Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Hamas Claims Military Chief Survived Israeli Strike, Cease-Fire Talks Continue
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 months ago on
July 14, 2024

Palestinians evacuate a body from a site hit by an Israeli bombardment on Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, July 13, 2024. Israel said it targeted Hamas' shadowy military commander in a massive strike Saturday in the crowded southern Gaza Strip that killed at least 71 people, according to local health officials. Hamas immediately rejected the claim that Mohammed Deif was targeted. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

MUWASI, Gaza Strip — Hamas said Sunday that Gaza cease-fire talks continue and the group’s military commander is in good health, a day after the Israeli military targeted Mohammed Deif with a massive airstrike that local health officials said killed at least 90 people, including children.

Deif’s condition remained unclear after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night “there still isn’t absolute certainty” he was killed. Hamas representatives gave no evidence to back up their assertion about the health of a chief architect of the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

Israeli Military Announces Death of Salama

The Israeli military announced Sunday that Rafa Salama, a Hamas commander it described as one of Deif’s closest associates, was killed in Saturday’s strike. Salama commanded Hamas’ Khan Younis brigade. The statement gave no update on Deif, who has long topped Israel’s most-wanted list and has been in hiding for years.

Hamas rejected the idea that mediated cease-fire discussions had been suspended after the strike. Spokesperson Jihad Taha said “there is no doubt that the horrific massacres will impact any efforts in the negotiations” but added that “efforts and endeavors of the mediators remain ongoing.”

The killing of Deif would mark the highest profile assassination of any Hamas leader by Israel since the war began. It would be a huge victory for Israel and a deep psychological blow for the militant group. Netanyahu said all of Hamas’ leaders are “marked for death” and asserted that killing them would move Hamas closer to accepting a cease-fire deal.

Hamas Says Communication Channels Remained Functional

Hamas political officials insisted that communication channels remained functional between the leadership inside and outside Gaza after the strike in the territory’s south. Witnesses said it occurred in an area that Israel had designated as safe for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians. Israel’s military would not confirm that.

On Sunday, some survivors were angry that the attack targeting Deif occurred without warning in an area they had been told was safe.

“I heard the first hit, and my son came screaming, ‘Daddy, daddy” and took cover with me,” said Mahmoud Abu Yaseen, who clutched his children but then woke up in the hospital to find his son had died. The family had already been displaced five times since the war began. “Where do we go?” he asked.

A United Nations official described utter chaos at Nasser hospital where victims were taken, many treated on bloodstained floors with few supplies available.

“I witnessed some of the most horrific scenes I have seen in my nine months in Gaza,” Scott Anderson said in a statement. “I saw toddlers who are double amputees, children paralyzed and unable to receive treatment and others separated from their parents.” He said restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza hamper efforts to provide needed medical and other care.

On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant praised the pilots who carried out the strike and said Hamas is being eroded every day, with no ability to arm itself, organize or “care for the wounded.”

At least 300 people were wounded in the strike, one of the deadliest in the nine-month war sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 hostage.

More than 38,400 people in Gaza have been killed in Israeli ground offensives and bombardments since then, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

On Sunday, an Israeli strike in Nuseirat in central Gaza killed at least 14 people at the gate of a school used as a shelter for displaced people, according to an Associated Press journalist who visited two hospitals. Children were among the 15 others wounded. Israel’s military in a statement said it struck “terrorists” operating in the area of a school run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.

Also on Sunday, police said a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem carried out a car-ramming attack in central Israel that injured four Israelis, two of them seriously. Israeli border police at the scene shot dead the attacker after he hit people waiting at two bus stops along a busy road. Israel’s military said four of its personnel were wounded, two of them severely.

