CAIRO – An Israeli air strike killed at least 71 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza on July 13, the enclave’s Health Ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas’ military chief Mohammed Deif.
Hamas said in a statement that Israel’s claim that it had targeted the group’s leaders was false and aimed at justifying the attack.
The Israeli military said the strike against Deif also targeted Rafa Salama, commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade. It described the two as among the masterminds of the Oct 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
Deif has survived seven Israeli assassination attempts, the most recent in 2021, and has topped Israel’s most wanted list for decades. Israel also holds him responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 71 Palestinians had been killed in the strike and 289 injured, the deadliest toll in weeks.
Al-Mawasi is a designated humanitarian area which the Israeli army has repeatedly urged Palestinians to head to after issuing evacuation orders from other areas.
The Israeli military published an aerial photo of the site, which Reuters was not immediately able to verify, where it claimed “terrorists hid among civilians”.
“The location of the strike was an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings and sheds,” it said in a statement.
A military official told journalists in an online briefing that the area was not a tent complex, but an operational compound run by Hamas and that several more militants were there, guarding Deif.
It was unclear whether Deif was killed.
“We are still checking and verifying the results of the strike,” the military official said.
Many of those wounded in the strike were taken to the nearby Nasser Hospital, which hospital officials said had been overwhelmed and was “no longer able to function” due to the intensity of the Israeli offensive and an acute shortage of medical supplies.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was holding special consultations, his office said, in the light of “developments in Gaza”. It was unclear how the strike would affect ceasefire talks under way in Doha and Cairo.
The Hamas-run media office said at least 100 people had been killed and wounded, including members of the Civil Emergency Service.
A senior Hamas official did not confirm whether Deif had been present and called the Israeli allegations “nonsense”.
“All the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence,” the official, Mr Abu Zuhri, told Reuters, adding that the strike showed Israel was not interested in reaching a ceasefire deal.
Separately, at least 10 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on a prayer hall at a Gaza camp for displaced people west of Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said.
Attack ‘surprising’, says witness
Reuters footage showed ambulances racing towards the area amid clouds of smoke and dust. Displaced people, including women and children, were fleeing in panic, some holding belongings in their hands.
Witnesses said the attack was a surprise as the area had been calm, adding that more than one missile had been fired. Some of the wounded, who were being evacuated, were rescue workers, they said.
“They’re all gone, my whole family’s gone... where are my brothers? They’re all gone, they’re all gone. There’s no one left,” said one tearful woman, who did not give her name.
“Our children are in pieces, they are in pieces. Shame (on you),” she added.
Rising through the Hamas ranks over 30 years, Deif developed the group’s network of tunnels and its bomb-making expertise, Hamas sources say.
In March, Israel said it killed Deif’s deputy, Marwan Issa. Hamas has since neither confirmed nor denied his death.
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in a cross-border raid into southern Israel on Oct 7, Israel says.
Israel has retaliated with military action in Gaza that has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to tallies by the medical authorities in Gaza. REUTERS
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2024-07-13 09:46:59Z
CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnN0cmFpdHN0aW1lcy5jb20vd29ybGQvaXNyYWVsaS1hcm15LXJhZGlvLXNheXMtaGFtYXMtbWlsaXRhcnktY2hpZWYtdGFyZ2V0ZWQtaW4tZ2F6YS1zdHJpa2XSAQA
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