Gaza health ministry says at least 71 Palestinians were killed and 289 injured; it\u2019s unclear whether Deif was killed
\n CAIRO\/ JERUSALEM\/ GAZA
\nAn Israeli airstrike targeted Hamas\u2019 military chief Mohammed Deif in Gaza on Saturday, a security official and Israel Army Radio said, in an attack that the enclave\u2019s health ministry said had killed at least 71 Palestinians.
\nIt was unclear whether Deif was killed, the security official said. Army Radio said Deif was hiding in a building in the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone Al-Mawasi, west of the southern city of Khan Younis.
\nDeif was one of the masterminds of Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. He has survived seven Israeli assassination attempts, the most recent in 2021 and has topped Israel\u2019s most-wanted list for decades.
\nThe Gaza health ministry said at least 71 Palestinians had been killed in the strike and 289 injured.
\nIsraeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was holding special consultations, his office said, in light of \u201cdevelopments in Gaza\u201d. It was unclear how the strike would affect ceasefire talks underway in Doha and Cairo.
\nThe Hamas-run media office said at least 100 people had been killed and wounded, including members of the Civil Emergency Service. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
\nA senior Hamas official did not confirm whether Deif had been present and called the Israeli allegations \u201cnonsense\u201d.
\n\u201cAll the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence,\u201d Abu Zuhri told Reuters, adding the strike showed Israel was not interested in reaching a ceasefire deal.
\nAttack \u2018surprising\u2019, say witnesses
\nReuters 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.
\nWitnesses said the attack was a surprise as the area had been calm, adding more than one missile had been fired. Some of the wounded, who were being evacuated were rescue workers, they said.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re all gone, my whole family\u2019s gone.. where are my brothers? They\u2019re all gone, they\u2019re all gone. There\u2019s no one left,\u201d said one tearful woman, who did not give her name.
\n\u201cOur children are in pieces, they are in pieces. Shame (on you),\u201d she added.
\n Rising up the Hamas ranks over 30 years, Deif developed the group\u2019s network of tunnels and its bomb-making expertise. He is held responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.
\nHamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in a cross-border raid into southern Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.
\nIsrael has retaliated by military action in Gaza that has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, medical authorities in Gaza say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gaza health ministry says at least 71 Palestinians were killed and 289 injured; it\u2019s unclear whether Deif was killed CAIRO\/ JERUSALEM\/ GAZA An Israeli airstrike targeted Hamas\u2019 military chief Mohammed Deif in Gaza on Saturday, a security official and Israel Army Radio said, in an attack that the enclave\u2019s health ministry said had killed at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-418323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n