On Sunday, the Israeli military announced it had killed a Hamas sniper in a strike the prior day. However, a prominent Gaza doctor, who is the man’s brother, disputed this, claiming his brother was visually impaired.
Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, was working in the emergency room on Saturday when the bodies of his brother and sister-in-law were brought in. He informed AFP that they died in an Israeli strike in Gaza City.
The military remained silent on Saturday, but on Sunday asserted they had killed Majed Abu Salmiya, labeling him as a Hamas sharpshooter.
“The IDF (Israeli military) struck and eliminated Majed Abu Salmiya, a terrorist in Hamas’ military wing,” stated their release.
“In his role, Abu Salmiya functioned as a sniper for Hamas and was planning an imminent terror attack against IDF forces in the Gaza City area.”
Mohammed Abu Salmiya countered the military’s claim, calling it “a lie, defamation, and an unjustifiable excuse for targeting civilians with direct missile strikes.”
“My brother is a 57-year-old man with multiple health issues including high blood pressure and diabetes, and he is severely visually impaired. They claim he was a sniper? This is pure fabrication,” he told AFP, adding that his brother’s family had been displaced several times since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
He expressed to AFP on Saturday that seeing his brother and sister-in-law’s bodies arrive at the hospital while he was on duty left him “shocked and devastated”.
Recently, the Israeli military has intensified air and ground assaults on Gaza City, claiming this is to eradicate Hamas fighters from the territory’s largest urban center.
On Sunday, Gaza’s civil defense agency reported at least six people had died from Israeli strikes since dawn.
On Saturday, nearly 90 people were killed across the territory, mostly in Gaza City.
