By Deutsche Welle
15 Jul 2024, 02:00 AM EDT
The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian terrorist movement Hamas, said at least 90 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a humanitarian zone aimed at eliminating the Islamist group’s military chief in the enclave, Mohamed Deif.
According to the agency, half of the dead were children and women, and the bombing also left 300 injured, some in critical condition.
The attack took place in the area of Al Mawasi, west of the city of Khan Yunis, designated a “humanitarian zone” by Israeli forces at the start of their operation in the southern town of Rafah in early May.
They insisted that it was a Hamas compound.
The Israeli military insisted that the site it struck was a Hamas compound where a large number of militants congregated and was located in an open area surrounded by trees and buildings, and not in the Al Mawasi tent camps where thousands of displaced people reside.
The Israeli military said the attack on Deif also targeted Rafa Salama, commander of the Hamas brigade in Khan Younis, describing them as two of the masterminds behind the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the conflict in Gaza.
It is not immediately clear whether the two leaders were hit in the attack or what their condition is.
Commander dies
Israel confirmed on Sunday, July 14, the death of Rafaa Salameh, commander of the Khan Yunis brigade of the armed wing of Hamas, in an attack in Mawasi. Salameh was one of the closest collaborators of Mohamed Deif, the group’s number two in the Gaza Strip and its military chief.
On the other hand, the Israeli delegation added new demands to the agreement to reach a truce and make effective an exchange of hostages that will complicate the negotiations if the mediators do not intervene, a Palestinian source familiar with the conversations told EFE.
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