Israeli forces targeted Hamas military leader, Mohammed Deif, in a strike in southern Gaza on Saturday, officials said, an operation that killed at least 71 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Deif, who heads the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, is considered one of the chief architects of the Oct. 7 attack and was designated as a terrorist by the State Department in 2015.
Two Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the strike, confirmed that the Israel Defense Forces targeted Deif and another commander, Rafa Salama on Saturday, and described them as “two of the masterminds of the October 7th Massacre.”
The operation had a high toll on Gazans in the area, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. In addition to 71 killed, there were at least 289 injuries, “including serious cases that medical teams are still dealing with until this moment,” the ministry said. It said that the wounded had been taken to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.
In a statement, Hamas denied reports that Israel targeted its leadership, saying that “these false allegations are merely to cover up the scale of the horrific massacre,” and describing the attack as “a dangerous escalation”
Separately on Friday, the Palestinian civil defense in Gaza said its teams recovered dozens of bodies after Israeli forces withdrew from the Tel al-Hawa and al-Sina’a areas of Gaza City earlier the same day.
The group wrote on social media Friday evening local time that its teams and medical workers had removed the bodies of about 60 people, adding that other people were missing under the rubble.
Earlier this week, the civil defense said it had recovered 60 bodies from the rubble of the Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, including women and children, after Israeli forces also withdrew from the area. Spokesman Mahmoud Bassal described the area as “unfit for life” following an operation that lasted for days.
Israeli forces originally withdrew from the northern city in January but earlier this week the military warned residents to evacuate.
Culled from Washingtonpost