KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel has Hamas’ shadow military commander A major attack on a densely populated southern Gaza Strip on Saturday killed at least 90 people, including children, according to local health officials. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was “no absolute certainty yet.” Mohammed Deif A second Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, was also killed.
Hamas denied claims that Deif was in the area, saying “these false allegations are merely intended to conceal the scale of the horrific massacre.” The attack took place in an area designated by the Israeli army as safe for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Deif and top Hamas officials in Gaza, Yahya SinwarIsrael reported that about 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel on October 7. The war between Israel and HamasDeif has not been seen in public for many years and has long been at the top of Israel’s most wanted list, and is believed to have evaded several Israeli assassination attempts. On October 7, Hamas released a rare audio recording of Deif announcing Operation “Flooding Al-Aqsa.”
The attack comes at a delicate time for ceasefire efforts. Deif’s death would be a major victory for Israel and a painful psychological blow to Hamas. It also could present an opportunity for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Saturday that Israel will not end the war until Hamas’ military forces are destroyed. Deif’s death would be a major step in that direction.
Netanyahu said all Hamas leaders were targets for death and “we will reach out to all of them,” adding that the hostages had not been nearby when the attack occurred, but did not explain how he knew about it.
Deif’s killing may also encourage Hamas to take a firmer stance in negotiations. He has been in hiding for more than two decades and is considered paralyzed. The only known photograph of him is a 30-year-old ID photo released by Israel. Even in Gaza, only a handful of people recognize him.
Saturday’s attack was one of the deadliest of the war. Gaza’s health ministry reported that 90 people were killed and at least 300 were wounded. An Associated Press reporter counted more than 40 bodies at the nearby Nasser Hospital, which was overwhelmed. Witnesses said the attack included multiple hits.
“Many victims are still under rubble or on the roads and ambulances and civil defense forces have not been able to reach them,” the health ministry said.
The Israeli army claimed “further terrorists were hiding among civilians” and said the site was surrounded by trees and several buildings. Israeli officials said the attack struck the fenced-in area of Khan Younis, run by Hamas, and said it was an operational compound, not a cluster of tents. Officials said the strike was precise. The army said the compound belonged to Salama.
Witnesses said the airstrikes landed in the Mwasi area, an Israeli-designated safe zone that stretches from northern Rafah to Khan Yunis. Palestinians have fled to the coast and are living in tents with few basic services or supplies. More than 80 percent of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents have been forced to flee their homes.
Footage from the aftermath of the fire showed huge craters, charred tents and burnt-out cars, with victims being carried on car bonnets, hatchbacks, donkey carts and carpets.
Inside the hospital, a baby wearing a pink shirt and with his face covered in sand cried as he received first aid, a little boy lay motionless at the other end of a bed with one shoe removed, and many of the injured were being treated on the floor.
Louise Waterridge, a spokeswoman for the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, who visited the hospital and spoke to several patients, said there was an “overpowering stench of blood.” Staff said there were no cleaning supplies left.
The blast hurled a 2-year-old into the air and left his mother missing, Waterridge said. Another boy had both his legs blown off and an 8-year-old boy was killed. “They told us to go there to be safe,” the grieving mother told Waterridge of the bomb site.
Neighboring Egypt, which is mediating ceasefire talks, condemned the attack. “These continuing violations against the Palestinian people pose serious challenges to ongoing efforts to achieve peace and a ceasefire,” its foreign ministry said in a statement, criticizing the “shameful silence and inaction of the international community.”
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States are trying to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas over a proposed agreement on a three-phase ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a plan to release hostages.
The US-backed proposal calls for an initial ceasefire accompanied by a limited hostage release and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas of Gaza. At the same time, the two sides would negotiate the terms of a second phase, which would bring about the full release of hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Netanyahu said he would not budge from the U.S.-backed proposal but listed conditions including Israel’s right to continue the war until its objectives are achieved, the return of as many hostages as possible in the first phase of an agreement, not allowing Hamas fighters back into northern Gaza and preventing arms smuggling, including through control of the vital Philadelphia Corridor linking Gaza with Egypt.
Israel has launched an operation in Gaza. Hamas’ October 7 attack Armed militants stormed into southern Israel and abducted around 250 people.
Since then, Israeli ground attacks and bombings have killed more than 38,400 people and injured more than 88,000, according to Gaza Strip officials. Ministry of Public HealthThe ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
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Associated Press writers Joseph Federman in Jerusalem, Jack Jeffrey in Ramallah (West Bank), Fatma Khaled and Sara El Deeb in Cairo, and Abby Sewell and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
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