Palestinian group Hamas confirmed Sunday that one of its senior leaders has been killed alongside his wife in southern Gaza.
Salah al-Bardawil, 65, and his wife were killed in a camp in al-Mawasi, near Khan Yunis, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement.
He is the third member of the political bureau to be killed since Israel resumed air strikes on Tuesday, after Yasser Harb and Essam al-Dalis, the head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.
Bardawil, born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp, joined Hamas when it was founded in 1987, serving as a spokesman before rising through the ranks and being elected to the political bureau in 2021.
He spoke against security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, and supported armed struggle against Israel.
Detained by Israel in 1993 and interrogated for 70 days, according to Hamas, Bardawil was also arrested several times by the security forces of the Palestinian Authority.
In the flare-up since last week, Hamas has also announced the deaths of interior ministry head Mahmud Abu Watfa, and Bahjat Abu Sultan, the director general of the Internal Security Services.
Hamas sources said on Sunday that Mohammed Hassan al-Amur, the bodyguard of slain leader Yahya Sinwar, was killed in an overnight strike on his home in Khan Yunis.
Salah al-Bardawil, 65, and his wife were killed in a camp in al-Mawasi, near Khan Yunis
Palestinians inspect the destruction at the site of the assassination of Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardawil and his wife in their tent in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on March 23, 2025
Bardawil, born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp, joined Hamas when it was founded in 1987
Sinwar, known as the architect of the horrific October 7 attack was killed on October 16 after being hunted by intelligence services and the Israeli Defence Forces for over a year.
The 61-year-old – dubbed the Butcher of Khan Younis – was finally taken out apparently by chance after an hour-long firefight of trainee soldiers on a routine operation in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip.
The strike sent a shock wave across the region – with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declaring at the time: ‘Hamas is alive and will remain alive.’
During the fierce battle, two militants fled to one building while Sinwar – whose identity was not known by the Israelis until much later – escaped to another.
In a graphic display of the intensity of the encounter, the Hamas leader was found with electric cable tied in a makeshift tourniquet around his arm, which was wounded by shrapnel from a small missile or tank shell.
An autopsy later found his death was caused by a single gunshot to his head.
It was not known who fired the bullet or what kind of weapon was used to deliver the fatal blow.
After the dust had cleared, Israeli soldiers realised the body found in the rubble of the now-blown apart building bore a striking resemlance to Sinwar.
They cut off one of his fingers to confirm his identity.
According to the Israeli military, Sinwar had been forced out of the underground lair where he was cowering as they covertly closed off streets and blew up tunnels in the area.
Hamas has been considerably weakened by the deaths of many of its leaders, both inside and outside the Gaza Strip, since the start of the war triggered by its deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The head of Hamas’s political wing, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran on July 31, 2024, in an explosion claimed by Israel.
The architect of the October 7 massacre and Israel ‘s most wanted man, Sinwar was killed in October after being hunted by intelligence services and the Israeli Defence Forces for over a year. Pictured: Sinwar in December 2022
The haunting moment visibly bloodied Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was identified as a terrorist by an IDF drone just seconds before he was assassinated by Israeli forces in Gaza
IDF soldiers carry Sinwar’s body out of the wrecked building on a stretcher
The top political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in July in a stunning Israeli strike in Iran
Haniyeh, who had escaped the horrors of the war in Gaza while residing in Qatar, had travelled to Iran to attend the inauguration of new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian in July.
But Israel appeared to seize the chance to hit Haniyeh, attacking his residence in Tehran and killing the Hamas leader along with a security guard.
The assassination, confirmed by both Hamas and Iranian authorities, marked the first high-profile killing since October 7.
Hamas political bureau member Musa Abu Marzuk vowed at the time: ‘The assassination of leader Ismail Haniyeh is a cowardly act and will not go unanswered.’
Haniyeh was widely considered Hamas’s political chief and has been a prominent member of the movement since 1980.
He also briefly served as Palestinian prime minister after being appointed in 2006 but was dismissed a year later after Hamas ousted rival Fatah Party.
Haniyeh was elected head of Hamas’s political bureau in 2017 and the US Department of State designated him a terrorist in 2018.
He left the Gaza Strip to seek refuge in Qatar in 2019 and has presided over the political machinations of the group from afar ever since.
He was said to maintain good relations with the heads of the various Palestinian factions – including rivals to Hamas – to consolidate Hamas’ power base in Gaza, and was very much the international face of the group, travelling from Doha to Tehran and Ankara to maintain strong ties with regional allies.
