Israeli strikes on Al Mawasi 'safe zone' kill scores of civilians

At least 90 people have been reportedly been killed in strikes that were reportedly targeting senior Hamas commander

Palestinians amid the burnt remains of tents after Israeli strikes on Al Mawasi. Reuters

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Scores of civilians were killed and hundreds wounded in Israeli strikes on a camp for displaced people in Gaza, Palestinian authorities have reported.

Israel carried out a “massacre” by attacking Al Mawasi refugee camp in Khan Younis, Gaza's government media office said on Saturday morning.

On Saturday afternoon, the enclave's Ministry of Health said at least 90 people had been killed and 300 injured.

But there were conflicting reports about the death toll due to the scale of the attack.

The strikes hit Al Mawasi refugee camp, which has been designated as a “safe zone” for displaced civilians.

“Government and relief teams are still retrieving dozens of bodies and wounded people from the site of the bombing,” said Gaza's media office in a statement.

Israel's army said it carried out a strike on an area where it claimed two senior Hamas leaders had "hid among civilians." It said the strike was "an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings, and sheds."

Pictures from the scene showed destroyed structures and burned tents.

Mohammed Deif reportedly targeted

Israel said that the strikes were aimed at Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas's military wing, and Rafaa Salameh, commander of the group's Khan Younis brigade.

Israeli army radio said Deif was hiding in a building in Al Mawasi. It was not clear if Deif was killed in the strikes.

Deif, whose real name is Mohammed Diab Al Masri, is the head of the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades.

He is considered to be one of the masterminds of Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel, in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed.

More than 38,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza.

Israel has tried to kill Deif at least seven times before, and has killed several of his family members.

A Hamas official denied Deif was the target and told Reuters it was an attempt to “justify the horrifying massacre.”

“All the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence,” Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

One of the three photos of Mohammed Deif. AFP

Hospital overwhelmed

Many of the civilians were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which has been battered during nine months of war in Gaza.

“We are unable to provide medical services at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis due to the large number of injured people,” said the Health Ministry.

It comes at a time when no hospital is capable of accommodating such large numbers of injured people due to Israel’s total destruction of Gaza’s health care system, said the ministry.

According to witnesses, five rockets struck an area where the displaced were gathering to cook, and a civil defence vehicle was targeted while attempting to rescue the injured.

“Israeli forces committing new massacres against displaced areas, the Israeli forces also targeted the civil defence team who were rushing to the area to rescue people,” said the director of civil defence in Khan Younis, Yamen Abu Suliman.

Dozens of Palestinians killed or wounded in Israeli attack on Khan Younis

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Strikes across Gaza

Elsewhere in Gaza, dozens were killed and injured in Deir Al Balah following heavy Israeli shelling, the Palestinian Wafa news agency said.

Bodies were recovered by the Red Crescent, including those three children. They were taken to Al Aqsa hospital.

At Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, 10 people were wounded when a house was shelled.

In the northern Gaza Strip, explosions were heard in the vicinity of the Martyrs Junction in southern Gaza city and Israeli artillery fired shells towards Al Zeitoun, Wafa said.

The army said operations were continuing in Gaza city on Saturday as well as “targeted, intelligence-based” missions in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

It said “numerous” tunnels had been destroyed in the Rafah area, and “multiple” Hamas militants killed.

Also in Rafah, the military said it struck a paraglider storage site used by fighters in the unprecedented October 7 attack, during which some militants used such aircraft.