Gaza’s health ministry has said dozens have been killed in an Israeli strike on a displacement camp in an area where Israel said it targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, AFP reports.

A statement from the Gaza health ministry said there were more than “71 martyrs” and 289 people wounded in what it called a “brutal massacre by the occupation”, a reference to Israel, at Al-Mawasi camp.

The Israeli military said it had targeted Deif and Rafa Salama, a brigade commander, calling them “two of the masterminds of the October 7 massacre”.

“The area that was struck is an open area, surrounded by trees, several buildings and sheds. It was not a tent complex, but an operational compound,” it said.

A Hamas statement called the claim that Deif had been targeted “false allegations” intended “to cover up the magnitude of the horrific massacre”.

AFPTV footage showed sirens wailing and smoke rising in the distance as men used blankets to collect victims. Some were clearly beyond help and lay dead on the road.

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