An Israeli strike on a displacement camp in the south of the Palestinian territory yesterday killed at least 71 people, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.
It is the latest mass-casualty incident in the al-Mawasi area, where many Palestinians had fled, and came as international mediators pushed on with efforts to halt the war between Israel and Hamas militants.
Israel said the massive strike targeted Hamas’ military commander, but was not immediately known whether Mohammed Deif was among the dead.
Photo: AFP
Israeli officials confirmed that he and a second Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, were the targets. Hamas immediately rejected the claim.
Deif is believed by many to be the chief architect of the attack on Oct. 7 last year that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war. He has topped Israel’s most-wanted list for years and is believed to have escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts in the past.
His potential killing threatens to derail ceasefire talks and would be seen as a major Israeli victory in the nine-month campaign.
“These false claims are merely a cover-up for the scale of the horrific massacre,” Hamas said in a statement in response to Israel.
A statement from the Gaza health ministry said there were more than “71 martyrs” and 289 people wounded in what it called a “brutal massacre by the occupation” at al-Mawasi camp.
The Israeli military said it had “additional terrorists hid among civilians” based on “precise intelligence.”
Footage of the aftermath showed charred tents, burned-out cars and household belongings scattered across the blackened earth as emergency workers and Palestinians displaced by the nine-month war searched for survivors.
Victims were carried on the hoods and in the hatchbacks of cars, and on donkey carts and carpets.
Witnesses said the strike landed inside al-Muwasi, the Israeli designated safe zone that stretches from northern Rafah to Khan Younis.
The coastal strip is where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled to in search of safety, sheltering mostly in makeshift tents.
“This was designated as a safe zone filled with people from the north,” said one displaced man who did not give his name. “Children were all martyred here. We collected their pieces with our hands.”
He said seven or eight missiles hit the camp and that first responders were targeted as well.
On Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to donor governments to resume funding to UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse in Gaza — somehow, appallingly, civilians are being pushed into ever deeper circles of hell,” he said.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said later that the agency had enough funds to operate through September.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
RSS