The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said at least 71 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a humanitarian zone on Saturday, in an attack Israel said targeted a senior Hamas leader.
More than 289 people were wounded, according to the statement of the Ministry of Health.
Hamas claims the attack hit the al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis, which the Israeli military has designated as a humanitarian zone, urging Palestinians to seek shelter there.
An Israeli official said that the target of the attack was the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, in an area where there were “only Hamas terrorists, and no civilians.”
An eyewitness in al-Mawasi told the BBC that the impact site looked like it had been hit by an “earthquake,” and videos from the area showed smoldering wreckage and bloodied victims being loaded onto stretchers. People could be seen desperately trying to pick through the rubble of the large crater with their hands.
Footage from a nearby Polish hospital showed scenes of chaos, with patients being treated on the floor.
A Hamas official quoted by Reuters called the attack a “serious escalation” that showed Israel was not interested in reaching a ceasefire agreement.
Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s military wing the al-Qassam Brigades, is the main target of the Israeli army.
Deif has an almost mythical status in Gaza after evading arrest and surviving several assassination attempts.
He is believed to be one of the masterminds of the October 7 Hamas attack, when around 1,200 Israelis and foreigners – mostly civilians – were killed and 251 others were taken back to Gaza as hostages.
That led to a major Israeli military operation in Gaza that killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
