Hamas says ceasefire talks in Gaza have not been interrupted and claims military chief survived Israeli attack

MUWASI, Gaza Strip (AP) — A day earlier, the Israeli army carried out a massive airstrike on Mohammed Deif, killing at least 90 people, including children, according to local health officials. Hamas said Sunday that talks on a ceasefire in Gaza were continuing and that the group’s military commander was in good health.

Deif’s condition remained uncertain after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night there was “still no absolute certainty” that he was killed. Hamas officials provided no evidence to back up their claim about the health of a key architect of the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

The Israeli military said Sunday that Rafa Salama, a Hamas commander it described as one of Deif’s closest confidants, was killed in Saturday’s attack. Salama commanded Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade. The statement did not provide any news about Deif, who was long at the top of Israel’s most wanted list and has been in hiding for years.

Hamas rejected the notion that ceasefire talks had been suspended following the attack. Spokesman Jihad Taha said: “There is no doubt that the horrific massacres will affect all negotiation efforts,” but added: “The efforts and efforts of the mediators continue.”

The killing of Deif would be the most high-profile assassination of a Hamas leader by Israel since the war began. It would be both a major victory for Israel and a major psychological blow to the militant group. Netanyahu said all Hamas leaders were “sentenced to death” and assured that their killing would bring Hamas closer to a ceasefire.

Hamas political officials stressed that communication channels between the leadership inside and outside Gaza remained functional even after the attack in the south of the territory. According to eyewitnesses, the attack took place in an area that Israel had designated as a safe area for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians. The Israeli military would not confirm this.

Some survivors expressed anger on Sunday that the attack on Deif came without warning in an area that had been said to be safe.

“Where should we go?” asked Mahmoud Abu Yaseen. He heard two impacts and clutched his children, then woke up in the hospital and found that his son had died. The family had been displaced five times since the war began, he said.

Another 300 people were injured in the attack, one of the deadliest in the nine-month war that began with Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7. The attack killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 hostage.

Since then, more than 38,400 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli ground offensives and bombings, according to the Health Ministry. The ministry makes no distinction between fighters and civilians in its count.

A United Nations official described the utter chaos at Nasser Hospital, where victims of Saturday’s attack were taken, with many being treated on blood-stained floors and few medical supplies available.

“I witnessed some of the most horrific scenes I have seen in my nine months in Gaza,” Scott Anderson said in a statement. “I saw young children who had both legs amputated, paralyzed children who could not receive treatment, and others separated from their parents. I also saw mothers and fathers who did not know if their children were still alive.” He said restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza were hampering efforts to provide essential medical and other care.

Also on Sunday, police announced that a Palestinian from East Jerusalem carried out a car attack in central Israel, wounding four Israelis, two of them seriously. Israeli border police on the scene shot the attacker dead after he hit people waiting at two bus stops along a busy road. Israeli commissioner Kobi Shabtai said the attacks were often “triggered” by events like Saturday’s airstrike in Gaza.

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Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

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For more AP coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Wafaa Shurafa, The Associated Press