Israel attacks Hamas military chief with attack on Khan Younis

HISTORY: Displaced Palestinians flee, ambulances race through clouds of smoke and dust…

after an Israeli airstrike hit the designated Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone in Khan Younis on Saturday, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

According to official reports, more than 70 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured in the attack.

Many were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel said the airstrike targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif and Rafa Salama, commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade.

It is unclear whether Deif was killed, an Israeli military official said.

A senior Hamas official did not confirm whether Deif was present and called the Israeli accusations “nonsense.”

The Israeli military names Deif and Salama as two of the masterminds of the October 7 attack that sparked the nine-month war in the Gaza Strip.

According to Israeli sources, Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in a cross-border raid in southern Israel.

Israel responded with a military operation in the enclave that killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities say.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held special consultations in light of “developments in the Gaza Strip,” his office said.

It is unclear what impact the attack would have on ongoing ceasefire talks in Doha and Cairo.