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

MUWASI, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas said Sunday that Gaza Ceasefire talks were ongoing and the group’s military commander was in good health, a day after the Israeli military Mohammed Deif with a massive air raid According to local health authorities, at least 90 people were killed, including children.

Deif’s condition was still unclear after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday evening that there was “still no absolute certainty” that he had been killed. Army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told reporters that Israel had attacked a compound where Deif was “hiding,” but added: “It is too early to summarize the results of the attack, which Hamas is trying to cover up.”

Hamas officials did not provide any evidence to support their claim about the health of a chief architect of the The attack of October 7 that started the warHis killing would be the most spectacular assassination of a Hamas leader by Israel since the beginning of the war.

Deif was at the top of Israel’s most wanted list for a long time and has been in hiding for years.

The Israeli military said Rafa Salama, a Hamas commander described as one of Deif’s closest allies, was killed in Saturday’s attack. Salama commanded Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade. Netanyahu said all Hamas leaders were “sentenced to death” and claimed their killing would move Hamas closer to the adoption of a ceasefire agreement.

Hamas rejected the notion that ceasefire talks had been suspended. 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.”

Hamas political officials also 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.

On Sunday, some survivors were angry that the attack on Deif came without warning in an area that was said to be safe.

“I heard the first blow and my son came screaming ‘Daddy, Daddy’ and took cover with me,” said Mahmoud Abu Yaseen, who clutched his children but then woke up in hospital to find his son had died. The family had been displaced five times since the war began. “Where are we going?” he asked.

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

“I have witnessed some of the most horrific scenes I have seen in my nine months in Gaza,” Scott Anderson said in a statement. “I have seen young children who have had both legs amputated, paralyzed children unable to receive treatment, and others separated from their parents.” He said Restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza hinder efforts to provide necessary medical and other care.

On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant praised the pilots who carried out the attack and said Hamas was weakening every day, unable to arm itself, organize itself or “care for the wounded.”

At least 300 people were injured in the attack. It was one of the deadliest in the nine-month war that began with Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7. Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attack and more than 200 were taken hostage.

More than 38,400 people have since been killed in Gaza by Israeli ground offensives and bombings, according to Gaza Strip figures. Ministry of HealthThe ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

On Sunday, an Israeli attack in Nuseirat in central Gaza killed at least 14 people at the gate of a school used as a shelter for displaced people, an Associated Press journalist who visited two hospitals reported. Children were among the 15 other injured. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had hit “terrorists” operating near a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

“They are targeting everything,” said displaced Palestinian Um Fadi Al-Zeer.

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. The Israeli military said four of its soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously.

Israeli police commissioner Kobi Shabtai said such attacks are often triggered by events such as Saturday’s airstrike in the Gaza Strip.

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Lidman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed.

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For more AP reports, see https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war