The Hamas-run well being ministry in Gaza says not less than 90 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a delegated humanitarian space.
About 300 folks have been injured, in keeping with the well being ministry’s assertion, in an assault which Israel says focused senior Hamas chief Mohammed Deif and his deputy Rafa Salama.
In a information convention on Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned there was “no certainty” that both of them had been killed.
The strike hit the al-Mawasi space close to Khan Younis, which the Israeli army has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Mr Netanyahu mentioned he gave the order for the operation to go forward after being briefed by his common safety forces.
He mentioned he wished to know there have been no hostages close by, the extent of the collateral harm and what sorts of weapons could be used.
Having heard the plan, he “wished them the perfect of luck”.
In the course of the information convention, he promised to eradicate the entire group’s senior members.
“Both method, we are going to get to the entire of the management of Hamas,” Mr Netanyahu added.
An Israeli army official mentioned the strike passed off in an “open space” the place there have been “no civilians”.
He refused to say whether or not it was inside a delegated protected zone, however mentioned Hamas leaders had “cynically” arrange in a civilian space.
BBC Confirm has analysed footage of the aftermath of the strike, confirming that it passed off inside an space proven on the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) web site as a humanitarian zone.
The official additionally mentioned he was unaware of any hostages taken through the 7 October assault on Israel being within the space.
He added that “correct intelligence” was gathered earlier than the “precision strike”.
Hamas mentioned the declare that their leaders have been targets is “false”.
“It’s not the primary time Israel claims to focus on Palestinian leaders, solely to be confirmed false later,” the group mentioned in a press release.
An eyewitness in al-Mawasi informed the BBC that the location of the strike regarded like an “earthquake” had hit.
Movies from the world present smouldering wreckage and bloodied casualties being loaded on to stretchers.
Individuals may be seen attempting desperately to choose by means of the rubble of a big crater with their palms.
One of many medical doctors at a hospital coping with the aftermath of the assault has informed the BBC it’s “one of many black days”.
Chatting with Newshour on the BBC World Service, Dr Mohammed Abu Rayya mentioned nearly all of instances coming in have been useless, with others affected by a number of shrapnel wounds.
He mentioned it was like being in “hell”, including that lots of the casualties have been civilians, notably girls and kids.
Footage from the close by Kuwait area hospital confirmed scenes of chaos with sufferers being handled on the ground.
The Nasser medical advanced in Khan Younis is “overwhelmed” and not in a position to operate, mentioned British charity Medical Assist for Palestinians.
Mohammed Deif, the top of Hamas’s army wing the al-Qassam Brigades, is one in every of Israel’s most wished males.
He has near-mythical standing in Gaza after escaping seize and surviving a number of assassination makes an attempt, together with one in 2002 when he misplaced an eye fixed.
He was imprisoned by Israeli authorities in 1989, after which he shaped the Brigades with the purpose of capturing Israeli troopers.
Israel accuses him of planning and supervising bus bombings which killed tens of Israelis in 1996, and of involvement within the seize and killing of three Israeli troopers within the mid-Nineties.
It’s thought he was one of many masterminds behind the 7 October Hamas assault, when about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners – principally civilians – have been killed and 251 others have been taken again to Gaza as hostages.
It led to the foremost Israeli army operation in Gaza which has killed greater than 38,400 Palestinians, in keeping with the Hamas-run well being ministry.
A Hamas official, cited by Reuters, known as Saturday’s assault a “grave escalation” that confirmed Israel was not eager about reaching a ceasefire settlement.
The ceasefire negotiations being held in Qatar and Egypt ended on Friday with out success, the BBC understands.
Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence company mentioned that in a separate incident, 17 folks had been killed in an Israeli strike west of Gaza.
The assault is claimed to have focused a prayer corridor within the Shati refugee camp to the west of Gaza Metropolis. The Israeli army has not but commented on the declare.
