Senior Hamas leader killed in Israeli airstrike on southern Gaza

Senior Hamas official and Palestinian lawmaker Salah al-Bardawil was killed in an Israeli airstrike on western Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, the Palestinian group announced on Sunday.

Hamas stated that Bardawil, a member of its political bureau and a deputy in the Palestinian Legislative Council, was killed in a "targeted strike while observing night prayers in his tent in the Al-Mawasi area." His wife was also killed in the attack, the group added.

The airstrike was part of an ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which has intensified in recent days.

Hamas condemned the attack as a "cowardly Zionist attack" and said Israel is "committing war crimes within a systematic campaign of massacres" in Gaza.

More than 700 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,000 injured in a surprise aerial campaign by Israel on Gaza since Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

Nearly 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 113,000 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.