DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes across the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 19 Palestinians overnight into Sunday, March 23, 2025, including a senior Hamas political leader and several women and children, as the military ordered people to evacuate from part of the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt.
The military said it would soon operate against militants in the already heavily destroyed Tel Sultan area of Rafah. Israel launched a major offensive in the southern city last May, when it captured a strategic corridor along the border with Egypt and the Rafah crossing.
The military ordered people to evacuate on foot along a single route to the Mawasi area, a sprawling area of squalid tent camps with few public services. It was not immediately clear if the evacuation order signaled a renewed ground operation.
“Remaining in camps, tents, or houses in Tel al-Sultan or walking on any other route endangers your lives and the lives of your family members,” military spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee said in a statement.
Killed leader
Hamas said that Salah Bardawil, a member of its political bureau and of the Palestinian parliament, was killed in a strike in Mawasi that also killed his wife. Bardawil was a well-known member of the group’s political wing who gave media interviews over the years.
Intercepted missile
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are allied with Hamas, meanwhile launched another missile at Israel, setting off air raid sirens. The Israeli military said the projectile was intercepted, and there were no reports of casualties or damage.
Two hospitals in southern Gaza said they had received 17 bodies from strikes overnight, including several women and children. The toll did not include the Hamas official and his wife.
The European Hospital said the dead included five children and their parents killed in a strike in Khan Younis. Another family — two girls and their parents — were killed in a separate strike on the southern city. The Kuwaiti Hospital said it received the bodies of a woman and child killed in another strike.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said Israeli forces were preventing its ambulances from responding to strikes in Rafah and that several of its medics had been wounded.
There was no immediate comment from the military.
Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas last week when it launched a surprise wave of airstrikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians across the territory. The Houthis resumed their attacks on Israel, portraying them as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians, despite recent US strikes targeting the Yemeni rebels. / AP