Israel targets Hamas navy chief Mohammed Deif; 71 killed in Mawasi

Two Israeli officers, talking on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate the strike, confirmed that the Israel Protection Forces focused Deif and one other commander, Rafa Salama on Saturday, and described them as “two of the masterminds of the October seventh Bloodbath.”

The IDF stated in an announcement that it carried out a strike “in an space the place two senior Hamas terrorists and extra terrorists hid amongst civilians,” with out together with the names of the targets or whether or not they have been hit. Deif has evaded a number of Israeli assassination makes an attempt prior to now, though some members of his household have been killed.

The operation had a excessive toll on Gazans within the space, based on the enclave’s Well being Ministry. Along with 71 killed, there have been a minimum of 289 accidents, “together with critical circumstances that medical groups are nonetheless coping with till this second,” the ministry stated. It stated that the wounded had been taken to the Nasser Medical Complicated in Khan Younis.

Mawasi’s inhabitants swelled in Might after Israel issued evacuation orders for components of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost metropolis, and instructed lots of of hundreds of individuals — a lot of whom had already been displaced from elsewhere within the territory — to hunt security in designated “humanitarian zones.”

In an announcement, Hamas denied stories that Israel focused its management, saying that “these false allegations are merely to cowl up the size of the horrific bloodbath,” and describing the assault as “a harmful escalation”

Individually on Friday, the Palestinian civil protection in Gaza stated its groups recovered dozens of our bodies after Israeli forces withdrew from the Tel al-Hawa and al-Sina’a areas of Gaza Metropolis earlier the identical day.

The group wrote on social media Friday night native time that its groups and medical employees had eliminated the our bodies of about 60 folks, including that different folks have been lacking below the rubble.

Earlier this week, the civil protection stated it had recovered 60 our bodies from the rubble of the Gaza Metropolis’s Shejaiya neighborhood, together with girls and kids, after Israeli forces additionally withdrew from the realm. Spokesman Mahmoud Bassal described the realm as “unfit for all times” following an operation that lasted for days.

Israeli forces initially withdrew from the northern metropolis in January however earlier this week the navy warned residents to evacuate.

The workplace of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied any plans to withdraw from an eight-mile hall separating Gaza from Egypt. A message posted on social media Friday stated that Netanyahu insists that Israel will stay within the Philadelphi Hall, after Reuters information company reported that Israel was exploring the potential of utilizing an digital surveillance system alongside the border between Gaza and Egypt that might enable its troops to withdraw.

The Israeli navy stated Friday {that a} soldier was killed within the north of the nation, the place Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have exchanged cross-border hearth for months. The navy didn’t say how the 33-year-old was killed, however Haaretz newspaper reported that the soldier died after being wounded in a drone assault on Thursday.

A minimum of 38,443 folks have been killed and 88,481 injured in Gaza for the reason that warfare began, the Gaza Well being Ministry stated. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants however says nearly all of the useless are girls and kids. Israel estimates that about 1,200 folks have been killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault, together with greater than 300 troopers, and it says 326 troopers have been killed for the reason that begin of its navy operations in Gaza.

Alon Rom and Steve Hendrix contributed to this report.