It was not clear whether Deif was killed in the attack, but aid agencies and Gaza’s Civil Defense said it took place in an area Israel had designated a “humanitarian zone” for civilians.
“If Hamas officials intend to build facilities in the areas we call them to and hide there, [civilians] “We are going to hunt them down because we don’t know where they will move,” a military official said at a news conference. The attack also targeted Hamas commander Rafa Salama in Khan Younis, the military said.
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Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday that the bombing killed at least 71 people and wounded hundreds, with hospitals, clinics and emergency personnel rushing to treat the injured. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people remain in Mawashi, many of them in tents, after Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, in May and told civilians to take refuge there.
“Rescue workers are still trying to extract people from under the sand,” said Raed al-Nems, a spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the attack, described Deif and Salama as “two of the masterminds” of the Oct. 7 attack. They did not provide details about the role the commanders played.
Military officials declined to say what munitions were used in the attack.
Deif was designated a terrorist by the State Department in 2015. Survived multiple assassination attemptsHowever, several members of his family were killed during the operation.
In a statement, Hamas denied reports that Israel had targeted the group’s leaders, saying “these false allegations are intended only to cover up the scale of the horrific massacre” and described the attack as a “dangerous escalation.”
The Qassam Brigades mentioned the attack on Deif in a Telegram statement but did not explicitly confirm the death of their leader.
“There is no voice louder than Deif’s….No weapon can match Deif’s weapon,” the post read. “May God reward you for this entire country….May God continue to give you His shadow and the terror He brings.”
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office was denied There are no plans to withdraw from the eight-mile corridor that separates Gaza from Egypt. message Post to social media According to Reuters, Prime Minister Netanyahu has insisted that Israel remain in the Philadelphia Corridor. report Israel is considering setting up an electronic surveillance system along its Gaza-Egypt border to potentially allow it to withdraw its troops.
After Israeli forces ended their offensive, rescue teams in Gaza City retrieved dozens of bodies. The Palestinian Defense Forces withdrew from the Tel al-Hawa and al-Sinaa areas on Friday. SaidIsrael launched an operation in the city earlier this week, dropping leaflets urging all civilians in the area to evacuate to the south.
The Israeli army said on Friday that one soldier was killed in the north of the country. Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been locked in a cross-border firefight for months. did not say The circumstances surrounding the murder of the 33-year-old man were reported by the Haaretz newspaper. report The soldier died from injuries sustained in Thursday’s drone attack.
At least 38,443 people have been killed and 88,481 injured in Gaza since the war began. Gaza Ministry of Health SaidIsrael does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, including more than 300 soldiers. 326 soldiers They have been killed since the start of the military operation in Gaza.
Alon Rom, Helier Cheung and Steve Hendrix contributed to this report.
