An Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip late Saturday killed Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardawil, the military and the Palestinian terror group confirmed Sunday.

Bardawil was a well-known member of the terror group’s political wing who gave media interviews over the years.

In a statement, the terror group accused Israel of assassinating Bardawil and his wife with a drone strike on a tent shelter in Khan Younis, in the south of the Palestinian enclave, overnight. “His blood, that of his wife and martyrs, will remain fueling the battle of liberation and independence. The criminal enemy will not break our determination and will,” said the terror group Sunday morning.

The Israel Defense Forces in a later statement confirmed it had killed Bardawil.

According to the IDF, Bardawil, who headed the terror group’s planning and development ministry, led Hamas’s strategic and military planning, including amid the war.

His killing was a “blow to the functioning of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities,” the IDF added.

Bardawil was the third Hamas political official to have been killed in renewed Israeli airstrikes. The terror group’s de facto government head Issam Da’alis and internal security chief Mahmoud Abu Watfa were killed on Tuesday, along with several other officials.

Many other members of the politburo were killed earlier in the fighting, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly saying that one of the main aims of the war is to destroy Hamas both as a military and a governing entity. The war was sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Hamas-run medical authorities in Gaza said that at least 19 people, including Bardawil, were killed in strikes overnight. Tolls issued by Hamas authorities cannot be independently verified or confirmed and do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

Witnesses said explosions were heard across the Strip on Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday.

On Sunday morning the........

© The Times of Israel