JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli attack on the south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday killed 71 people and injured scores, the Health Ministry in Gaza said, while an Israeli official said it targeted the head of Hamas' military wing.
The Israeli official identified the target of the strike in Khan Younis as Mohammed Deif, believed by many to be the chief architect of the Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war.
Deif has topped Israel’s most-wanted list for years and is believed to have escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts in the past.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement, said Rafa Salama, another top Hamas official, was also targeted in the strike. The official did not have details on whether the two were killed.
In a statement, Hamas rejected the claim.
“This is not the first time that the occupation has claimed to target Palestinian leaders, and their lies were later proven to be false," the group said in a post on X.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 289 others were injured in the attack and that many of the injured and dead were taken to nearby Nasser Hospital. At the hospital, Associated Press journalists counted over 40 bodies and witnesses there described an attack that included several strikes.
Footage of the aftermath showed blackened tents and burnt-out cars as emergency workers and Palestinians displaced by the nine-month war searched for survivors.
Witnesses said the strike landed inside Muwasi, the Israeli designated safe zone that stretches from northern Rafah to Khan Younis. The coastal strip is where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled to in search of safety, sheltering mostly in makeshift tents.
The latest deadly strike comes as U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators continue to push to narrow gaps between Israel and Hamas over a proposed deal for a three-phase cease-fire and hostage release plan in Gaza. The potential killing or injury of any senior Hamas official threatens to derail the ongoing talks.
The U.S.-backed proposal calls for an initial cease-fire with a limited hostage release and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from populated areas in Gaza. At the same time, the two sides will negotiate the terms of the second phase. Phase two is supposed to bring a full hostage release in return for a permanent cease-fire and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.
Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,300 people in Gaza and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. More than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, and most are now crowded into squalid tent camps, facing widespread hunger.
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