KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel stated it centered Hamas’ shadowy army commander in a large strike Saturday within the crowded southern Gaza Strip that killed a minimum of 90 other people together with youngsters, consistent with native well being officers. Israeli High Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated “there nonetheless isn’t absolute simple task” that Mohammed Deif and a 2nd Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, had been killed.Hamas rejected the declare that Deif used to be within the house, pronouncing “those false claims are simply a cover-up for the size of the horrific bloodbath.” The strike happened in a space Israel’s army had designated as protected for loads of 1000’s of Palestinians.Deif and Hamas’ most sensible legit in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, are believed via Israel to be the executive architects of the Oct. 7 assault that killed some 1,200 other people in southern Israel and precipitated the Israel-Hamas conflict. No longer noticed in public for years, Deif has lengthy crowned Israel’s most-wanted checklist and is thought to have escaped a couple of Israeli assassination makes an attempt. On Oct. 7, Hamas issued an extraordinary voice recording of Deif pronouncing the “Al Aqsa Flood” operation.
The strike got here at a gentle time in cease-fire efforts. Deif’s dying would hand Israel a big victory and Hamas a painful mental blow. It additionally may give Netanyahu a imaginable opening. Once more on Saturday, the high minister stated Israel won’t finish the conflict till Hamas’ army features are destroyed. Deif’s dying can be a vital step in that path.
All Hamas leaders are marked for dying and “we can achieve all of them,” Netanyahu stated. He added that no hostages were within sight when the strike came about, with out explaining how he knew that.
Deif’s killing may additionally inspire Hamas to harden its positions in talks. He has been in hiding for greater than twenty years and is thought to be paralyzed. One of the most simplest identified pictures of him is a 30-year-old ID picture launched via Israel. Even in Gaza, just a handful of other people would acknowledge him.
Saturday’s assault used to be one of the vital conflict’s deadliest. The Gaza Well being Ministry reported 90 useless and a minimum of 300 others injured. Related Press reporters counted over 40 our bodies at beaten Nasser Medical institution within sight. Witnesses described an assault that integrated a number of moves.“Plenty of sufferers are nonetheless underneath the rubble and at the roads, and ambulance and civil protection crews are not able to succeed in them,” the Well being Ministry stated.The Israeli army asserted that “further terrorists concealed amongst civilians” and described the site as surrounded via timber and a number of other structures. An Israeli legit stated the strike hit a fenced house of Khan Younis that used to be run via Hamas, pronouncing it used to be now not a tent advanced however an operational compound. The legit described the strike as exact. The military stated the compound belonged to Salama.Witnesses stated the strike landed in Muwasi, the Israeli-designated protected zone that stretches from northern Rafah to Khan Younis. Palestinians have fled to the coastal strip, sheltering most commonly in tents with few elementary services and products or provides. Greater than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million other people were pushed from their properties.
Photos of the aftermath confirmed an enormous crater, charred tents and burnt-out vehicles. Sufferers had been carried at the hoods and within the hatchbacks of vehicles, on donkey carts and on carpets.On the health facility, a toddler in a purple blouse, her face lined with sand, cried whilst receiving first assist. A small boy lay immobile on the different finish of the mattress, one shoe long past. Many wounded had been handled at the flooring.There used to be “the overpowering stench of blood,” stated Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson with the U.N. company for Palestinian refugees who visited the health facility and spoke with a number of sufferers. Body of workers stated there have been no cleansing merchandise left.The blast threw a 2-year-old kid into the air and the mummy used to be lacking, Wateridge stated. Any other boy had his ft blown off, whilst an 8-year-old boy used to be killed. “They advised me to head there to be protected,” his grieving mom advised her of the realm struck.Neighboring Egypt, a mediator in cease-fire talks, condemned the strike. “Those ongoing violations in opposition to Palestinian voters upload critical headaches to the power of the efforts recently being made to succeed in calm and a cease-fire,” its International Ministry stated in a commentary. It additionally criticized the “shameful silence and loss of motion from the world neighborhood.”
Egyptian, Qatari and U.S. mediators were pushing to slim gaps between Israel and Hamas over a proposed deal for a three-phase cease-fire and hostage liberate plan in Gaza.The U.S.-backed proposal requires an preliminary cease-fire with a restricted hostage liberate and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza’s populated spaces. On the similar time, the 2 facets will negotiate phrases of the second one part, which is meant to carry a complete hostage liberate in go back for an enduring cease-fire and entire Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Netanyahu stated he wasn’t transferring from the U.S.-backed proposal however indexed prerequisites: Israel’s proper to proceed the conflict till its objectives are completed, the go back of as many hostages as imaginable within the deal’s first level, no go back of Hamas warring parties to northern Gaza and the prevention of hands smuggling, together with regulate of the important thing Philadelphi hall between Gaza and Egypt.Israel introduced its marketing campaign in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault through which militants stormed into southern Israel and kidnapped about 250 other people.Since then, Israeli flooring offensives and bombardments have killed greater than 38,400 other people in Gaza and wounded greater than 88,000, consistent with the territory’s Well being Ministry. The ministry does now not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its depend.___Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Jack Jeffery in Ramallah, West Financial institution, Fatma Khaled and Sarah el Deeb in Cairo and Abby Sewell and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this record.___Find extra of AP’s protection at
