DaysofPal- An Israeli airstrike on a hospital in southern Gaza on Sunday night has killed at least two, including a senior Hamas official and a 16-year-old boy, according to health officials and Hamas sources.
Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, was undergoing treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis when the attack struck.
Hamas confirmed his death in a statement, condemning the airstrike as a crime that added to Israel’s history of targeting civilians and medical facilities.
“We condemn this latest crime, which adds to the occupation’s long record of terrorism, violating sanctities, lives, and medical facilities,” Hamas declared.
“It reaffirms its disregard for all international laws and conventions and its continued policy of systematic killing against our people and leadership.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that Barhoum was the intended target of the strike, while Israel’s military stated that the attack was carried out with “precise munitions” following an extensive intelligence-gathering process.
Barhoum’s death followed closely on the heels of another Israeli strike in Khan Younis, which resulted in the deaths of Salah al-Bardawil, another Hamas political bureau member, and his wife.
Since the resumption of Israeli military operations in Gaza earlier this week, at least four senior Hamas officials have been killed.
In addition to Barhoum and al-Bardawil, at least eight other people were injured in the hospital airstrike, all of whom had been receiving medical care for prior injuries. Doctors at Nasser Hospital reported significant damage to the medical facility, spending hours extinguishing fires in the targeted department.
Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon at Nasser Hospital, described the devastation. “I operated on the 16-year-old boy killed in the attack. He had undergone abdominal surgery on March 18 and was expected to be discharged soon, but now he’s dead,” Sidhwa said.
The surgeon also noted that the male surgical ward was entirely destroyed, rendering it unusable. “The entire electrical system was destroyed. Every door was blown off its hinges, most of the windows shattered, and the ceiling collapsed. It’s completely unusable. The ward will need to be rebuilt from scratch.”
Sidhwa criticized the targeting of the hospital, emphasizing the unacceptable nature of such attacks. “You don’t bomb hospitals,” he said. “Everybody knows that.”
As the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, local sources report that hospitals are overwhelmed, with shortages in medical supplies exacerbated by the ongoing closure of border crossings for over three weeks.
“The situation is escalating in various parts of Gaza, especially in Beit Lahia and Rafah,” said one source.
The official death toll in Gaza since the conflict’s escalation has surpassed 50,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, though many experts believe the true number may be much higher. More than 600 people have killed since Israeli forces resumed their offensive in Gaza, with dozens more killed in the past 24 hours alone.
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