Israel says it struck Hamas sniper; brother rejects ‘fabrication’, says sibling visually impaired
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Palestinians walking next to a damaged building at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, on July 9.
PHOTO: REUTERS
JERUSALEM - The Israeli military said on Sept 21 it had killed a Hamas sniper in a strike the day before, but a senior Gaza doctor who is the man’s brother rejected the claim, saying his sibling was visually impaired.
Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, had been working in the emergency department on Sept 20 when his brother and sister-in-law’s bodies were brought in.
He told AFP at the time that they were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City.
The military did not comment on Sept 20, but on Sept 21 it said it had killed Majed Abu Salmiya, describing him as a Hamas sharpshooter.
“The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) struck and eliminated Majed Abu Salmiya, a terrorist in Hamas’ military wing,” it said in a statement.
“As part of his role, Abu Salmiya operated as a sniper for Hamas and was preparing to carry out an imminent terror attack against IDF troops in the Gaza City area.”
Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, however, rejected the military’s accusation as “a lie, slander and an unacceptable justification for targeting civilians with direct missile strikes”.
“My brother is a 57-year-old man who suffers from several illnesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and he has severe vision impairment – and they claim he was a sniper? This is pure fabrication,” he said, noting that his brother’s family had been displaced several times since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya told AFP on Sept 20 that seeing his brother and sister-in-law’s bodies being delivered to the hospital while he was on duty left him “shocked and devastated”.
In recent weeks, the Israeli military has launched a heavy air and ground assault on Gaza City, an effort it says is aimed at eliminating Hamas fighters from the territory’s largest urban hub.
On Sept 21, at least six people had been killed in Israeli strikes since dawn, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported.
On Sept 20, nearly 90 people were killed across the territory, most of them in Gaza City. AFP