On early Sunday, Israeli forces carried out a targeted airstrike that resulted in the deaths of Salah al-Bardawil, a prominent Hamas leader and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, alongside his wife.
The couple was reportedly killed while praying in a tent during the 23rd night of Ramadan in the Khan Younis region, located in the southern Gaza Strip, according to local media reports.
According to local sources, al-Bardawil and his wife were killed inside a shelter in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, where they had been staying.
Al-Bardawil was a key figure within Hamas, holding several senior positions within the Palestinian group, including membership in its political bureau for multiple terms. He was also tasked with handling critical internal and external affairs for Hamas.
Born in August 1959 in the refugee camp of Khan Younis, al-Bardawil’s roots in the area tied him closely to figures like the late Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar and the commander of the al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif, both of whom are also from this region.
Al-Bardawil was originally from the Palestinian village of al-Jura, now part of the Israeli-occupied Ashkelon district.
Al-Bardawil earned a Bachelor’s degree in Arabic Language from Cairo University in 1982, a Master’s degree in Palestinian literature in 1987 and a PhD in the same field in 2001.
He spent much of the 1990s working as a teacher and university lecturer, while also engaging in journalism.
He was a founding member and the editor-in-chief of the Gaza-based weekly newspaper Al-Risalah, where he published a critical column titled “From the Streets of the Homeland”, which slammed the Palestinian Authority’s policies.
Politically, al-Bardawil played a pivotal role in establishing the National Salvation Party, a political front for Hamas after the Palestinian Authority’s violent crackdown on the movement in 1996. This led him to become a member of the Palestinian National Council, representing the party.
He later went on to become a key member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, elected in 2006 as a representative of Hamas’s Change and Reform Bloc from Khan Younis. During his time in office, al-Bardawil was responsible for foreign relations and served on various parliamentary committees, including the political and oversight committees.
Al-Bardawil was also involved in civil society and charity work in Gaza. He was a member of the Palestinian Writers’ Union in Gaza and the Palestinian Journalists’ Union, and he founded the National Gathering for Thought and Culture.
Despite his lengthy history of engagement with Israeli authorities, including his arrest in 1993, al-Bardawil was released after no charges were substantiated against him.
Over the years, he assumed several leadership roles within Hamas, including head of its media department and a representative for national and factional relations, until his assassination.
In a statement mourning his death, Hamas praised al-Bardawil as a “symbol of political, media, and national action”. The group vowed that his killing would fuel retaliatory attacks against Israel.
