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Israel targets top Hamas commander; at least 70 Palestinians killed in attacks

Israel targets top Hamas commander; at least 70 Palestinians killed in attacks

Mohammed Salem/Reuters

Palestinians gather near what Palestinians say was destruction after Israel attacked a tent camp in the Al-Mawasi area on Saturday.



CNN

Israel said it targeted Hamas’s top military official, Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip. Local authorities said at least 71 Palestinians were killed in several attacks in the same area.

Deif, the leader of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades, was targeted in an airstrike on Saturday based on precise intelligence in Al-Mawasi, a camp west of the city of Khan Younis, an Israeli security official told CNN.

The Israeli military said it was investigating whether Deif was killed in the attack. Deif was attacked along with the head of the Khan Younis Brigade, Rafe Salama, the security official added.

Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that at least 71 people were killed and nearly 300 injured in Israeli attacks in the same Al-Mawasi area.

The attacks hit an area where displaced people had sought shelter, the ministry said. Videos from the scene show locals and rescue teams trying to rescue several people who are still trapped.

The local hospitals in Kuwait and Nasser are currently struggling to cope with the large number of dead and injured civilians admitted, the ministry said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.