Israel: Attack on Hamas military chief denounced, Gaza ministry reports dozens dead

Israel said it had attacked Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday. The Health Ministry there reported 71 deaths in an attack on a refugee camp.

The Israeli military said it had targeted Deif and Rafa Salama, a brigade commander, describing them as “two of the masterminds of the October 7 massacre” that sparked the war, now in its tenth month.

The deaths in Al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated “safe zone” where aid groups say hundreds of thousands of people sought shelter, were condemned by regional governments including Jordan, Iran and Egypt.

The Cairo Foreign Ministry stated that such “crimes … cannot be tolerated under any justification.”

The Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said there were at least “71 martyrs” and 289 people injured in the “brutal massacre by the occupying forces” – meaning Israel – in Al-Mawasi.

AFP could not independently confirm the number of victims.

The Israeli military said of its attack on Deif – whose fate is still unclear – that “the area hit is an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings and sheds. It was not a tent complex, but an operational camp.”

A Hamas statement rejected Israel’s claim that it had targeted Deif, saying it was intended to “cover up the extent of the gruesome massacre.”

Further north, heavy fighting has been raging in and around Gaza City for weeks.

On Saturday, Al-Ahli Hospital reported that 17 people were killed and several injured in an attack on the nearby Al-Shati refugee camp.

In Al-Mawasi, AFPTV footage showed sirens blaring and smoke rising in the distance as men with blankets collected the victims. Some were obviously beyond help and lay dead on the street.

“What have we done?” screamed a woman on the street. “What have we done? We were just sitting on the beach.”

– ‘Many bodies’ –

Israel had in May called on Palestinians in the Rafah area to move to a designated humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast of the besieged area as troops entered the southern town near the Egyptian border.

Since then, Israel has been accused of killing civilians in attacks on or near Al-Mawasi. In one attack in May, for example, Israel was accused of starting a fire in a tent city that killed 45 people.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had “issued a standing order to eliminate senior Hamas officials at the beginning of the war.”

It added that Netanyahu would meet with security and military officials to discuss “the next developments and steps” after the attack.

An Israeli security source said that “the operation was approved last night” after intelligence suggested that Deif was present and “there were no hostages with him.”

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the attack showed that Israel “will continue to target Hamas’ top leadership” even as it “negotiates a hostage deal.”

Gaza’s civil defense said heavy shelling had prevented its teams from reaching the “many bodies” scattered on the streets.

“Every time people tried to come closer to save others, they attacked,” said Palestinian Mahmoud Abu Akar.

In Israel, another rally of anti-government demonstrators was expected later on Saturday to demand an agreement on the release of the hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip. This will be followed by a four-day protest march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The war began with Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP news agency count based on Israeli figures.

The militants also captured 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in the Gaza Strip. According to the military, 42 of them are dead.

Israel responded with a military offensive that killed at least 38,443 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to a data list released by the Gaza Health Ministry on Saturday afternoon.

– ‘Pressure’ –

Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect talks for months through Qatari, US and Egyptian mediators in an attempt to reach a ceasefire that has not yet been reached and an agreement on the release of the hostages.

Talks took place this week in Doha and Cairo.

Netanyahu continues to insist that any agreement must enable Israel to achieve its war aims – the destruction of Hamas and the return of all hostages.

US President Joe Biden has outlined an Israeli plan for a six-week ceasefire that would see hostages released in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli prisons, with a second phase to include talks on a complete end to the war.

On Thursday he said: “Both Israel and Hamas have now agreed on this framework.”

“There are still gaps to be closed, but we are making progress, the trend is positive and I am determined to conclude this agreement and end this war that should end now.”

Biden again urged Israel to come up with a “day after” plan for Gaza and spoke of diplomatic efforts to persuade Arab states to help with security.

Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, said the group had proposed an independent and non-partisan government for both the post-war Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority is based.

On Saturday, Hamas official Bassem Naim said Netanyahu was the one “obstructing the reaching of an agreement” and called on Biden to put “sufficient pressure” on the Israeli president to reach an agreement.

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