Salah al-Bardawil, head of Hamas and the Palestinian legislator, was killed on an Israeli air strike on Western Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Palestinian group announced on Sunday.
Hamas said Bardawil, a member of his political bureau and assistant to the Palestinian Legislative Council, was killed in a “targeted strike while observing night prayers in his tent in the Al-Mawasi region”. His wife was also killed in the attack, added the group.
The air strike was part of an Israeli bombardment in the course of Gaza, which has intensified in recent days.
Hamas condemned the attack as a “loose Zionist attack” and said that Israel “commits war crimes in a systematic massacres campaign” in Gaza.
More than 700 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,000 injured in a surprised air campaign by Israel in Gaza since Tuesday, breaking a cease-fire and prisoner exchange agreement that arose in January.
Nearly 50,000 Palestinians were killed, mainly women and children, and more than 113,000 injured in a brutal Israeli military assault for Gaza since October 2023.
The International Criminal Court published arrest mandates last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for his war against the enclave.
