Officials say 90 Palestinians killed as Israel targets Hamas military chief

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza on Saturday, the enclave's health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.

On Sunday the Israeli military said that Rafa Salama, Hamas' Khan Younis brigade commander, was killed in the airstrike.

They said Salama was one of Deif's closest associates and his death "significantly impedes Hamas' military capabilities". Hamas has not confirmed Salama's fate.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Saturday, said it remained unclear whether Deif and Salama had been killed and promised to continue to target Hamas leadership, saying more military pressure on the group would improve chances of a hostage deal, even as three days of ceasefire talks separately halted on Saturday.

"Either way, we will get to the whole of the leadership of Hamas," Netanyahu told a news conference.

Hamas denied Deif had been killed, according to a senior Hamas official on Al Jazeera TV. Hamas earlier said Israeli claims it had targeted leaders of the group were false and aimed at justifying the attack, which was the deadliest Israeli attack in Gaza in weeks.

Displaced people sheltering in the area said their tents were torn down by the force of the strike, describing bodies and body parts strewn on the ground.

"I couldn't even tell where I was or what was happening," said Sheikh Youssef, a resident of Gaza City who is currently displaced in the Al-Mawasi area.

"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," he told Reuters.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, in a statement, said he was "shocked and saddened" by the civilian deaths, which underscored "nowhere is safe in Gaza," and said international humanitarian law must be upheld.

The Israeli military said the strike against Deif also targeted Rafa Salama, the commander of Hamas' Khan Younis Brigade, describing them as two of the masterminds of the October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the nine-month war in Gaza.

Deif has survived seven Israeli assassination attempts, the most recent in 2021, and has topped Israel's most wanted list for decades, held responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.

The Gaza health ministry said at least 91 Palestinians were killed in the strike and 300 injured, the deadliest toll in weeks in the conflict-shattered enclave.

Al-Mawasi is a designated humanitarian area that the Israeli army has repeatedly urged Palestinians to head to after issuing evacuation orders from other areas.

Reuters footage showed ambulances racing towards the area amidst clouds of smoke and dust. Displaced people, including women and children, were fleeing in panic, some holding belongings in their hands.

The Israeli military published an aerial photo of the site, which Reuters was not immediately able to verify, where it said "terrorists hid among civilians".

"The location of the strike was an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings, and sheds," it said in a statement.

The Israeli military official said the area was not a tent complex, but an operational compound run by Hamas and that several Hamas members were there, guarding Deif.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday to discuss Israel's Gaza operations and emphasised the need to minimise civilian harm, the Pentagon said.

Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Union's Foreign Affairs and Security Policy representative, called for an independent probe and condemned any potential violation of international law, posting on social media site X that the "end can’t justify all means".