At Least 90 Dead In Israeli Strike On Gaza Tent Camp Targeting Hamas Oct.7 Mastermind

Another mass casualty strike has been reported on a refugee camp in southern Gaza, where the local health ministry says at least 90 have been killed, and 300 injured, after Israeli missiles slammed into Al-Mawasi camp, allegedly hitting tents where displaced persons were staying.

Israel has said that most of the victims were likely Hamas, and that it was going after the leader of the group’s Qassam Brigades, Muhammad Deif, a mastermind behind the Oct.7 attacks. Throughout the day Saturday the military said it was still investigating whether Deif was killed, of which there’s as yet been no confirmation.

Aftermath of Israeli attack on a tent camp in Al-Mawasi area near the coast in southern Gaza, via Reuters.

Hamas responded by saying Israel’s “allegations about targeting leaders are false” and by design are “merely to cover up the scale of the horrific massacre.”

According to some fresh updates in the NY Times:

The Israeli officials said the strikes had also targeted Rafah Salameh, the top Hamas commander in Khan Younis, who was with Mr. Deif at the time of the attack.

The Gazan authorities said that a second, smaller strike hit the center of Khan Younis, a nearby city to the east of Mawasi.

A senior American official said that Israel had told Washington that it targeted Mr. Deif, but the official said that neither Israel nor the United States could yet confirm his status.

Saudi Arabia has been among the earliest countries to weigh in, condemning the Israeli attack on the refugee camp.

“The Foreign Ministry condemns in strongest terms the continuation of genocidal massacres against the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli war machine, the latest of which was the targeting displaced people’s camps in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip,” the Saudi statement said.

Hardliners in Netanyahu’s coalition government have praised the strike, saying it demonstrates the need to keep intensifying operations inside Gaza. “Congratulations to the prime minister, defense minister, the IDF, and Shin Bet. Now is not the time to take the foot off Sinwar’s neck,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X.

Despite the Biden White House claiming that there’s been tentative agreement on a new ceasefire deal mediated by Qatar and Egypt, the warring sides are still publicly blaming the other for lack of a finalized hostage deal.

Meanwhile, Hamas is urging Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up against the Israeli occupiers en masse. Senior Hamas official Abdel Hakim Henini in a statement called on Palestinians to “take action against the onslaught on their compatriots in the besieged Strip, and to stand up to Israeli settlers wreaking havoc across the West Bank.”

Initial graphic scenes of the camp strike aftermath via Palestinian media…

The initial moments of the horrific Israeli massacre in al-Mawasi this morning pic.twitter.com/Wgg547p0Q5

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 13, 2024

“We reiterate how important it is for Palestinian youth to stand up to the occupying forces,” Henini said. “A global war is being waged against the Palestinian people, their rights and their resistance forces. The US administration is a true partner in all the massacres being perpetrated against our people.”

Simultaneously Hezbollah continues to bog down Israeli forces in the north, and it appears Hamas is hoping that a multi-front war more fully opens up. Hezbollah leadership has said that if Hamas agrees to a ceasefire deal, it too will halt its attacks from Lebanon.