A spokesman for Nuseirat municipality in central Gaza said on Friday that the town’s mayor, Iyad al-Maghari, was killed in an Israeli strike while visiting a water pumping station.
Magari was at the water management plant serving Nuseirat when an airstrike hit it around 10:30 p.m. local time on Thursday, spokesman Mohammed al-Salhi said. AFP at the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where mourners gathered before the funeral.
“We were surprised by a treacherous and cowardly attack on the mayor inside the factory, which led to the martyrdom of the mayor, Dr. Iyad Al-Maghari, and four members of his family,” Salhi said.
The Israeli military said it was aware of reports that Magari was killed in the attack and said he was a Hamas operative.
AFP reporters at the water station on Friday said the facility was cracked, with concrete all around, electrical equipment torn and bloodstains on the ground.
Workers were assessing the damage to the large pipes that carry water to the residents of Nuseirat.
A resident, Ibrahim al-Hur, said AFP: “We heard a lot of explosions and were surprised that the explosions were right next to us, at the nearby water station.”
“With a single projectile, look what happened,” he said, pointing to the collapsed wall of the station behind him.
At the hospital, the mayor’s body was wrapped in a white sheet adorned with a high-visibility vest, before being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher.
Nuseirat municipality said it mourns “its mayor, who chose to fulfill his duty with dedication and devotion to serve our people in Nuseirat until his last moments.”
The Hamas-run government media office said in a statement that Magari “is sincere and dedicated to his work, serving his people and homeland.”
The war erupted after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to AFP tally based on official Israeli data.
Israel’s retaliatory attack has killed at least 36,731 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The violence has left much of Gaza in ruins, and Israel’s siege of the area has led to dire shortages of clean water and other basic necessities.
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