An Israeli air strike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza yesterday, the enclave’s health ministry said. The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said Israeli claims it had targeted leaders of the group were false and aimed at justifying the attack, which was the deadliest Israeli attack in Gaza in weeks. “I couldn’t even tell where I was or what was happening,” said Sheikh Youssef, a resident of Gaza City who is currently displaced in the Al Mawasi area. “I left the tent and looked around, all the tents were knocked down, body parts, bodies everywhere, elderly women thrown on the fl oor, young children in pieces,” he said. The Israeli military said the strike targeted Hamas military chief Mohamed Deif and Rafa Salama, the commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade.
The Gaza health ministry said at least 91 Palestinians were killed in the strike and 300 injured, the deadliest toll in weeks in the confl ict-shattered enclave. Al Mawasi is a designated humanitarian area that the Israeli army has repeatedly urged Palestinians to head to after issuing evacuation orders from other areas. Many of those wounded in the strike, including women and children, were taken to the nearby Nasser Hospital, which hospital offi cials said had been overwhelmed and was “no longer able to function” due to the intensity of the Israeli off ensive and an acute shortage of medical supplies. It was unclear how the strike would aff ect ceasefi re talks underway in Doha and Cairo.
Egypturged Israel not to obstruct the ongoing negotiations, Egypt’s Al Qahera News TV reported. Separately, at least 20 Palestinians were killed yesterday in an Israeli attack on a prayer hall at a Gaza camp for displaced people in west Gaza City, Palestinian health and civil emergency officials said.
