CNN
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At least 90 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli military attack on a displaced persons camp in southern Gaza, Israel said, targeting a Hamas military leader it believes to be the mastermind behind the October 7 attack.
Footage from al-Mawasi, a designated safe zone for Palestinians fleeing fighting elsewhere, showed bodies lying in the streets and destroyed tents. “The magnitude of this tragedy cannot be put into words,” one resident told CNN.
An Israeli security official told CNN that Mohammed Deif, leader of the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, was targeted along with Rafeh Salama, leader of the Khan Younis Brigades.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Saturday that he was not sure whether Deif and his deputy had been killed, but that the head of Israel’s security agency, the Shin Bet, had given the go-ahead for the operation after receiving assurances that no hostages were at the scene.
The attack left the area in a state of devastation, with Gaza’s Ministry of Health reporting at least 90 people dead and 300 wounded. The ministry said half of the dead and dozens of the wounded were women and children. The ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, and CNN has no way of verifying the ministry’s death and injury figures.
Local residents and rescue teams were seen trying to free several people who were trapped.
Mohammed Salem/Reuters
Palestinians gathered on Saturday near damage caused by Israeli military attacks at a tent camp in the al-Mawasi neighborhood.
According to the country’s defence ministry, local Kuwait Hospital and Nasser Hospital are struggling to cope with the large number of dead and injured being brought in.
“I was sitting on the toilet and before I heard an explosion from a bomb, the toilet blew up,” a boy named Hamoud told CNN’s correspondent on the ground. “Then the whole area was filled with smoke and shells started falling.”
Hammoud’s family told CNN that his brother was killed in the airstrike and his sister was currently being treated for injuries in hospital.
Another resident, named Aida Hamdi, told CNN: “Suddenly we heard the missiles hitting. I was baking bread and I ran outside with my daughter.”
“I threw away all the fabric. It was mixed with sand. I heard three shots and people around me were martyred – women, men and children.”
Hamas has denied Israel’s claims that it targeted Deif and Salama and called the killings a “horrific massacre.”
“The allegation that the occupying forces are targeting the leadership is false and this is not the first time that the occupying forces have made claims that they are targeting Palestinian leadership that have later been debunked,” the statement said.
At least one US-made munition was used in the airstrike. In a video shared on social media, CNN identified the tail of a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a GPS-guided kit made by Boeing that can be added to so-called “dumb bombs” to point them at specific targets. Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, confirmed to CNN that he had identified the JDAM tail at the scene.
A similar CNN analysis found that US-made weapons were used in the attack on a school near Khan Yunis, as well as other Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
Shadow Figures
Israeli security and intelligence agencies first received intelligence recently about a possible attack on Hamas’ top military commander, but a clear opportunity to attack Deif only emerged in the last 24 hours, Israeli officials said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israeli army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Helge Halevi and top Israeli intelligence officials held multiple consultations throughout the night to assess the feasibility of the attack before it was given the go-ahead, the officials said.
The main focus of the talks was to assess Israeli intelligence that said there were no hostages in the area and how launching such a large-scale attack would affect ongoing cease-fire and hostage deal negotiations, the official added.
U.S. officials said Israel told the United States it targeted senior Hamas officials in Saturday’s airstrikes but there was no advance warning of the operation. Little is known about Deif.
Mohammed Salem/Reuters
Palestinians after an attack in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
Deif is a bomb maker believed to have been born in the 1960s and is responsible for a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in 1996 that killed 65 people, as well as other violence aimed at derailing 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 a different house every night to avoid being tracked down and killed by Israel.
Deif has been the target of previous Israeli assassination attempts, including a 2014 attack that killed his wife, seven-month-old son and three-year-old daughter.
The International Criminal Court announced in May that it was seeking arrest warrants for Deif and other senior Hamas officials, saying it had “reasonable grounds” to believe they were responsible for the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 Israelis.
Israel’s military operation in Gaza was aimed at destroying Hamas and rescuing hostages still being held, but has so far killed more than 38,000 people.
The attack comes at a delicate time for negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage release agreement. While Deif’s killing is seen as a major victory for Israel, it could also serve as a catalyst for Hamas to harden its stance against Israel’s three-step proposal put forward by US President Joe Biden at the end of May.
Netanyahu stressed at a press conference on Saturday that he would not move “one millimeter” from the framework outlined by Biden. He insisted that Hamas had requested 29 changes to its proposal but that he would not make any changes. “We are not going to add or remove conditions,” he said.
Hamas has yet to publicly comment on Netanyahu’s allegations, but a diplomatic source involved in the negotiations said ceasefire talks were due to take place in Doha, Qatar, next week despite the attacks.
In Israel, protesters and families of hostages took to the streets in several cities on Saturday, demanding that the government reach an agreement to release all the hostages.
In Jerusalem, a crowd gathered outside the Knesset demanding the government accept the hostage release deal and let them all go home now. Some protesters also gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
In Tel Aviv, Andrei Kozlov, who was held hostage in Gaza for eight months before being rescued by Israeli forces in June, addressed the crowd.
“I want to tell you that every day in Gaza was a living hell. Every day felt like it could be my last on earth. Believe me, every day, every minute, every second counts,” Kozlov said in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square.
“I may look fine from the outside, but there is a pain weighing on me that no one can see, no one can imagine,” he added.
“I am one of the lucky ones who was not trapped in the tunnel, so I endured the harsh conditions and abuse. But what about the remaining 120 hostages?” Kozlov said.
Kozlov also urged Netanyahu to bring the remaining hostages home, saying: “Please sign the agreement!”
The Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing Hostages warned Netanyahu that “there will be no victory” until all 120 hostages are returned home. “The agreement is in the final stages before being signed and the hostages returned. It is time to instruct your negotiating team to reach an agreement and bring everyone home.” He said in a statement.
“We’ve been waiting for them for 281 days.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
