A former Authority Minister of Palestine, Youssef Salama, was killed in an Israeli strike on his Gaza Strip residence on Sunday.
This was officially disclosed by the Palestinian News Agency and the Hamas Ministry of Health after the Gaza strike as the Israel-Hamas war continues amidst calls for a ceasefire.
68-year-old Salama formerly served as minister of religious affairs in the Palestinian Authority and as a cleric at Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.
According to the ministry and Wafa news agency, the former minister was killed in a strike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Salama was known for his loyalty to the party of the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmud Abbas, Fatah. He held the position of minister from February 2005 until March 2006.
The Israeli army did not immediately react to his death.
Following the unprecedented attack on southern Israel by Hamas on October 7, Israel launched an unrelenting military campaign against the the Palestinian resistance group in the Gaza Strip.
An AFP count based on Israeli data indicates that 1,140 people were killed in the attack.
The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza reports that over 21,800 people, mostly defenceless civilians have been killed by Israel’s continuing bombardments in Gaza.