Latest news with #Barhoum
United News of India
13-05-2025
- Health
- United News of India
Israeli army says struck Hamas militants in Gaza hospital
World Jerusalem, May 13 (UNI) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday that it conducted a targeted airstrike at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip, early in the morning. According to a statement released by the IDF, the hospital compound "was being used by terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops." The IDF said that Ismail Barhoum, the successor to Hamas' Gaza leadership and also head of its financial and institutional operations, had operated from within the facility. Barhoum was reportedly killed in a prior strike in March. It added that "senior Hamas officials continue to use the hospital for terrorist activity, through cynical and brutal use of the civilian population in the hospital and its surroundings." The statement said the IDF has taken measures to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence. Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that journalist Hassan Eslieh, who was receiving treatment at the hospital, was killed in the Israeli attack, and several patients sustained various injuries as a result of the bombing. UNI XINHUA GNK
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Wounded Palestinians dying over lack of supplies, US surgeon who worked in Gaza says
An American surgeon who's been working in two Gaza hospitals for the past three weeks has said that wounded Palestinian patients have died because of the lack of equipment and supplies. Dr Mark Perlmutter says that doctors have had to work in operating rooms without soap, antibiotics or x-ray facilities, as Israel has resumed its offensive against Hamas in Gaza. A 15-year-old girl who was hit by Israeli machine gun fire while riding her bicycle was one of the many wounded children that Dr Perlmutter said he had to operate on. The Israeli government has said the renewed attacks that its military is carrying out in Gaza are aimed at forcing Hamas to release all the remaining hostages. Dr Perlmutter spoke to the BBC shortly after the end of his second trip to Gaza - the first one was around a year ago. Critical of Israel's conduct in the Strip, he has previously called for an arms embargo and said its attacks on Gaza constitute genocide, which Israel vehemently denies. This time, he worked in Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah in the centre of the territory and then in Nasser hospital in the south of Gaza. He has been working for Humanity Auxilium in Gaza as part of a wider World Health Organization (WHO) programme. He was in Nasser hospital when it was hit by an Israeli air strike, targeting Ismail Barhoum, the Hamas finance chief. Hamas said that Barhoum was being treated for injuries that he suffered in an earlier Israeli attack. The Israeli military denied this, saying he was in the hospital "in order to commit acts of terrorism". Dr Perlmutter has told the BBC that Barhoum was in the hospital to receive further medical treatment. He says that as a patient in hospital, Barhoum had a right to be protected under the Geneva Convention. The human cost of the latest Israeli offensive was exemplified for Dr Perlmutter by two 15-year-olds - including the girl on the bicycle - who were brought into the operating room in each of the hospitals he was working in, a week apart. "They were both macerated and shredded by Apache gunships," Dr Perlmutter says. The girl will, in his words, "be lucky if she keeps three of her limbs". Dr Perlmutter says that people at the scene told the ambulance crew who brought the young girl into the hospital that she was hit by gunfire from an Israeli military helicopter. He says that she had been riding her bicycle by herself and she arrived at the hospital without a backpack or anything else that might have aroused suspicion. Graphic images from the operating table show catastrophic wounds to her leg and arm. The boy was driving in a car with his grandmother after receiving warnings to evacuate from the north, Dr Perlmutter says. "Then the car was attacked by two Apache gunships. The grandmother was shredded at the scene and died," he said. "The boy came in without a foot on his right side, the vascular repair on his left side took five hours - the nerve repair on his left side failed and he had a blackened hand the next day that required amputation at the level of his elbow - his left leg will require multiple surgeries for reconstruction and he has a chest wound. He may not have survived." Dr Perlmutter has also provided graphic photos of the boy's wounds. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it "does not target uninvolved individuals." "The IDF operates in accordance with international law, targeting only military objectives while taking feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians," it told the BBC. The statement also said that the IDF had not been provided with "sufficient information" to directly address the incidents that Dr Perlmutter described. "The IDF takes action to address irregular incidents that deviate from its orders. The IDF examines such incidents and takes appropriate measures where justified," it said. Under such conditions, Dr Perlmutter stressed the commitment and dedication of the Palestinian medical staff - above and beyond the efforts of foreign doctors like himself. "The stress levels on us are not even approachable to what happens even to the Palestinian medical students that work with us, whose stress levels are insane, as with the nurses and the techs in the operating room, let alone the Palestinian surgeons," he said. "They all abandon their families, they volunteer and often work without pay. They work the same hours that we do - and we get to go home in a month, which they don't. They still have to return to the squalor of their tents where there's often 50 people living in a tent built for 20 - and sharing one toilet." Most hospitals