Israel-Gaza war: IDF says 7 October mastermind ‘struck’ in Gaza attack reported to have killed 90 – as it happened

The death toll in the Israeli attack on Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Saturday rose to 90 Palestinians along with 300 wounded, the Gaza health ministry said.

13 Jul 202413.16 EDT

Rupa Huq

People are understandably upset; I am too. Many tens of thousands of women and children have been killed but we are being undermined by a selfish, angry minority who refuse to listen to reason. Ditto Just Stop Oil, who may have laudable aims but employ deeply off-putting tactics. We all want an immediate ceasefire. How is it helping to personalise and intimidate? People in Gaza are being killed and all the toxic, single-issue fringe want to do is smear and sneer. Two MPs have been killed in my time in parliament – the logical conclusion of whipping up a hate-filled frenzy.

One of the doctors at a hospital dealing with the aftermath of the attack told the BBC it is “one of the black days”.

Dr Mohammed Abu Rayya said the majority of cases coming in were dead people, with others suffering from multiple shrapnel wounds.

He said it was like being in “hell”, adding many of the casualties were civilians, notably women and children.

The United Nations Population Fund agency has posted this on X in the past hour.

Displaced people sheltering in Gaza said their tents were torn down by the force of the strike, describing bodies and body parts strewn on the ground.

“I couldn’t even tell where I was or what was happening,” said Sheikh Youssef, a resident of Gaza City who is currently displaced in the al-Mawasi area.

“I left the tent and looked around, all the tents were knocked down, body parts, bodies everywhere, elderly women thrown on the floor, young children in pieces,” he told Reuters.

Many of those wounded in the strike, including women and children, were taken to the nearby Nasser hospital, which hospital officials said had been overwhelmed and was “no longer able to function” due to the intensity of the Israeli offensive and an acute shortage of medical supplies.

“The hospital is full of patients, it’s full of wounded, we can’t find beds for people,” said Atef al-Hout, director of the hospital, adding that it was the only one still operating in southern Gaza.

• The Israeli army said, in a statement, that it “struck Mohammed Deif and Rafa Salama, the commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade, who are two of the masterminds of the 7 October massacre”. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is still awaiting intelligence that could confirm if Deif or Salama were killed in the strike.

• At least 71 Palestinians were killed and another 289 others were injured in the Israeli attack on Khan Younis, said the Gaza health ministry in a statement on Saturday. It said the attack hit the al-Mawasi camp for displaced people in southern Gaza.

• The Hamas-run media office said at least 100 people had been killed and injured, including members of the civil emergency service. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

• Israeli military said the strike on Deif was in a “fenced Hamas area” and that “most people there were militants”. The IDF published before and after images on its X account of the location of the strike.

• A senior Hamas official did not confirm whether Deif had been present and called the Israeli allegations “nonsense”. “All the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence,” Abu Zuhri told Reuters, adding the strike showed Israel was not interested in reaching a ceasefire deal.

• Nasser hospital in Khan Younis is “no longer able to function” as doctors are “overwhelmed with large number of casualties”, Nasser hospital health officials said on Saturday. Health officials at Nasser medical complex, previously the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza, said that doctors could not provide medical healthcare to the large number of casualties because of the intensity of Israel’s military offensive and acute shortages in medical supplies. The hospital received 20 bodies and 90 injured people on Saturday after the Khan Younis attack, the health ministry said.

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• The Saudi channel Al-Hadath reported that Salama, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, was killed in the strike and that Deif was seriously wounded. The Guardian has been unable to independently verify the report.

• The office of Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the Israeli leader would hold security talks throughout the day after the military’s strike against Deif.

• Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant was holding special consultations, his office said, in light of “developments in Gaza”. It was unclear how the strike would affect ceasefire talks under way in Doha and Cairo.

• The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its ambulance crews had dealt with 102 injuries and 23 people who were killed in the Israeli attack in Khan Younis on Saturday. The PRCS said 70 of the injuries and 21 of the dead were transferred to its al-Quds field hospital, while 22 injured people were transferred to al-Amal hospital.

• The international charity, ActionAid has said it was “extremely concerned about the safety of our staff and partners” in the al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis, some of whom it has not yet been able to make contact with. The charity said it was “utterly horrified and appalled by the devastating attack”.

• At least 17 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on a prayer hall at a Gaza beach camp for the displaced, west of Gaza City, health officials said on Saturday. Previously, it had put the death toll at 10.

• Argentina designated Hamas a terrorist organisation on Friday and ordered a freeze on the financial assets of the group, a largely symbolic move as president Javier Milei seeks to align Argentina strongly with the US and Israel.

• At least 38,443 Palestinians have been killed and 88,481 others injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said on Saturday. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.

• The World Health Organization in occupied Palestinian territory (WHOoPt) has said on social media that it has managed to deliver aid to hospitals, as well as fuel supplies. In a post on X, shared on Friday, it said: “Despite increasing insecurity and hostilities in northern Gaza, yesterday WHO managed to reach Indonesian, al-Awda, and Kamal Adwan hospitals to deliver 20,000 litres of fuel and medical supplies, thanks to support from the @ROJ_Palestine [representative of Japan to Palestine] and @eu_echo [EU civil protection and humanitarian aid].”

• The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said on Friday it had enough funds to continue operating through September, after a pledging conference for the embattled body where UN chief António Guterres pleaded for help from donors. “Let me be clear – there is no alternative to Unrwa,” he said. “Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse in Gaza – somehow, appallingly, civilians are being pushed into ever deeper circles of hell,” Guterres added.

At least 38,443 Palestinians have been killed and 88,481 others injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.