A massive Israeli attack killed at least 91 Palestinians in a designated safe zone on Saturday, accoding to the Gaza Health Ministry — as Israel said the devastating airstrikes targeted two top Hamas commanders.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there wasn't yet "absolute certainty" that Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif and a subordinate, Rafa Salama, were slain, the Associated Press reported.
"Either way, we will get to the whole of the leadership of Hamas," Netanyahu told a news conference, Reuters reported.
Video recordings showed a huge crater, charred tents and burned-out vehicles, with victims carried away on carpets, donkeys and on the hoods and in the hatchbacks of cars.
Hamas said Deif wasn't in the area at the time, and called Israel's assertions a "cover-up for the scale of the horrific massacre."
Deif hasn't been seen in public for years, and is believed to have survived multiple Israeli assassination attempts.
He and Hamas' top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, have been accused by Israel of masterminding the Oct. 7 surprise attacks that sparked the current Mideast war.
The Israeli military said that Saturday's attack was aimed at a compound owned by Salama and that "additional terrorists hid among the civilians."
AP journalists counted more than 40 bodies at the Nasser Hospital near the site of Saturday's attack, which witnesses said took place in Muwasi and involved several airstrikes.
At least 300 people were injured, the Health Ministry said.
"A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them," the ministry added.
Muwasi is a coastal strip that stretches from northern Rafah to Khan Younis, and has been designated a humanitarian zone for Palestinians displaced by the combat between Israel and Hamas.
More than 38,000 people, both combatants and civilians, have been killed in Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping about 250.
Saturday's attack came as Egyptian, Qatari and American mediators have been struggling to hammer out a three-phase deal for a cease-fire and the release of the hostages still held by Hamas.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry condemned Israel, saying its "ongoing violations against Palestinian citizens add serious complications to the ability of the efforts currently being made to reach calm and a cease-fire."
The ministry also criticized the "shameful silence and lack of action from the international community."
