Palestinian medics reported that at least 90 people were killed and hundreds were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in southern Gaza as Israel sought to kill a leader from Palestinian Islamist Hamas.
The health authorities in Gaza controlled by the Hamas movement said that at least 300 people were injured in the attack on the al-Mawasi camp when tents for displaced people were hit. Many were severely wounded and are in danger of dying, according to medical sources in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli media reported that the target of the strike was Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza.
The Haaretz newspaper said army sources believed Deif was killed in the attack, though later Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this was not certain, speaking at a press conference in Tel Aviv.
The Israel Defense Forces said the strike targeted Deif, along with Hamas’ military leader in the central city of Khan Younis, Rafa Salama, as both are considered “masterminds of the massacre on Oct. 7.”
One of Israel’s central aims in the current conflict is to capture or kill Deif and the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Yehya al-Sinwar. The third most senior Hamas leader in Gaza, Marwan Issa, was reportedly killed in March.
The IDF said the strike “was carried out in a fenced-in area controlled by Hamas and where, according to [IDF] information, only Hamas terrorists and no civilians were present.”
“It was a precise attack. It is estimated that most of the victims were also terrorists who were with Deif and Salama,” it added.
The army had extremely reliable intelligence information that Deif and Salama were in the base at the time of the attack, a senior military representative said in an online briefing for journalists.
The IDF said the target zone was an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings and barracks, with no tents nearby, though Palestinian reports said the strike hit tents housing displaced people.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it was investigating the airstrike and added that, “in view of the developments in Gaza,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conducted an assessment of the operational situation along with military and intelligence chiefs.
There were several major attacks in Gaza early on Saturday, according to the WAFA Palestinian news agency.
Staff at the Nasser Hospital reported a shortage of beds to accommodate the large number of injured following the attacks.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that operations were continuing throughout the Gaza Strip, including in Gaza City.
2 reportedly killed in Israeli drone strike in Lebanon
Meanwhile fighting continues between Israel and Lebanon, with two civilians killed by an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon, the official Lebanese news agency NNA reported on Saturday.
The two were found dead inside a vehicle in the town of al-Khardly after they were targeted by a missile fired from the drone, the agency added.
One fatality was identified as Mussa Sulaiman, a member of the Shiite Amal group, an ally of the Lebanese Iranian-aligned Hezbollah movement.
The IDF said it struck at what it called “two Hezbollah terrorists” preparing to launch projectiles from southern Lebanon toward Israel.
There are fears that the conflict could spread to Lebanon as Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah have been fighting almost daily since the beginning of the Gaza war.
Argentina classifies Hamas as terrorist group
Argentina has classified Hamas as a terrorist organization.
“Hamas has claimed responsibility for the atrocities committed during the attack on Israel on Oct. 7. These are part of a long history of terrorist attacks in the name of Hamas,” the office of President Javier Milei announced Friday evening.
The United States, Canada and the European Union listed Hamas as a terrorist organization long ago. But Argentina is one of the few countries to have taken this step in Latin America, along with Paraguay and Costa Rica.
Other countries such as Colombia and Bolivia broke off their relations with Israel due to its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Milei is seen as a staunch ally of Israel and unreservedly supports the policy of Netanyahu’s government in the war in Gaza.
The Jewish community in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires is one of the largest outside Israel.
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