By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike at a hospital in Gaza on Sunday killed five people, including a Hamas political leader, Palestinian medics and Hamas said, in an attack Israel said had targeted a key figure in the militant group.
The Gaza Health Ministry said the strike hit the surgery department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. The Israeli military said its attack followed extensive intelligence and used precise munitions to minimize harm at the site.
Hamas said a member of its political office, Ismail Barhoum, had been killed.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, confirmed the target was Barhoum. The military did not name the target, which it described only as "a key terrorist" in Hamas.
Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV said Barhoum was being treated at the hospital for wounds sustained in a previous attack. Israel says Hamas systematically embeds in hospitals, schools and shelters, which the group denies.
Video on social media showed a fire blazing on the third storey of what appeared to be the hospital. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.
After two months of relative calm in the war, Gazans have again been fleeing for their lives after Israel effectively abandoned a ceasefire, launching a new all-out air and ground campaign on Tuesday against Hamas.
Another leader in Hamas, Salah al-Bardaweel, was killed in a separate strike in Khan Younis, Hamas said earlier. The Israeli military confirmed it had killed Bardaweel on Saturday.
Both Bardaweel and Barhoum were members of the 19-member Hamas decision-making body, the political office, 11 of whom have been killed since the start of the war in late 2023, according to Hamas sources.
Explosions echoed throughout the north, central and southern Gaza Strip early on Sunday, as Israeli planes hit targets in those areas in what witnesses said was an escalation of the attacks that began earlier in the week.
Signalling it could escalate its actions further, the Israeli military said on Sunday one of its divisions that had operated in Lebanon, where Israel fought Hamas’ Iranian-backed ally Hezbollah, was preparing for possible action in Gaza.
It distributed video of tanks unloaded in a field and a caption that read: "Preparations of the 36th Division for Operations in the Gaza Strip."
At least 45 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes on Rafah and Khan Younis so far on Sunday, health authorities said.
Palestinian officials on Sunday put the death toll from nearly 18 months of conflict at over 50,000.
The Israeli military said it does its best to reduce harm to civilians and questioned the death toll provided by health authorities in the Hamas-run territory.
Most of the dead in Gaza have been civilians, according to health officials. Israel says they include around 20,000 fighters. Hamas does not disclose casualty figures.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the aim of the war is to destroy Hamas as a military and governing entity. The aim of the new campaign is to force the group to give up remaining hostages, he said on Tuesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Netanyahu to "emphasize U.S. support for Israel," a State Department spokesperson said. They discussed Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza, efforts to bring hostages home and U.S. strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, the spokesperson added.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
"Israel’s military offensive has caused an appalling loss of life," said European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. "As long as this war continues, both sides lose."
Kallas added Israel must respect civilian lives and that threats to annex parts of Gaza were unacceptable.
TEL AL-SULTAN SURROUNDED
Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement but has said it is still willing to negotiate a ceasefire and was studying proposals from U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation warning for residents in the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah.
The military said troops had encircled Tel Al-Sultan to dismantle "terror infrastructure sites and eliminate terrorists in the area," in order to reinforce control and expand the security zone in southern Gaza.
It said soldiers were allowing the evacuation of civilians from the combat zone via organised routes for their safety.
Dozens of families quit their homes in Tel Al-Sultan heading northward to Khan Younis, some on foot, while others carried their belongings and children on donkey carts and rickshaws.
"When the ceasefire began, we returned to put up tents next to the ruins of our homes, dreaming that soon our homes would be rebuilt," said Abu Khaled, a Rafah resident.
"Now we are fleeing under fire for maybe the 10th time, when will we ever rest? When will there ever be peace in this city?" he told Reuters via a chat app.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said 50,000 residents remained trapped in Rafah after they were surprised by an Israeli army raid into their areas, warning their lives, and those of rescue teams, were at risk.
Palestinian and international officials also warned about the risk of a new hunger crisis.
"Every day without food inches Gaza closer to an acute hunger crisis. Banning aid is a collective punishment on Gaza: the vast majority of its population are children, women & ordinary men," the head of the United Nations agency on Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, posted on X.
On March 2, Israel blocked the entry of goods into Gaza and Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser, Ophir Falk, accused Hamas of taking aid for its own use, a charge Hamas has previously denied.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell. Additional reporting by Jaidaa Taha, Muhammad Al Gebaly in Cairo; Editing by David Gregorio, William Mallard, Alison Williams, Elaine Hardcastle and Giles Elgood)