MUWASI, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas mentioned Sunday that Gaza cease-fire talks have been ongoing and the group’s navy commander was in good well being, a day after the Israeli navy focused Mohammed Deif with a large airstrike that native well being officers mentioned killed at the least 90 individuals, together with kids.
Deif’s situation was nonetheless unclear after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Saturday night time “there still isn’t absolute certainty” he was killed. Military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi advised journalists Israel attacked a compound the place Deif “was hiding” however added: “It’s still too early to summarize the results of the attack, which Hamas is trying to hide.”
Hamas representatives gave no proof to again up their assertion in regards to the well being of a chief architect of the Oct. 7 assault that sparked the warfare. His killing would mark the very best profile assassination of any Hamas chief by Israel for the reason that warfare started.
Deif has lengthy topped Israel’s most-wanted listing and has been in hiding for years.
The Israeli navy mentioned Rafa Salama, a Hamas commander it described as certainly one of Deif’s closest associates, was killed in Saturday’s strike. Salama commanded Hamas’ Khan Younis brigade. Netanyahu mentioned all of Hamas’ leaders are “marked for death” and asserted that killing them would transfer Hamas nearer to accepting a cease-fire deal.
Eyad Baba/AFP by way of Getty Photos
Hamas rejected the concept mediated cease-fire discussions had been suspended. Spokesperson Jihad Taha mentioned “there is no doubt that the horrific massacres will impact any efforts in the negotiations” however added that “efforts and endeavors of the mediators remain ongoing.”
Hamas political officers additionally insisted that communication channels remained practical between the management inside and out of doors Gaza after the strike within the territory’s south. Witnesses mentioned it occurred in an space that Israel had designated as secure for a whole bunch of 1000’s of displaced Palestinians. Israel’s navy wouldn’t affirm that.
On Sunday, some survivors have been indignant that the assault concentrating on Deif occurred with out warning in an space they have been advised was secure.
“I heard the first hit, and my son came screaming, ‘Daddy, daddy,’ and took cover with me,” mentioned Mahmoud Abu Yaseen, who clutched his kids however then wakened within the hospital to search out his son had died. The household had already been displaced 5 instances for the reason that warfare started. “Where do we go?” he requested.
A United Nations official described utter chaos at Nasser hospital the place victims have been taken, many handled on bloodstained flooring with few provides obtainable.
“I witnessed some of the most horrific scenes I have seen in my nine months in Gaza,” Scott Anderson mentioned in a press release. “I saw toddlers who are double amputees, children paralyzed and unable to receive treatment and others separated from their parents.” He mentioned restrictions on humanitarian support to Gaza hamper efforts to supply wanted medical and different care.
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On Sunday, Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant praised the pilots who carried out the strike and mentioned Hamas is being eroded each day, with no capability to arm itself, manage or “care for the wounded.”
A minimum of 300 individuals have been wounded within the strike, one of many deadliest within the nine-month warfare sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 individuals, largely civilians, and took greater than 200 hostage.
Greater than 38,400 individuals in Gaza have been killed in Israeli floor offensives and bombardments since then, based on the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its depend.
On Sunday, an Israeli strike in Nuseirat in central Gaza killed at the least 14 individuals on the gate of a college used as a shelter for displaced individuals, based on an Related Press journalist who visited two hospitals. Kids have been among the many 15 others wounded. Israel’s navy in a press release mentioned it struck “terrorists” working within the space of a college run by the U.N. company for Palestinian refugees.
“They are targeting everything,” mentioned a displaced Palestinian, Um Fadi Al-Zeer.
Additionally on Sunday, police mentioned a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem carried out a car-ramming assault in central Israel that injured 4 Israelis, two of them significantly. Israeli border police on the scene shot the attacker useless after he hit individuals ready at two bus stops alongside a busy highway. Israel’s navy mentioned 4 of its personnel have been wounded, two of them severely.
Israeli police commissioner Kobi Shabtai mentioned such assaults have been usually triggered by occasions like Saturday’s airstrike in Gaza.
Lidman reported from Jerusalem. Related Press author Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed.
