Israel: Hamas accuses Israeli army of killing 71 people during attack on humanitarian zone in Gaza

At least 90 Palestinians were killed. The Gaza Health Ministry, directed by Hamas, has been assured that this is the balance left by Israeli airstrikes against an area designated as humanitarian by the Israeli army.

The Israeli government, for its part, has accepted responsibility for the attack, but claimed that the bombing targeted two Hamas military leaders.

More than 300 people were injuredAccording to a Gaza Health Ministry statement.

Hamas said the attack took place in the al-Mawasi area near the town of Khan Younis, which the Israeli military had previously designated as a “humanitarian zone” and had urged Palestinians displaced by the conflict to move there.

An Israeli official claimed the strike targeted two leaders of Hamas’ military wing, saying the area attacked was “in the open air” and that “There were only Hamas terrorists there and no civilians”. a version that Hamas denied.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to be the security liaison throughout the day, his office said, according to Reuters.

An eyewitness to what happened in al-Mawasi told the BBC that it appeared there had been an “earthquake” at the site of the attack.

Videos recorded in the area of ​​the attack spread on social networks and show burning remains Victims covered in blood are being carried on stretchers,

You can also see people desperately trying to dig out the debris of a huge crater with their hands.

Photos from a nearby Kuwait field hospital showed scenes of chaos Patients were treated on the floor,

One of the doctors treating the injured told the BBC that it was “one of the dark days”.

Dr Mohammed Abu Rayya told the BBC World Service’s Newshour that most of those taken to hospital were dead and others had suffered multiple shrapnel wounds.

“It’s like being in hell”He said that the number of women and children who lost their lives in the bombing is high.

A Hamas official gave information about the attack, Reuters reported “Serious escalation” Which proves that Israel has no interest in reaching a ceasefire agreement.

Ceasefire talks between Qatar and Egypt ended on Friday without any breakthrough, the BBC has learned.

Mohammed Deif heads Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades one of the most wanted men By the Israeli military and one of its main objectives.

The man was jailed in 1989, after which he formed a brigade with the aim of kidnapping Israeli soldiers.

Deif enjoys an almost mythical status in the Gaza Strip, having evaded arrest and survived several assassination attempts.

Israel accuses him of carrying out some of the country’s deadliest attacks in the 1990s.

He is believed to be one of the masterminds of the October 7 Hamas attack.In which about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, mostly civilians, were killed and another 251 were taken as hostages to Gaza.

These incidents sparked an ongoing Israeli military campaign in the Palestinian territory, which has killed more than 38,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Israeli military officials also said they were seeking to eliminate Rafa Salama, the Hamas commander in Khan Younis. And they described “Pure” The intelligence that led to this incident.

However, official Israeli spokesmen refused to say whether they believed they had managed to hit the two targets, nor did they state whether they believed they had managed to hit the two targets. Some of the more than 100 hostages are Israeli who was in the area held by Hamas and could have been killed or injured.

Hamas, for its part, described the information about the presence of its leaders in the area as “false.”

,This is not the first time that Israel’s claim that it is targeting Palestinian leaders has later been proven false.” the group said in a statement.

Similarly, the organization denied that any of its leaders died in the incidents.

This is not the first time that Israel has targeted refugee camps or places hosting displaced people in its efforts to eliminate members of the Hamas leadership. Thus far, five similar incidents have been recorded in July:

The Israeli military justified the first three attacks by claiming that politicians and Hamas fighters were using the refugee camps as a base of operations.

*With information from Rushdi Abulaf, Tom McArthur and David Gritten.

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