At least 31 Palestinians killed in latest strikes on Gaza Strip, say officials

At least 31 Palestinians have been killed and more than 50 wounded in fresh Israeli bombings across the Gaza Strip, rescuers and health officials have said, as reports conflicted over whether Hamas was withdrawing from ceasefire re-talks after the group’s top military commander, Mohammed Deif, was targeted.

- Lorenzo Tondo , Bethan McKernan and Malak A Tantesh

Four attacks in various parts of Gaza City in the early hours of yesterday morning occurred less than 24 hours after Israeli forces said Deif , the mastermind of the 7 October attack on southern Israel, was the target of a strike in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, which, according to the territory’s emergency services, killed more than 90 people and injured 300 others.

Another 14 people were killed in a strike near a UN-run school being used as a shelter for displaced people in Nuseirat in central Gaza, journalists at the scene said, making last week one of the deadliest since the war broke out nine months ago. Israel said Hamas militants had been present in the area.

Deif, 58, who has been on Israel’s most wanted list since 1995 and escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts, is believed to be the chief architect of the attack in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped , triggering the current war.

More than 38,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory operation in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-administered territory, and the population of 2.3 million people is in the grip of a devastating humanitarian crisis.