Israeli warplanes on Wednesday bombed the home of a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, wounding him and killing three of his family members, witnesses and hospital officials said. In all, about 20 people were hurt.
The bomb hit the Zahar home in Gaza City’s Rimal neighbourhood, levelling the building and sending huge plumes of smoke into the air. Several adjacent houses were damaged. Palestinian police were struggling to control an angry crowd that gathered at the scene.
Zahar, who witnesses said was in a garden beside the house at the time, was lightly hurt in the leg and taken to nearby Shifa hospital. The bodies of the dead were badly burned.
Hospital officials initially said three of Zahar’s family members were killed, but the first body to be identified was that of Zahar’s 30-year-old bodyguard and only one other body had arrived at the hospital morgue.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Staff at the hospital called over loudspeakers for people to donate blood to help treat the wounded, who were brought to the hospital in ambulances and private cars.
The airstrike came a day after suicide bombers apparently dispatched by Hamas killed 15 Israelis in twin attacks at a bus stop crowded with soldiers and at a popular Jerusalem nightspot.
Hamas has stopped short of claiming responsibility for Tuesday’s bombings, but has threatened unprecedented revenge for Israel’s failed attempt over the weekend to kill several Hamas leaders, including founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, in an air strike. — Sapa-AP