across Gaza are out of operation or barely managing to function. Dr Perlmutter compared the medical facilities in Gaza to where he lives in North Carolina. There are multiple trauma centres there, but they would have been overwhelmed, he says, if they had to deal with the mass influx of casualties that resulted from the first day of Israel's resumption of its war against Hamas. "The small community hospital, Al-Aqsa, is a tenth the size of any of the facilities in my home state - maybe smaller - and it did well to manage those horrible injuries - nevertheless, because of lack of equipment, many, many of those patients died, who would certainly not have died at a better equipped hospital," he said. On Saturday the UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described the current situation in Gaza as dire. "All entry points into Gaza are closed for cargo since early March. At the border, food is rotting, medicine expiring and vital medical equipment is stuck," he said. "If the basic principles of humanitarian law still count, the international community must act to uphold them." On 2 March the Israeli government closed border crossings with Gaza and halted humanitarian aid. It said this was in response to what it called the refusal by Hamas of a new US proposal to extend the first stage of the ceasefire and hostage release deal, rather than negotiating a second phase. "When Israel resumed its attacks, it was almost identical to when they bombed incessantly when I was here a year ago," Dr Perlmutter says. "The only difference is now instead of bombing people in buildings, they were bombing people in tents." The Israeli army has regularly claimed that Hamas operates from areas where civilians are taking shelter. It says that it does not target civilians and takes measures to avoid civilian casualties. The International Criminal Court last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes, saying it found reasonable grounds to believe that "each bear criminal responsibility... for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population". They deny this. Israeli attacks have killed more than 15,000 Palestinian children in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry has reported. And since the IDF broke a ceasefire and resumed its strikes on 18 March, 921 Palestinians have been killed, the ministry said. Dr Perlmutter warns that if there are more mass casualty events in Gaza from Israeli attacks, the lack of supplies in the two hospitals he's been working in means that more Palestinians will die from wounds that could have been treated.
BBC News
30-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Israel-Gaza war: Wounded Palestinians dying over lack of supplies, surgeon says
Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find distressingAn American surgeon who's been working in two Gaza hospitals for the past three weeks has said that wounded Palestinian patients have died because of the lack of equipment and Mark Perlmutter says that doctors have had to work in operating rooms without soap, antibiotics or x-ray facilities, as Israel has resumed its offensive against Hamas in Gaza.A 15-year-old girl who was hit by Israeli machine gun fire while riding her bicycle was one of the many wounded children that Dr Perlmutter said he had to operate Israeli government has said the renewed attacks that its military is carrying out in Gaza are aimed at forcing Hamas to release all the remaining hostages. Dr Perlmutter spoke to the BBC shortly after the end of his second trip to Gaza - the first one was around a year ago. Critical of Israel's conduct in the Strip, he has previously called for an arms embargo and said its attacks on Gaza constitute genocide, which Israel vehemently time, he worked in Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah in the centre of the territory and then in Nasser hospital in the south of has been working for Humanity Auxilium in Gaza as part of a wider World Health Organization (WHO) was in Nasser hospital when it was hit by an Israeli air strike, targeting Ismail Barhoum, the Hamas finance said that Barhoum was being treated for injuries that he suffered in an earlier Israeli attack. The Israeli military denied this, saying he was in the hospital "in order to commit acts of terrorism".Dr Perlmutter has told the BBC that Barhoum was in the hospital to receive further medical treatment. He says that as a patient in hospital, Barhoum had a right to be protected under the Geneva Convention. The human cost of the latest Israeli offensive was exemplified for Dr Perlmutter by two 15-year-olds - including the girl on the bicycle - who were brought into the operating room in each of the hospitals he was working in, a week apart."They were both macerated and shredded by Apache gunships," Dr Perlmutter girl will, in his words, "be lucky if she keeps three of her limbs".Dr Perlmutter says that people at the scene told the ambulance crew who brought the young girl into the hospital that she was hit by gunfire from an Israeli military helicopter. He says that she had been riding her bicycle by herself and she arrived at the hospital without a backpack or anything else that might have aroused suspicion. Graphic images from the operating table show catastrophic wounds to her leg and boy was driving in a car with his grandmother after receiving warnings to evacuate from the north, Dr Perlmutter says."Then the car was attacked by two Apache gunships. The grandmother was shredded at the scene and died," he said. "The boy came in without a foot on his right side, the vascular repair on his left side took five hours - the nerve repair on his left side failed and he had a blackened hand the next day that required amputation at the level of his elbow - his left leg will require multiple surgeries for reconstruction and he has a chest wound. He may not have survived."Dr Perlmutter has also provided graphic photos of the boy's a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it "does not target uninvolved individuals.""The IDF operates in accordance with international law, targeting only military objectives while taking feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians," it told the statement also said that the IDF had not been provided with "sufficient information" to directly address the incidents that Dr Perlmutter described."The IDF takes action to address irregular incidents that deviate from its orders. The IDF examines such incidents and takes appropriate measures where justified," it said. Under such conditions, Dr Perlmutter stressed the commitment and dedication of the Palestinian medical staff - above and beyond the efforts of foreign doctors like himself."The stress levels on us are not even approachable to what happens even to the Palestinian medical students that work with us, whose stress levels are insane, as with the nurses and the techs in the operating room, let alone the Palestinian surgeons," he said. "They all abandon their families, they volunteer and often work without pay. They work the same hours that we do - and we get to go home in a month, which they don't. They still have to return to the squalor of their tents where there's often 50 people living in a tent built for 20 - and sharing one toilet."Most hospitals across Gaza are out of operation or barely managing to function. Dr Perlmutter compared the medical facilities in Gaza to where he lives in North Carolina. There are multiple trauma centres there, but they would have been overwhelmed, he says, if they had to deal with the mass influx of casualties that resulted from the first day of Israel's resumption of its war against Hamas."The small community hospital, Al-Aqsa, is a tenth the size of any of the facilities in my home state - maybe smaller - and it did well to manage those horrible injuries - nevertheless, because of lack of equipment, many, many of those patients died, who would certainly not have died at a better equipped hospital," he said. On Saturday the UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described the current situation in Gaza as dire."All entry points into Gaza are closed for cargo since early March. At the border, food is rotting, medicine expiring and vital medical equipment is stuck," he said."If the basic principles of humanitarian law still count, the international community must act to uphold them."On 2 March the Israeli government closed border crossings with Gaza and halted humanitarian aid. It said this was in response to what it called the refusal by Hamas of a new US proposal to extend the first stage of the ceasefire and hostage release deal, rather than negotiating a second phase."When Israel resumed its attacks, it was almost identical to when they bombed incessantly when I was here a year ago," Dr Perlmutter says. "The only difference is now instead of bombing people in buildings, they were bombing people in tents."The Israeli army has regularly claimed that Hamas operates from areas where civilians are taking shelter. It says that it does not target civilians and takes measures to avoid civilian casualties. The International Criminal Court last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes, saying it found reasonable grounds to believe that "each bear criminal responsibility... for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population". They deny attacks have killed more than 15,000 Palestinian children in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry has since the IDF broke a ceasefire and resumed its strikes on 18 March, 921 Palestinians have been killed, the ministry Perlmutter warns that if there are more mass casualty events in Gaza from Israeli attacks, the lack of supplies in the two hospitals he's been working in means that more Palestinians will die from wounds that could have been treated.
Asharq Al-Awsat
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Who Remains in Hamas' Political Bureau after Numerous Killings?
Israel has intensified assassinations targeting senior members of Hamas' political bureau in Gaza, posing a major challenge for the group to fill organizational gaps amid ongoing security pressures and relentless Israeli pursuit. This week, Israel killed two prominent Hamas political leaders in Gaza—Salah al-Bardawil and Ismail Barhoum—bringing the total number of slain bureau members to five since the Israeli military resumed its bombardment of the enclave last Tuesday. Before Bardawil and Barhoum were killed within 24 hours in an airstrike on Khan Younis in southern Gaza, three other political bureau members—Mohammed al-Jamassi, Issam al-Da'alis, and Yasser Harb—were assassinated in separate attacks carried out simultaneously when Israel resumed its offensive on March 18. Bardawil was part of Hamas' National Relations Office, while Barhoum oversaw financial affairs. Jamassi served in the legal department and held a general membership position. Da'alis, a Gaza-based member, initially led the economic department before managing governmental affairs. Harb was part of the Gaza office, responsible for organizational administration in the northern Gaza Strip. High-Profile Assassinations At the start of Israel's military campaign following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, Israeli forces struggled to locate senior Hamas leaders. However, after several months, Israel launched a series of targeted assassinations, some occurring in rapid succession. Among the most prominent figures killed was Hamas' political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran in July 2024. His deputy, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in Beirut in January of the same year. Yahya Sinwar, who succeeded Haniyeh as Hamas' overall leader after serving as the group's political chief in Gaza, was killed during clashes with Israeli forces in Rafah's Tel al-Sultan neighborhood on October 16, 2024. Israeli forces only identified him after his death. Before the recent wave of killings, Israel had already