At least 71 dead in Israeli attack on Hamas military commander in southern Gaza Strip

Israel said it had targeted Hamas’s secretive military commander in a massive attack in the crowded southern Gaza Strip on Saturday that killed at least 71 people, according to local health authorities. Hamas promptly denied the claim that Mohammed Deif was the target.Related video above – Netanyahu: Israel won’t end war until all hostages returned (6/27/24) It was not immediately known whether Deif was among the dead. Israeli officials confirmed that he and a second Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, were the targets. A military official later said they were “still examining and verifying the outcome of the attack” and did not deny that it took place inside the Israeli-designated safe zone.Many believe Deif is the main architect of the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and sparked the war between Israel and Hamas. He has been at the top of Israel’s wanted list for years after Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas official in Gaza, and is believed to have escaped several Israeli assassination attempts in the past. In a statement, Hamas denied that claim. “This is not the first time the occupation has claimed to have targeted Palestinian leaders, and its lies were later proven false,” the group said in a post on X. If Deif was killed, ceasefire talks could be derailed by what would be seen as a major Israeli victory in the nine-month war. “These false claims are merely a cover-up of the extent of the horrific massacre,” Hamas said in a statement in response to Israel. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 289 other people were injured in the attack – one of the deadliest of the war – and many dead and injured were taken to the overcrowded Nasser Hospital nearby, where Associated Press journalists counted over 40 bodies. Witnesses described an attack that included multiple strikes. “A number of victims still lie under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulances and civil defense teams cannot reach them,” the Health Ministry said. The Israeli military claimed that “more terrorists were hiding among civilians” and described the site of the attack as an area surrounded by trees, several buildings and sheds. Footage of the attack’s aftermath showed a huge crater, charred tents, burnt-out cars and household items scattered across the blackened earth. Victims were transported on hoods and in the tailgates of cars, as well as on donkey carts and carpets. Witnesses said the attack landed in Muwasi, the Israeli-designated security zone that stretches from northern Rafah to Khan Younis. In the coastal strip, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled in search of safety, mostly taking shelter in makeshift tents. “This has been designated as a security zone, filled with people from the north,” said a displaced Palestinian who did not give his name. “All the children have been martyred here. We have collected their parts with our hands.” He estimated there were seven or eight rockets and assured that first responders were also targeted. At the hospital, a baby in a pink shirt, his face covered in sand, cried while receiving first aid. A young boy lay motionless at the other end of the bed, one shoe missing. The victims lay on the floor amid blood splatters and their bodies were wrapped in white plastic with their names scrawled on them in marker. An Israeli official said the attack was carried out in a fenced-off area of ​​Khan Younis controlled by Hamas, but did not elaborate on the exact location, saying it was not a tent complex but an operations site. The official described the attack as precise and said it was estimated that many of the victims were “terrorists.” Deif 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. The latest deadly attack came as U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators continue to push to narrow the rift between Israel and Hamas over a proposed deal for a three-stage ceasefire and a plan to release hostages in Gaza. The possible killing or injury of a senior Hamas official threatens to jeopardize ongoing talks. The U.S.-backed proposal calls for an initial ceasefire with a limited release of hostages 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, which would see a full release of the hostages in return for a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, in which militants crossed into southern Israel and abducted about 250 people. Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments in Gaza have killed more than 38,400 people and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry makes no distinction between fighters and civilians in its count. More than 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced from their homes, most now living crammed into squalid tent camps and suffering widespread hunger. ___Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Jack Jeffery in Ramallah in the West Bank, Fatma Khaled in Cairo and Abby Sewell and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.