At least 91 people were killed and 300 injured in an Israeli airstrike on a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza on Saturday. This was one of the deadliest attacks in recent weeks, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel claimed that the attack targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.
According to Reuters, Hamas denied Deif had been killed in the attack. The militant group said Israel's claim that it had targeted leaders of the group were false, and meant to justify the attack.
The strike targeted, Al-Mawasi a designated humanitarian area that the Israeli army repeatedly urged Palestinians to relocate to following evacuation orders from other areas.
Displaced people sheltering in the area said their tents were torn down by the force of the strike, which left bodies and body parts strewn on the ground. "I left the tent and looked around, all the tents were knocked down, body parts, bodies everywhere, elderly women thrown on the floor, young children in pieces," Sheikh Youssef, a displaced resident of Gaza City who is currently living in the Al-Mawasi area, told Reuters.
The Israeli military said the location of the strike was “an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings, and sheds”. An Israeli military official said the area was not a tent complex but an operational compound run by Hamas, and had several militants guarding Deif.
After the strike, Reuters reported, ambulances rushed to the area as people tried to flee with some of their belongings.
Gaza's Nasser Hospital was described as overwhelmed by the number of patients, and "no longer able to function" due to the intensity of the Israeli offensive and an acute shortage of medical supplies.
Atef al-Hout, director of the hospital, said the facility was full of wounded people, adding that it was the only one operating in south Gaza.
This comes amid ceasefire talks underway in Doha and Cairo.
‘We Will Get Whole Of Hamas Leadership’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it wasn’t clear whether Deif and another senior commander were killed in the airstrike, but vowed to pursue Israel’s war aims to the end.
"Either way, we will get to the whole of the leadership of Hamas," he told a televised news conference, according to Reuters. Netanyahu added that chances of an agreement to return Israeli hostages would be improved by increasing military pressure on Hamas.
The Israeli military said that the strike was conducted based on precise intelligence targeting Deif and senior Hamas commander Rafa Salama in the city of Khan Younis.
Netanyahu spoke as demonstrators in Tel Aviv demanded more action to bring Israeli and foreign hostages back from Gaza. He stated that military pressure on Hamas was the best way to secure an agreement for the hostages’ return.
He said he would not compromise on Israel’s fundamental demands in any deal.
"I haven't moved a millimetre from the framework that President Biden presented," he said, as quoted by Reuters. "But I am also not letting Hamas move a millimetre."