Israel said it targeted Hamas’ shadowy military commander in a massive strike Saturday in the crowded southern Gaza Strip that killed at least 90 people including children, according to local health officials.
Besides, at least 20 people were killed Saturday in another Israeli strike on a makeshift mosque at Al-Shati refugee camp in the territory’s north
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “there still isn’t absolute certainty” that Mohammed Deif and a second Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, were killed.
Hamas rejected the claim that Deif was in the area, saying “these false claims are merely a cover-up for the scale of the horrific massacre.” The strike took place in an area Israel’s military had designated as safe for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Deif and Hamas’ top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, are believed by Israel to be the chief architects of the Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war. Not seen in public for years, Deif has long topped Israel’s most-wanted list and is believed to have escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts. On Oct. 7, Hamas issued a rare voice recording of Deif announcing the “Al Aqsa Flood” operation.
The strike came at a delicate time in cease-fire efforts. Deif’s death would hand Israel a major victory and Hamas a painful psychological blow. It also could give Netanyahu a possible opening. Again on Saturday, the prime minister said Israel will not end the war until Hamas’ military capabilities are destroyed. Deif’s death would be a significant step in that direction.
All Hamas leaders are marked for death and “we will reach them all,” Netanyahu said. He added that no hostages had been nearby when the strike occurred, without explaining how he knew that.
Deif’s killing could also encourage Hamas to harden its positions in talks. He has been in hiding for more than two decades and is believed to be paralyzed. One of the only known images of him is a 30-year-old ID photo released by Israel. Even in Gaza, only a handful of people would recognize him.
Saturday’s attack was one of the war’s deadliest. The Gaza Health Ministry reported 90 dead and at least 300 others injured. Associated Press journalists counted over 40 bodies at overwhelmed Nasser Hospital nearby. Witnesses described an attack that included several strikes.
“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them,” the Health Ministry said.
20 killed in Israeli strike on northern camp
AP, Gaza City, Palestinian Territories, reports: The civil defence agency in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 20 people were killed Saturday in an Israeli strike on a makeshift mosque at Al-Shati refugee camp in the territory’s north.
“The number of martyrs in the Al-Shati massacre has risen to 20, and there are still a number of wounded in serious condition,” Mahmud Basal, spokesman for the civil defence, told AFP.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Palestinians were seen sifting through the flattened remnants of the makeshift mosque after the deadly strike west of Gaza City.
Heavy fighting has raged for weeks in and around Gaza City.
At the end of June, an Israeli bombardment struck the family home of Hamas’s Qatar-based chief Ismail Haniyeh, killing 10 people, according to the civil defence agency.
In the Gaza Strip’s south on Saturday, Israel said it targeted Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.
The health ministry said at least 90 people were killed in Al-Mawasi, half of them women and children, with another 300 wounded, many in “critical” condition.
Israel has designated Al-Mawasi a “safe zone”, ordering Gazans in May to head there from other areas.
Most of Gaza’s 2.4 million population has been displaced by the war, now in its 10th month.
