Israeli strike at Gaza hospital kills five

The Israeli military said its attack followed extensive intelligence and used precise munitions to minimise harm.

Hamas said a member of its political office, Ismail Barhoum, was 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 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 that 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 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".

At least 45 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 said the aim of the war was 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 US 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 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

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 US 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.

with reuters