The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 71 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a designated humanitarian area, in an attack which Israel says targeted senior Hamas leaders.
More than 289 people were injured, according to the health ministry’s statement.
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.
An Israeli official said the strike targeted the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, in an “open area” where there were “only Hamas terrorists and no civilians”.
Rafa Salama, the Hamas commander for Khan Younis, was also targeted in the strike, the official said, calling the intelligence that led to the incident “accurate”.
But Hamas said the claim that their leaders were targets is “false”, in a statement cited by the Reuters news agency.
“It is not the first time Israel claims to target Palestinian leaders, only to be proven false later,” the statement said.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold security talks through the day, his office said according to Reuters.
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. People can be seen trying desperately to pick through the rubble of a large crater with their hands.
A Hamas official, cited by Reuters, called the attack a “grave escalation” that showed Israel was not interested in reaching a ceasefire agreement.
Footage from the nearby Kuwait field hospital showed scenes of chaos with patients being treated on the floor.
Doctors at the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis say that the hospital is “overwhelmed” and no longer able to function, according to Reuters.
Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas’ military wing the al-Qassam Brigades, is a top target for Israel’s military.
Deif has near-mythical status in Gaza after escaping capture and surviving several assassination attempts.
He is believed to be one of the masterminds behind the 7 October Hamas attack, when about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners – mostly civilians – were killed and 251 others were taken back to Gaza as hostages.
It led to the major Israeli military operation in Gaza which has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.