Gaza’s Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday that a senior official responsible for coordinating the mobilization of ambulances in Gaza was killed in the Israeli strike.
Israel’s Health Ministry said the official, Hani Jafaravi, head of Gaza’s ambulance and emergency services, was killed in an attack on a clinic in Gaza City.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Israeli military said earlier on Monday that it had killed a man named Mohammed Salah in Gaza City on Sunday night, whom it said was a Hamas operative. It was not clear if the two men were killed in the same attack.
According to the ministry, hundreds of medical workers in Gaza have been killed in Israeli bombing campaigns or trapped in ground fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas.
Mr. Jafarawi moved to a clinic in Gaza City a few months ago after Israeli attacks reduced Al-Shifa Hospital, his former base of operations, to rubble, Yousef Abu al-Rish, deputy health minister, said in an interview.
Abu Rishi, Gaza’s top health ministry official, said Jafaravi coordinated the transfer of wounded from battlefields to hospitals and between hospitals. He was responsible for this work throughout Gaza, but his focus shifted to northern Gaza after the Israeli army divided the city in two.
Mr Abu Rishi said a successor would be named but predicted that person would not have the same expertise and connections.
On Monday, the Israeli military said the air force had killed Hamas militant Salah in Gaza City. The military said Salah was “involved in a project to develop strategic weapons for the Hamas terrorist organization.”
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospital sites and other civilian infrastructure for military purposes. Stone and concrete tunnel shaft The Ministry of Health said at the time that the military raid had caused the hospital to cease operations.
