Gaza (Quds News Network)- Hamas confirmed that one of its senior officials, Salah al-Bardawil, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, in the early hours of Sunday. The Palestinian group issued a statement confirming al-Bardawil’s killing. It said the senior Hamas politician was killed along with his wife in a “treacherous Zionist assassination operation” on their tent in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis. Hamas described him as a “beacon of political, media, and national work, and a symbol of honesty, steadfastness, and sacrifice” and said “he never failed to perform a duty, take a stand, or serve the cause”. His killing comes “as part of the series of brutal massacres committed by the enemy against our steadfast people in the Gaza Strip”, it added. Who is Salah Al-Bardawil? Al-Bardawil was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on August 24, 1959. He studied Arabic and literature in Egypt, obtaining a PhD in Palestinian literature in 2001. He worked as a teacher in government schools as well as the Islamic University throughout the 1990s and served as the editor-in-chief of Al Risala newspaper from 1997 to 2001. Al-Bardawil joined Hamas when it was founded in late 1987 and was arrested by Israeli forces in 1993 and held for more than 70 days in Gaza and Ashkelon prisons. He was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council for the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform Bloc in the 2006 elections. He was also a spokesman for Hamas, speaking to Arabic media, and writing articles and research articles on the Palestine issue for local and regional papers. Al-Bardawil was elected to Hamas’s political bureau in 2021. He has three sons and five daughters. Pictures: Aftermath of Israeli Attack that killed Al-Bardawil