The civil defense in Gaza announced on Sunday that an Israeli air strike affected the Nasser hospital in Khan Younès, in the south of the Palestinian territory where the Israeli army has resumed its bombings. A source in Hamas told AFP that the strike had killed Ismaïl Barhoum, a member of the political bureau of the Islamist movement.
For its part, the Israeli army confirmed that it had led a “precision strike on a key terrorist in Hamas who operated inside the Nasser Hospital complex”. According to her, the Palestinian Islamist movement “exploits civil infrastructure by endangering the population of Gaza”.
⭕️ A senior Hamas official, who operated from Nasser Hospital in Gaza, was precisely eliminated.
The operation was carried out on the basis of precise information and with precision ammunition, in order to minimize collateral damage.
Hamas exploits … pic.twitter.com/kGR4GIM70H
– Farl (@syashal_idf) March 23, 2025
“Israeli planes have targeted the emergency department of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younès,” said the emergency rescue service, without immediately specifying if this strike had made victims.
Two dead, according to the Ministry of Health of Hamas
The Hamas Ministry of Health said in a statement that the strike had targeted “the surgical building inside the Nasser medical complex, which houses many patients and injured” and that a “important fire” had declared it. In another press release, he said that at least two people were killed.
According to the source within Hamas, which required anonymity, Ismaïl Barhoum was in the hospital where “he was treated after being seriously injured during an air strike on his home in Khan Younès on Tuesday”, when the Israeli army had launched an intense strike operation on the territory after two months of truce.
Since Tuesday, several senior Hamas officials have been killed in Israeli strikes.