Israeli airstrike on Nasser hospital kills 2, including Hamas political bureau member Ismail Barhoum

Israel bombed the Nasser Medical Complex, the largest medical facility in southern Gaza, late on Sunday evening, killing Hamas political bureau member Ismail Barhoum and a child, both of whom were receiving treatment in the targeted ward.

Hamas released a statement a few hours later confirming that Barhoum had been assassinated in the airstrike, which rendered the medical facility in Khan Younis inoperative.

Barhoum is the fifth political bureau member to be killed since Israel resumed its military campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18, launching airstrikes from warplanes and drones while closing in on areas in northeast Gaza, Khan Younis and Rafah. The renewed offensive has displaced tens of thousands of people and killed hundreds in just a few days.

The political bureau member was in the hospital's surgery department, where he was undergoing treatment at the facility for critical injuries sustained in an Israeli assault a week prior.

The strike directly targeted the emergency building, killing a child who was also receiving treatment, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Footage widely circulated in the aftermath showed a fire breaking out in the building, causing substantial damage.

Several other senior Hamas officials have been killed in the wave of Israeli airstrikes that began last week, according to the group, which announced the martyrdom of political bureau members Yasser Harb, Mohamed al-Jamassi, Salah al-Bardaweil and Essam al-Daalis, all of whom also headed the Government Follow-up Committee.

Other government figures killed include Deputy Justice Minister Ahmed al-Hatta and Interior Minister Mahmoud Abu Watfah.

Shattering a fragile ceasefire agreement that Israel had violated almost daily, the latest attack marks the deadliest wave of aggression on the strip in months.

Hamas political bureau member Soheil al-Hindi accused Israel of using the ceasefire to “gather intelligence on the resistance and the group’s leadership and members of its political bureau.”

Israel has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians since October 2023, and left more than 113,000 injured, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Since the Occupation renewed its aggression on Gaza six days ago, it has displaced around 65,000 people in Rafah, Khan Younis and northeast Gaza, according to the United Nations. Israel is also enforcing a total blockade on the strip, cutting off around 2.1 million Palestinians from fuel, aid and all external goods and services.

Humanitarian agencies noted that the current siege, now lasting over 20 days, has exceeded the duration of previous blockades imposed between October 7, 2023, and January's ceasefire agreement.