Gaza doctor rejects Israeli claim brother was 'Hamas sniper', says he was severely visually impaired

A senior Gaza doctor has refuted the Israeli military's accusations that his brother was a 'Hamas sniper' after the army killed him the day before, saying his sibling was visually impaired.

Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, had been working in the emergency department on Saturday when his brother and sister-in-law's bodies were brought in, telling AFP at the time that they were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City.

The military did not comment on Saturday, but on Sunday, it said it had killed Majed Abu Selmia, describing him as a "Hamas sharpshooter".

"The [Israeli military] struck and eliminated Majed Abu Salmiya, a terrorist in Hamas' military wing," it said in a statement.

"As part of his role, Abu Selmia operated as a sniper for Hamas and was preparing to carry out an imminent terror attack against [Israeli army] troops in the Gaza City area."

Mohammed Abu Selmia, 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 told AFP, noting his brother's family had been displaced several times since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.

Mohammed Abu Selmia told AFP on Saturday that the sight of 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 to occupy the territory.