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An Israeli airstrike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza on Saturday (July 13), Gaza’s Health Ministry said, in an attack Israel said targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Dave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was not yet clear whether Dave and another Hamas commander had been killed and pledged to continue targeting Hamas leadership, saying more military pressure on the group would improve the chances of a hostage deal, even though three days of ceasefire talks were suspended separately on Saturday.
“We are going to strike at the entire leadership of Hamas no matter what,” Netanyahu told a news conference.
The militant Islamist group Hamas denied that Dave was killed, according to a senior Hamas official, according to Al Jazeera. Hamas earlier said Israel’s claim that it targeted the group’s leader was false and aimed at finding an excuse for the attack, which was the deadliest Israeli strike in Gaza in weeks.
Displaced people taking shelter in the area said their tents were destroyed by airstrikes and the ground was littered with bodies and body parts.
“I don’t even know where I am or what’s happening,” said Sheikh Youssef, a Gaza City resident currently displaced in the Al-Mawasi area.
“I walked out of the tent and looked around. All the tents had been torn down. There were bodies everywhere. Old women were thrown on the ground. Young children were dismembered,” he told Reuters.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement he was “shocked and saddened” by the civilian deaths, which showed that “no place is safe in Gaza” and said international humanitarian law must be upheld.
The Israeli military said the attack on the town of Dev also targeted Rafa Salama, commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade, and said they were the two masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the nine-month-long Gaza war.
Deif has survived seven assassination attempts by Israel, most recently in 2021. Deif has been at the top of Israel’s wanted list for decades and is believed to be responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 91 Palestinians were killed and 300 wounded in the attack, the heaviest toll in the conflict-torn region in weeks.
Almawasi is a designated humanitarian area and the Israeli army has repeatedly urged Palestinians to go there after issuing evacuation orders to other areas.
Reuters footage showed ambulances racing away amid thick smoke and dust as displaced people, including women and children, ran in panic, some clutching belongings.
The Israeli military released aerial photos of the site, but Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the information, saying “terrorists were hiding among civilians.”
“The attack took place in an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings and sheds,” the statement said.
Israeli military officials said the area was not a tent colony but a Hamas-run combat compound where several militants were guarding the daif.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Galant on Saturday to discuss Israel’s operations in Gaza and stressed the need to minimize civilian casualties, the Pentagon said.
EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles called for an independent investigation and condemned any possible violations of international law, saying in a post on social media site X that “the ends do not justify the means.”
Hospitals ‘packed with patients’
Many of those injured in the attack, including women and children, were taken to the nearby Nasser Hospital, which hospital officials said was overwhelmed and “can no longer function normally” due to the intense Israeli offensive and a severe shortage of medical supplies.
“The hospital is overwhelmed with sick and wounded people and we can’t find beds,” said hospital director Atef Hutt, adding that it was the only hospital still functioning in southern Gaza.
Galant was holding special consultations in light of “developments in Gaza,” his office said.
Two Egyptian security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that ceasefire talks in Doha and Cairo had been suspended after three days of intense negotiations, saying the Israeli mediators’ actions indicated “internal discord”.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement that the group had reached out to mediators in Egypt and Qatar as well as Turkey and Oman, citing Saturday’s attack and calling for an end to “these massacres against our people.”
Netanyahu said in a televised address on Saturday evening that he was not abandoning the framework proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden.
A White House National Security Council spokesman said Israel told U.S. officials it was targeting senior Hamas officials and that the Biden administration was seeking to learn more about the reported civilian casualties.
As the prime minister spoke, protesters continued to rally in Tel Aviv, singing and waving signs calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Earlier in the day, thousands of protesters also marched outside Jerusalem.
“Maybe this is a good thing, maybe it’s not a good thing. I don’t know what Mohammed Dave thinks, but I know that continuing the war is not good for all of us,” said Ayala Metzger, the Israeli daughter-in-law of an Israeli hostage who took part in a march in solidarity with the hostages near Jerusalem.
Israel also attacked a prayer hall in a camp for displaced persons west of Gaza City on Saturday, killing at least 20 Palestinians, Palestinian health and civil emergency officials said.
Critics accuse Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians, which Israel denies. Israel says it is acting in self-defense to prevent another attack like the Oct. 7 attack, even though the International Court of Justice ordered Israel in January to act to prevent acts of genocide.
According to Israeli statistics, on October 7, Hamas-led militants crossed the border and attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages.
Gaza’s medical authorities say Israel’s military action in retaliation against Gaza has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians.
Read more by Euractiv
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