By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Hatem Khaled and Maayan Lubell
CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike killed at least 71 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza on Saturday, the enclave’s health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas’ military chief Mohammed Deif.
Hamas said in a statement that Israeli claims that it had targeted leaders of the group were false and aimed at justifying the attack.
The Israeli military said that the strike against Deif also targeted Rafa Salama, the commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade, describing them as two of the masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the nine-month 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, held 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 to 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 said “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 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 light of “developments in Gaza”. It was unclear how the strike would affect ceasefire talks underway 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,” Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, adding 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’, SAY WITNESSES
Reuters footage showed ambulances racing towards the area amidst 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 came as a surprise as the area had been calm, adding 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 up 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, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel has retaliated by military action in Gaza that has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, medical authorities in Gaza say.
(Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi, Hatem Khaled and Maayan Lubell; Writing by Nidal Al Mughrabi and Timour Azhari; Editing by Mark Potter and Sharon Singleton)
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