’s defence minister has told the military to “seize additional areas in Gaza” and threatened to permanently occupy parts of it, if Hamas does not free all remaining hostages.
Israel Katz said that the military would continue its ground operation in Gaza “with increasing intensity” until all of the hostages “both living and dead” were returned.
It is thought 24 of the 59 hostages still held in Gaza are alive, but their fate remains in the balance after negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire deal failed to progress.
The fragile ceasefire that had been in place since January ended this week as Israel resumed its ground campaign and bombing of Gaza, killing hundreds of people.
The situation in the Strip has been described as “gravely, gravely concerning” with “absolutely desperate tragedies occurring all over Gaza” by Sam Rose from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa.
Israel and the US have accused Hamas of rejecting proposals to extend the ceasefire. Hamas has said it is “engaging with the mediators with full responsibility and seriousness”.
However, Katz said in a statement on Friday that “the more Hamas continues its refusal, the more territory it will lose to Israel”.
Katz added that Israel still agreed to a proposal, which was brought by US envoy Steve Witkoff, “to release all the kidnapped, both living and dead, in advance and in two stages with a ceasefire in between”.
“We will intensify the fighting with strikes from the air, sea and land and by expanding the ground manoeuvre until the hostages are released and Hamas is defeated,” Katz wrote.
The defence minister also said Israel would “implement US President Trump’s voluntary transfer plan for Gaza residents”. (Int’l News Desk)
