The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said at least 71 Palestinians died during an Israeli air strike in the strip on Saturday, media reports said.
More than 289 people were injured, according to the health ministry’s statement as quoted by BBC.
Hamas says the strike hit the al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis, which the Israeli military has designated as a humanitarian zone, urging Palestinians to seek shelter there, the British media reported.
An Israeli official told BBC the strike targeted the head of Hamas’s military wing Mohammed Deif.
An eyewitness in al-Mawasi told the BBC that the site of the strike looked like an “earthquake” had hit, and videos from the area show smouldering wreckage and bloodied casualties being loaded onto stretchers.
According to reports, Mohammed Deif is believed to be one of the masterminds behind the October 7 Hamas attack which left at least 1200 people, including Israelis and foreigners, dead.
Hamas members took away 251 people back to Gaza as hostages.
Humanitarians from the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) witnessed severe civilian displacement, a lack of fuel and dire humanitarian needs in three areas in Gaza City while on a mission trip on Friday, according to Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric.
He said the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and other partners were present on the trip.
“The team said those displaced urgently need food, water, healthcare and protection,” Mr. Dujarric said during his daily briefing from New York.
“They also witnessed how the lack of fuel is undermining the aid organizations’ efforts to provide critical services to displaced families.”
Dujarric noted that humanitarians continue to struggle with providing aid due to access restrictions and “lack of public order.”
He also said hospitals, water plants and other facilities are functioning with generators since Gaza has been without power since October.
