GAZA CITY
Palestinian resistance faction Hamas said Sunday that a senior leader had been injured during Israel's recently-ended offensive on the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the group said that its politburo member Emad al-Alami has undergone a successful surgery in his right foot at a hospital in Turkey after he was injured in an Israeli strike.
This is the first time that the prominent Palestinian faction reveals that al-Alami had been wounded during the Israeli onslaught, which spanned 51 days of relentless bombardments that left at least 2,157 Palestinians dead and 11,000 others injured.
Israel's Walla news website had quoted anonymous sources as saying that al-Alami lost both his legs in an accident while getting out of an underground shelter in the central Gaza Strip.
The sources said that the Hamas leader had both his legs amputated after the shelter's elevator collapsed with him inside.
The website said that al-Alami was preparing to head to Cairo, which hosted indirect talks between Palestinian factions and Israel leading up to an August 26 cease-fire deal.
Al-Alami, who has lived in Syria for 23 years after he was barred by Israel from staying inside the Palestinian territories, returned to the Gaza Strip with his family two years ago.
www.aa.com.tr/en
