Death toll rises after Israeli attack on Khan Younis

Israel claims the target was a Hamas summit, which is said to have played a key role in planning the terror attack on October 7 last year.

Photo: Hatem Khaled/Reuters/NTB

Death toll rises after airstrikes on Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis.

Palestinian health authorities say at least 71 people were killed in the attack, according to Reuters news agency.

Five rockets were reportedly fired at areas near the tents and the water station, Al Jazeera reported. A Gaza civil defense spokesman told Al Jazeera that the area hit was inside the “safe zone.” According to the newspaper, many Palestinian civilians remained in the area.

Targeted a Hamas officer

The Israeli military says the target of the attack was Hamas officer Mohammed Deif, one of the masterminds behind the October 7 attack, Reuters reported.

Mohammed Deif. The photo must be from 1997. Deif means “guest”. He is said to have earned this nickname because he spends the night in different houses to avoid the Israeli intelligence service. Photo: Source

Reuters has previously mentioned Guest as the “secret mastermind” behind the October 7 attacks.

Shortly after the attack, Hamas shared a recording of a man's voice announcing that “Operation Flood of Al-Aqsa” was underway. The footage was overlaid with the silhouette of a man presumed to be Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif.

The guest was rarely seen in public.

– We know very little about Muhammad Deif. He is one of the most secretive figures in Hamas, researcher Erik Skary from the University of Oslo (UiO) told VG in mid-October 2023.

Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri described claims that the attack was targeting Al-Daif as “nonsense.”

“All the dead were civilians and what happened is a dangerous escalation of genocide with the support of the United States and the silence of the world,” he told Reuters.

An injured Palestinian self-defense force member is carried away. Photo: Hatem Khaled/Reuters/NTB

Hospital capacity explosion

Those injured in the attack are being transferred to nearby hospitals, but the hospitals have reported that they have reached their maximum capacity.

Al Jazeera reported that Nasser Hospital has so far received more than 90 wounded people. Palestinian health authorities said in a statement that among them, there are several serious injuries.

A spokesman for Nasser Hospital told Al Jazeera that the hospital does not have the capacity to receive more patients.

Several hospitals in Rafah also received wounded people. Al Jazeera wrote that these also lack medical equipment.

revision

In an earlier version of the case, Hamas stated that at least 100 people were killed in the attack. The correct version is that Hamas stated that at least 100 people were killed or injured after the attack. The case was corrected on 07/13/2024 at 11:37.

Hint for us

Do you have any advice on this?

Send us information, photos or videos.

Hint for us

By Bond Robertson

"Organizer. Social media geek. General communicator. Bacon scholar. Proud pop culture trailblazer."