By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Hatem Khaled and Maayan Lubell
CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike killed not less than 90 Palestinians in a delegated humanitarian zone in Gaza on Saturday, the enclave’s well being ministry mentioned, in an assault that Israel mentioned focused Hamas army chief Mohammed Deif.
It was unclear whether or not Deif was killed. “We’re nonetheless checking and verifying the outcomes of the strike,” an Israeli army official advised reporters.
The militant Islamist group Hamas mentioned in a press release that Israeli claims it had focused leaders of the group had been false and geared toward justifying the assault, which was the deadliest Israeli assault in Gaza in weeks.
Displaced individuals sheltering within the space mentioned their tents had been torn down by the drive of the strike, describing our bodies and physique elements strewn on the bottom.
“I could not even inform the place I used to be or what was taking place,” mentioned Sheikh Youssef, a resident of Gaza Metropolis who’s at the moment displaced within the Al-Mawasi space.
“I left the tent and regarded round, all of the tents had been knocked down, physique elements, our bodies all over the place, aged ladies thrown on the ground, younger kids in items,” he advised Reuters.
The Israeli army mentioned the strike in opposition to Deif additionally focused Rafa Salama, the commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade, describing them as two of the masterminds of the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel that triggered the nine-month warfare in Gaza.
Deif has survived seven Israeli assassination makes an attempt, the latest in 2021 and has topped Israel’s most wished listing for many years, held answerable for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.
The Gaza well being ministry mentioned not less than 91 Palestinians had been killed within the strike and 300 had been injured, the deadliest toll in weeks within the conflict-shattered enclave.
Al-Mawasi is a delegated humanitarian space that the Israeli military has repeatedly urged Palestinians to move to after issuing evacuation orders from different areas.
Reuters footage confirmed ambulances racing in the direction of the world amidst clouds of smoke and mud. Displaced individuals, together with ladies and youngsters, had been fleeing in panic, some holding belongings of their palms.
The Israeli army revealed an aerial picture of the positioning, which Reuters was not instantly in a position to confirm, the place it mentioned “terrorists hid amongst civilians”.
“The placement of the strike was an open space surrounded by timber, a number of buildings, and sheds,” it mentioned in a press release.
The Israeli army official mentioned the world was not a tent advanced, however an operational compound run by Hamas and that a number of extra militants had been there, guarding Deif.
HOSPITAL ‘FULL OF PATIENTS’
A lot of these wounded within the strike, together with ladies and youngsters, had been taken to the close by Nasser Hospital, which hospital officers mentioned had been overwhelmed and was “not in a position to perform” as a result of depth of the Israeli offensive and an acute scarcity of medical provides.
“The hospital is filled with sufferers, it is stuffed with wounded, we will not discover beds for individuals,” mentioned Atef al-Hout, director of the hospital, including that it was the one one nonetheless working in southern Gaza.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was holding particular consultations, his workplace mentioned, in gentle of “developments in Gaza”.
It was unclear how the strike would have an effect on ceasefire talks underway in Doha and Cairo.
“Perhaps it is good, possibly it isn’t good. I do not find out about Mohammed Deif, I do know that maintaining the warfare is unhealthy for all of us,” mentioned Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of an Israeli hostage who was collaborating in a hostage solidarity march simply outdoors Jerusalem on Saturday.
“We have to deliver the hostages again,” she advised Reuters.
“If (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu killed Mohammed Deif then he has his image of victory so deliver them again now.”
ATTACK HIT CALM AREA, WITNESSES SAY
Individually on Saturday, not less than 20 Palestinians had been killed in an Israeli assault on a prayer corridor at a Gaza camp for displaced individuals in west Gaza Metropolis, Palestinian well being and civil emergency officers mentioned.
A senior Hamas official didn’t verify whether or not Deif had been current within the assault on Khan Younis and known as the Israeli allegations “nonsense”.
“All of the martyrs are civilians and what occurred was a grave escalation of the warfare of genocide, backed by the American help and world silence,” Sami Abu Zuhri advised Reuters, including the strike confirmed Israel was not fascinated with reaching a ceasefire deal.
Critics have accused Israel of committing genocide in opposition to Palestinians, which Israel denies. It characterises its actions as self-defense to forestall one other assault like Oct. 7, although the Worldwide Court docket of Justice ordered Israel in January to take motion to forestall acts of genocide.
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 individuals and took greater than 250 hostages within the cross-border raid into southern Israel on Oct. 7, in keeping with Israeli tallies.
Israel has retaliated with its army motion in Gaza that has killed greater than 38,000 Palestinians, medical authorities in Gaza say.
Witnesses mentioned the Khan Younis assault got here as a shock as the world had been calm, including multiple missile had been fired. Among the wounded who had been being evacuated had been rescue employees, they mentioned.
“They’re all gone, my complete household’s gone … the place are my brothers? They’re all gone, they’re all gone. There isn’t any one left,” mentioned one tearful girl, who didn’t give her title.
Rising up the Hamas ranks over 30 years, Deif developed the group’s community of tunnels and its bomb-making experience, Hamas sources say.
In March, Israel mentioned it killed Deif’s deputy, Marwan Issa. Hamas has not confirmed or denied his dying.