At least 90 Palestinians killed, Gaza officials say, as Israel targets Hamas military chief

CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM - An Israeli airstrike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza on July 13, the enclave’s health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it remained unclear whether Deif had been killed, telling a news conference: “Either way, we will get to the whole of the leadership of Hamas.”

The militant Islamist group Hamas said Israeli claims it had targeted leaders of the group were false and aimed at justifying the attack, which was the deadliest Israeli attack in Gaza in weeks.

Displaced people sheltering in the area said their tents were torn down by the force of the strike, describing bodies and body parts strewn on the ground.

“I couldn’t even tell where I was or what was happening,” said Mr Sheikh Youssef, a resident of Gaza City who is currently displaced in the Al-Mawasi area.

“I left the tent and looked around, all the tents were knocked down, body parts, bodies everywhere, elderly women thrown on the floor, young children in pieces,” he told Reuters.

The Israeli military said 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 on southern Israel

that triggered the nine-month war in Gaza.

An Israeli military official earlier told reporters it was still verifying the strike’s results.

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 91 Palestinians were killed in the strike and 300 injured, the deadliest toll in weeks in the conflict-shattered enclave.

Al-Mawasi is a designated humanitarian area that the Israeli army has repeatedly urged Palestinians to head to after issuing evacuation orders from other areas.

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.

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.

The Israeli military official said the area was not a tent complex, but an operational compound run by Hamas and that several more militants were there, guarding Deif.

Hospital ‘full of patients’

Many of those wounded in the strike, including women and children, 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.

“The hospital is full of patients, it’s full of wounded, we can’t find beds for people,” said Dr Atef al-Hout, director of the hospital, adding that it was the only one still operating in southern Gaza.

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 under way in Doha and Cairo.

Egypt urged Israel not to obstruct the ongoing negotiations, Egypt’s al Qahera News TV reported.

Mr Netanyahu, in televised remarks on the evening of July 13, said increasing military pressure on Hamas would improve the chances of a deal to return Israeli hostages.

As the prime minister spoke, protesters continued to rally in Tel Aviv, singing songs and waving signs calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Thousands of protesters also marched outside Jerusalem earlier in the day.

“Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s not good. I don’t know about Mohammed Deif, I know that keeping the war is bad for all of us,” said Ms Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of an Israeli hostage who took part in the hostage solidarity march near Jerusalem.

“We need to bring the hostages back,” she told Reuters.

“If Netanyahu killed Mohammed Deif, then he has his picture of victory, so bring them back now.”

Attack hit calm area, witnesses say

Separately on July 13, at least 20 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on a prayer hall at a Gaza camp for displaced people in west Gaza City, Palestinian health and civil emergency officials said.

A senior Hamas official did not confirm whether Deif had been present in the attack on Khan Younis 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,” Mr Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, adding the strike showed Israel was not interested in reaching a ceasefire deal.

Critics have accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians, which Israel denies. It characterises its actions as self-defense to prevent another attack like Oct 7, though the International Court of Justice ordered Israel in January

to take action to prevent acts of genocide.

Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in the cross-border raid into southern Israel on Oct 7, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel has retaliated with its military action in Gaza that has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, medical authorities in Gaza say.

Witnesses said the Khan Younis 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.

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 not confirmed or denied his death. REUTERS