Israel kills Hamas official in Gaza, mobilises ground forces

An Israeli airstrike killed a Hamas political leader in Gaza, the militant group said on Sunday, and the Israeli military announced it had mobilised more ground forces for possible activity in the Palestinian enclave.

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.

Hamas said an airstrike on Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, killed Salah al-Bardaweel and his wife. The Israeli military confirmed on Sunday that it had killed the Hamas official on Saturday.

Bardaweel was a member of the Hamas decision-making body, the political office, and had held posts such as heading the Hamas delegation for indirect truce talks with Israel in 2009.

Hours later, the military said that 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."

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.

At least 40 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes on Rafah and Khan Younis so far on Sunday, health authorities said, most of them in Israeli strikes in khan Younis and Rafah.

Palestinian officials on Sunday put the death toll from nearly 18 months of conflict at over 50,000.

The Israeli military said that 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 repeatedly said the main 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.

Netanyahu said he had spoken on Sunday to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio who voiced support for Israel's actions in Gaza.

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.

TEL AL-SULTAN SURROUNDED

Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement by refusing to begin negotiations for an end to the war and a withdrawal of its troops from Gaza. But Hamas has said it is still willing to negotiate and was studying "bridging" 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.