Israeli airstrike kills ex-Palestinian minister, family members in Gaza

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) - Former Palestinian Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs Yousef Salameh was killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting his home in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to the official Wafa news agency.

Several members of his family were also killed in the attack in the Maghazi refugee camp, Wafa said.

Salameh, 69, was a former preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. He had served as a minister of Awqaf from 2005 to 2006.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip from the air and ground since the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, killing at least 21,822 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 56,451 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.