Israeli police commissioner Kobi Shabtai said such attacks were often “triggered” by events like Saturday’s airstrike in Gaza.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Different Faces, Different Voices, But the Same Goal: Exercising Democracy by Voting

DON'T MISS

Live Updates: Who Will Be President? AP Calls States for the Candidates

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Road Rage Incident Leads to Violent Assault, High-Speed Chase

DON'T MISS

When to Expect Fresno County Election Results

DON'T MISS

Israeli Strikes Target Syria for a Second Day in a Row

DON'T MISS

Trump Snaps at Reporter When Asked About Abortion: ‘Stop Talking About That’

DON'T MISS

Soria Stumps Outside Polling Place. Was it Legal?

DON'T MISS

These California Toss-Ups May Decide Which Party Controls Congress

DON'T MISS

What We’ll Know and When We’ll Know It: A Guide to Election Night

DON'T MISS

Democratic Mayors in San Francisco and Oakland Fight to Keep Their Jobs on Election Day

UP NEXT

Israel’s Netanyahu Dismisses Defense Minister in Surprise Announcement

UP NEXT

Palestinians in Gaza Fear Neither Candidate in US Election Will Help Them

UP NEXT

Ukrainian Troops Have Engaged With North Korean Units for the 1st Time in Russia, an Official Says

UP NEXT

Middle East Latest: Dozens Killed in Gaza as Israel Says It Targeted a Weapons Facility

UP NEXT

Israel Ends Agreement With UN Agency Providing Aid in Gaza

UP NEXT

US Confirms Reports That Iran Arrested an Iranian-American Citizen

UP NEXT

Israel Says It Carried out Ground Raid Into Syria, Seizing a Syrian Citizen

UP NEXT

Russia’s Swift March Forward in Ukraine’s East

UP NEXT

North Korea’s Long-Range Missile Test Signals Its Improved, Potential Capability to Attack US

UP NEXT

Death Toll From Spanish Floods Climbs to 205 as Shock Turns to Anger and Frustration

When to Expect Fresno County Election Results

3 hours ago

Israeli Strikes Target Syria for a Second Day in a Row

4 hours ago

Trump Snaps at Reporter When Asked About Abortion: ‘Stop Talking About That’

4 hours ago

Soria Stumps Outside Polling Place. Was it Legal?

5 hours ago

These California Toss-Ups May Decide Which Party Controls Congress

5 hours ago

What We’ll Know and When We’ll Know It: A Guide to Election Night

6 hours ago

Democratic Mayors in San Francisco and Oakland Fight to Keep Their Jobs on Election Day

6 hours ago

These 8 Counties Could Hint at Where the Election Is Headed

6 hours ago

Israel’s Netanyahu Dismisses Defense Minister in Surprise Announcement

7 hours ago

Cryptocurrency Markets, Promoted by Trump, Brace for Election Volatility

7 hours ago

Different Faces, Different Voices, But the Same Goal: Exercising Democracy by Voting

They might not be able to agree on who should be elected president or whether the country is headed in the right or wrong direction, but the...

1 hour ago

1 hour ago

Different Faces, Different Voices, But the Same Goal: Exercising Democracy by Voting

1 hour ago

Live Updates: Who Will Be President? AP Calls States for the Candidates

A road rage incident in Fresno County escalated into a violent assault and a high-speed pursuit, resulting in the suspect's arrest and vehicle impoundment. (CHP)
3 hours ago

Fresno County Road Rage Incident Leads to Violent Assault, High-Speed Chase

3 hours ago

When to Expect Fresno County Election Results

The wreckage left by Israeli airstrikes in Dahieh, a predominantly Shiite suburb of south Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, Nov. 5 2024. (Daniel Berehulak /The New York Times)
4 hours ago

Israeli Strikes Target Syria for a Second Day in a Row

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks as former first lady Melania Trump listens after they voted on Election Day at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
4 hours ago

Trump Snaps at Reporter When Asked About Abortion: ‘Stop Talking About That’

5 hours ago

Soria Stumps Outside Polling Place. Was it Legal?

5 hours ago

These California Toss-Ups May Decide Which Party Controls Congress

Search

Send this to a friend