KHAN YUNIS – Israel said it targeted Hamas’ shadowy military commander in a massive strike Saturday in the crowded southern Gaza Strip that killed at least 90 people including children, according to local health officials. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “there still isn’t absolute certainty” that Mohammed Deif and a second Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, were killed.
Hamas rejected the claim that Deif was in the area, saying “these false claims are merely a cover-up for the scale of the horrific massacre.” The strike took place in an area Israel's military had designated as safe for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
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Deif and Hamas’ top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, are believed by Israel to be the chief architects of the Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war. Not seen in public for years, Deif has long topped Israel’s most-wanted list and is believed to have escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts. On Oct. 7, Hamas issued a rare voice recording of Deif announcing the “Al Aqsa Flood” operation.
The strike came at a delicate time in cease-fire efforts. Deif's death would hand Israel a major victory and Hamas a painful psychological blow. It also could give Netanyahu a possible opening. Again on Saturday, the prime minister said Israel will not end the war until Hamas’ military capabilities are destroyed. Deif’s death would be a significant step in that direction.
All Hamas leaders are marked for death and "we will reach them all,” Netanyahu said. He added that no hostages had been nearby when the strike occurred, without explaining how he knew that.
Deif's killing could also encourage Hamas to harden its positions in talks. He 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.
Saturday's attack was one of the war's deadliest. The Gaza Health Ministry reported 90 dead and at least 300 others injured. Associated Press journalists counted over 40 bodies at overwhelmed Nasser Hospital nearby. Witnesses described an attack that included several strikes.
“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them," the Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military asserted that “additional terrorists hid among civilians" and described the location as surrounded by trees and several buildings. An Israeli official said the strike hit a fenced area of Khan Younis that was run by Hamas, saying it was not a tent complex but an operational compound. The official described the strike as precise. The army said the compound belonged to Salama.
Witnesses said the strike landed in Muwasi, the Israeli-designated safe zone that stretches from northern Rafah to Khan Younis. Palestinians have fled to the coastal strip, sheltering mostly in tents with few basic services or supplies. More than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes.
Footage of the aftermath showed a huge crater, charred tents and burnt-out cars. Victims were carried on the hoods and in the hatchbacks of cars, on donkey carts and on carpets.
At the hospital, a baby in a pink shirt, her face covered with sand, cried while receiving first aid. A small boy lay motionless at the other end of the bed, one shoe gone. Many wounded were treated on the floor.
There was “the overwhelming stench of blood,” said Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees who visited the hospital and spoke with several patients. Staff said there were no cleaning products left.
The blast threw a 2-year-old child into the air and the mother was missing, Wateridge said. Another boy had his feet blown off, while an 8-year-old boy was killed. “They told me to go there to be safe,” his grieving mother told her of the area struck.
Neighboring Egypt, a mediator in cease-fire talks, condemned the strike. “These ongoing violations against Palestinian citizens add serious complications to the ability of the efforts currently being made to reach calm and a cease-fire,” its Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It also criticized the “shameful silence and lack of action from the international community.”
Egyptian, Qatari and U.S. mediators have been pushing to narrow gaps between Israel and Hamas over a proposed deal for a three-phase cease-fire and hostage release plan in Gaza.
The U.S.-backed proposal calls for an initial cease-fire with a limited hostage release and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza's populated areas. At the same time, the two sides will negotiate terms of the second phase, which is supposed to bring a full hostage release in return for a permanent cease-fire and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Netanyahu said he wasn't moving from the U.S.-backed proposal but listed conditions: Israel's right to continue the war until its goals are achieved, the return of as many hostages as possible in the deal's first stage, no return of Hamas fighters to northern Gaza and the prevention of arms smuggling, including control of the key Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel and abducted about 250 people.
Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,400 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.
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Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Jack Jeffery in Ramallah, West Bank, Fatma Khaled and Sarah el Deeb in Cairo and Abby Sewell and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
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Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war