targeted several high-ranking Hamas figures. Zakaria Abu Maamar and Jawad Abu Shamala were killed on October 10, 2023—just three days after Hamas' attack on Israeli towns near Gaza. Both died in an Israeli airstrike on a building in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Abu Maamar headed the National Relations Office within Hamas' political bureau in Gaza and was also a member of the group's general bureau. Abu Shamala, a political bureau member in Gaza, handled security affairs. On October 19, Israel assassinated Jamila Al-Shanti, a member of both the political bureau in Gaza and the general bureau, in an airstrike north of Gaza City. On the same day, Osama al-Muzaini, a Gaza-based political bureau member and head of the group's Shura Council in the enclave, was killed when an Israeli strike hit an apartment in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood. In March 2024, Israel killed Marwan Issa, a senior Hamas political bureau member, in an airstrike targeting a tunnel in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Issa, who reportedly had cancer, was a key link between Hamas' political and military wings, serving as deputy commander of the group's armed branch, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. In August 2024, Israel assassinated Rouhi Mushtaha and Samih al-Sarraj, both members of Hamas' political bureau in Gaza, in an airstrike on a tunnel in the industrial zone south of Gaza City. Hamas Political Bureau Structure Hamas traditionally elects members to a general political bureau and separate regional bureaus for Gaza, the West Bank, and abroad. Some members serve in both their regional bureau and the general bureau, depending on the votes they receive. In previous years, the general political bureau comprised 17 members, but this number increased to 24 during the last two election cycles. Each region maintains at least 10 representatives, though the number can vary based on field conditions, particularly in the West Bank. Following the recent assassinations, the remaining general political bureau members from Gaza include Khalil al-Hayya, Nizar Awadallah, Mahmoud al-Zahar, Ghazi Hamad, Fathi Hammad, and Suhail al-Hindi. Gaza's regional bureau still includes Ibrahim Sabra and Kamal Abu Aoun. Among the remaining senior members of the Gaza-based political bureau, Hayya, Awadallah, Hamad, Hammad, and al-Hindi have been living outside Gaza since before the start of the Israeli war. Other prominent figures in the general political bureau include Khaled Meshaal, Musa Abu Marzouk, Mohammad Nazzal, Izzat al-Rishq, Zaher Jabarin, Mahmoud Mardawi, and other unnamed individuals whose identities Hamas keeps confidential for security reasons. The political bureau is the highest executive body within Hamas, responsible for making final decisions within the movement. Critical decisions are made by consensus between the political bureau and the Shura Council, a body composed of 50 members.
Gulf Insider
25-03-2025
- Health
- Gulf Insider
Hamas Commander Known As 'Prime Minister Of Gaza'
Amid its ongoing air and ground campaign in Gaza, renewed after the collapse of the ceasefire with Hamas earlier this month, Israel has conducted a string of assassinations of Hamas top leadership. Hamas commander Ismail Barhoum was widely dubbed the 'Prime Minister of Gaza' and was killed Sunday night amid expanded airstrikes across the Strip. Israel's military (IDF) said a 'precision strike' took him out at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza's Khan Younis. An Israeli statement called him 'key Hamas terrorist' – and the Palestinian group has since confirmed his death. At the time of the strike on the hospital wing, Barhoum had been undergoing treatment for injuries sustained in a previous airstrike. Israeli media had tallied that since last Tuesday, he's the fourth member of Hamas's political bureau to have been killed. Prime Minister Netanyahu has vowed to wipe out Hamas, and ensure it can never control Gaza again. According to the Times of Israel , 'Out of the 20 members of Hamas's political bureau elected in 2021, 11 have been assassinated during the war in Gaza. Seven are either certain or highly likely to be outside the Gaza Strip.' The war which has been going on since the Hamas terror attack of Oct.7, 2023 has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Gaza sources have announced a grim milestone on Monday: More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel's war with Hamas began, the territory's health ministry said Sunday, a grim milestone for a war with no end in sight as Israel resumes fighting and warns of even tougher days ahead. The ministry on Sunday reported 41 more deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the toll to 50,021. Authorities in Gaza do not distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters when reporting casualty figures, but the health ministry and the United Nations say the majority of deaths are women and children. And the true toll could be much higher, with many thousands believed to still be under the rubble. These figures have been greatly disputed, especially in Israeli and American media. Israel has in the recent past said that some 17-20,000 among the total dead were Hamas fighters. Leaked 2008 U.S. cable reveals Israel's Gaza power blockade isn't just a wartime measure—it's part of a long-term strategy to restrict essential supplies and keep Gaza 'on the brink of collapse' dating back well before Oct 7. Now, with Trump bypassing Israel to engage Hamas… — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 12, 2025 The White House earlier this month said it was notified in advance that the IDF would renew the Gaza bombing campaign. And on the question of the enclave's future, US National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes has said: 'Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordinance.' Click here to read more Also read: Israeli Troops, Tanks Start New Ground Offensive In Gaza
