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

An Israeli soldier climbs out of his tank near the Israel-Gaza border in southern Israel on Friday. Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press

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

Deif’s condition remained unclear after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday evening 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 evidence to support their claims about the health of a key figure in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. His killing would be Israel’s most high-profile assassination of a Hamas leader since the war began. Deif has long been at the top of Israel’s 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 largest assassination of a Hamas leader by Israel since the war began. It would be 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.

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 are hampering efforts to provide essential 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 and over 200 taken 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.

On Sunday, an Israeli attack killed at least 13 people at the gate of a school in Nuseirat in central Gaza, Associated Press journalists at Al-Awda hospital reported. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had attacked “terrorists” operating near a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

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.

Israel Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said such attacks were often “triggered” by events like Saturday’s airstrike in the Gaza Strip.

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

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