At least 90 Palestinians reported killed in Israeli strike targeting Hamas military chief
By Abeer Salman, Ibrahim Dahman, Niamh Kennedy, Benjamin Brown, Sophie Tanno, Mohammad Al Sawalhi, Allegra Goodwin and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
(CNN) — At least 90 Palestinians have been reported killed in an Israeli strike on a displacement camp in southern Gaza which Israel said targeted Hamas’ military chief, who was an alleged mastermind of the October 7 attacks.
Footage from Al-Mawasi, which has been designated as a safe zone for Palestinians fleeing the fighting elsewhere, shows bodies in the street and destroyed tents.
A senior staffer at UNRWA, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, described the Nasser hospital, which took in victims of the strike, as “the most horrific scenes I have seen in my nine months in Gaza.”
“I saw toddlers who are double amputees, children paralyzed and unable to receive treatment, and others separated from their parents.”
Mohammed Deif – the leader of Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing – was the figure targeted, alongside the head of the Khan Younis brigade, Rafe Salama, an Israeli security official told CNN.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a press conference in Tel Aviv Saturday that he was not certain whether Deif and his deputy had been killed, but said he had given his blessing for the head of Shin Bet – Israel’s security agency – to carry out the operation after being assured there were no hostages in the area.
The strike left scenes of devastation, with the Gaza Health Ministry reporting at least 90 people killed and 300 people injured. It said women and children accounted for half of those killed and dozens of those injured. CNN has no way of verifying the casualty numbers reported by the ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants killed.
The Kuwait and Nasser Hospitals on the ground said they were struggling to cope with the high numbers of dead and injured civilians coming in, the ministry said.
“I was sitting in the bathroom, and before I heard explosions from the strike, the bathroom flew off,” a young boy called Hammoud told a CNN stringer on the ground. “Then, the whole area became filled with smoke, and then the shells began to fall.”
Hammoud’s young brother was killed in the strike whilst his sister is currently in hospital receiving treatment for her injuries, his family told CNN.
Another resident named Aida Hamdi told CNN: “We suddenly heard missiles hitting. I was baking bread, I took my daughter and we started running outside.
“I threw all the dough away, it was mixed with sand. We heard three hits, people around me were martyred, women, men, and children.”
Hamas denied Israeli claims it had targeted Deif and Salama, calling the killings a “horrific massacre.”
“The occupation’s claims of targeting leaders are false claims, and this is not the first time the occupation has claimed to target Palestinian leaders, only for its lies to be exposed later,” a statement read.
At least one US-made munition was used in the airstrike. In a video shared on social media, CNN identified the tail fin of a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a Boeing-manufactured GPS-guided kit which can be added to so-called ‘dumb bombs’ to direct them at a specific target. Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, confirmed the identification of the JDAM tail at the scene for CNN.
Similar CNN analysis has found US-made munitions were used in a strike on a school complex near Khan Younis and in other Israeli strikes on Gaza.
A shadowy figure
Israeli security and intelligence first received intelligence about a potential opportunity to strike Hamas’ top military commander in recent days, but a clear window of opportunity to strike Deif only crystallized in the last 24 hours, an Israeli official said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and top Shin Bet officials held multiple discussions overnight to assess the viability of a strike before the green light was given, the official said.
A key focus of the discussions was assessing Israeli intelligence indicating that there were no hostages in the area, the official added, as well as the effect that carrying out such a significant strike might have on ongoing ceasefire and hostage deal negotiations.
US officials said that Israel informed the United States that they had targeted senior Hamas officials in an airstrike Saturday but did not give advance warning of the operation.
Little is known about Deif. Thought to have been born in the 1960s, Deif is a bomb maker was behind a wave of suicide attacks in 1996 that killed 65 people in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and other outrages intended to derail the peace process.
His full name is Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, but he became known as El Deif (the Guest), because, for decades, he stayed in different houses every night to avoid being tracked, and killed, by Israel.
Deif has been the target of Israeli assassination attempts before. A 2014 Israel strike killed his wife, seven-month-old son and three-year-old daughter.
In May, the International Criminal Court said it was seeking arrest warrants for Deif and other senior Hamas figures, saying they had “reasonable grounds” to believe they bore responsibility for the October 7 attacks, which saw around 1,200 Israelis killed.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza – aimed at destroying Hamas and rescuing hostages still being held – has since killed more than 38,000 people.
Pressure on ceasefire deal
The strike comes at a delicate time in negotiations for a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal. While killing Deif would be seen as a major victory for Israel, it could encourage Hamas to harden its position on a three-phase Israeli proposal that was laid out by US President Joe Biden at the end of May.
Talks to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages are ongoing. A Hamas political official denied reports on Sunday that Hamas is halting ceasefire negotiations due to Saturday’s strike.
Izzat Al-Rishq also called the strike an “escalation” and claimed one of the Israeli government’s goals “is to block the path to reaching an agreement that stops the aggression against our people.”
Meanwhile, at his press conference Saturday, Netanyahu insisted he would not move “one millimeter” from the framework laid out by Biden. He claimed Hamas had requested 29 changes to the proposal, but he refused to make even one. “I’m not adding conditions or removing conditions,” he said.
Hamas has not yet publicly commented on Netanyahu’s claims. However, a diplomatic source involved in the negotiations said the ceasefire talks were still scheduled to take place in Doha, Qatar, next week despite the strike.
In Israel on Saturday, protesters and families of hostages took to the streets of several cities to demand the government secure a deal to release all the hostages.
In Jerusalem, masses outside the Knesset demanded the government accept the hostage release deal and bring everyone home now. Some protesters also gathered outside Netanyahu’s office.
In Tel Aviv, Andrey Kozlov, who was held hostage in Gaza for eight months before the Israeli military rescued him in June, addressed the crowd.
“I want to share that every day in Gaza was a living hell; every day felt like it could be my last on earth. Take it from me, every day matters, every minute, even every second,” Kozlov said from the Hostage Square in Tel Aviv.
“I may look okay to you from the outside, but the pain weighs on me more than anyone can see, more than anyone can imagine,” he added.
“I was one of the lucky ones since I wasn’t held in a tunnel. So, I endured harsh conditions and abuse (but) what about the remaining 120 hostages?” Kozlov said.
Kozlov also urged Netanyahu to bring the rest of the hostages back home saying, “Please sign a deal!”
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum reminded Netanyahu there would be “no victory” before all the 120 hostages were brought home. The “deal is in the final stages before signing and returning the hostages home; it is time to instruct the negotiation teams to reach agreements and bring everyone home,” it said in a statement.
“We have been waiting for them for 281 days.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
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