TEHRAN- Israeli warplanes have unleashed a barrage of bombs and missiles on a tent camp killing and injuring hundreds of Palestinians in an area that the Tel Aviv regime claimed to be a “safe zone”.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 71 people have been killed and at least 290 others injured at the tent camp in al-Mawasi area. 

The Gaza government media office said the number of dead was at least 100. 

The Israeli military claims it was targeting the leader of the armed wing of Hamas, Mohammed Deif and one of his deputies, Rafa Salama. 

Graphic footage that has emerged from the site of massacre shows the victims include young children, innocent civilians, women, and the elderly. 

Large plumes of smoke can be seen rising from several areas over a wide location in what is clearly a make-shift tent camp. 

Many traumatized civilians in particular women and young children can be seen running away. 

Other scenes show desperate children digging with their hands in search of bodies. Witnesses said the attacks took place in stages. Video images appear to back the statements. 

Health officials at the Kuwaiti field hospital and Nasser medical facility said casualty figures are expected to rise. The two hospitals are overwhelmed with the injured amid scenes of chaos and despair.

Reports indicate that emergency teams are tirelessly searching for survivors, desperately trying to transport them to the two hospitals for urgent medical care.

However, Reuters has cited officials at the Nasser Hospital as saying that there is “no longer able to function” as doctors are “overwhelmed with large number of casualties”.

For many months now, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has ordered Palestinians to travel to al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis for their “own safety”. 

The area has become overcrowded with displaced civilians, something the IOF was fully aware off. 

Despite dropping bombs on al-Mawasi before, Saturday’s massacre is by far the largest bombardment of displaced Palestinians seeking refuge in the coastal camp. 

Israeli army radio claims the target of the airstrikes was Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif. 

The regime’s network, operated by the occupation’s military cited Israeli security officials as saying “we conducted this attack even at the cost of harming civilians, estimating that there could be dozens of casualties”. 

Despite alleging to kill the Hamas military leader, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that it was not clear whether Deif was killed. 

According to a senior Hamas official speaking to Reuters, reports from the Israeli Army Radio claiming that the airstrikes in Al-Mawasi targeted Deif were described as “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 that the attack showed that the Israeli occupation was not interested in reaching a ceasefire agreement.

Witnesses told the news agency that some of the injured, who were being evacuated, were rescue workers themselves. 

“They’re all gone, my whole family’s gone … Where are my brothers? They’re all gone, they’re all gone. There’s no one left,” said one tearful woman, who did not give her name.

“Our children are in pieces; they are in pieces. Shame (on you),” one woman said.

Hamas has described the attack as “a grave escalation”. 

“It is not the first time the enemy claims to target Palestinian leaders, only to be proven false later,” the resistance movement said in a statement.

The organization condemned “in the strongest terms the horrific massacre in al-Mawasi neighborhood of Khan Yunis, which constitutes a dangerous escalation in the series of unprecedented crimes and massacres in the history of wars, committed in the Gaza Strip by the new Nazis.”

The statement by Hamas mentioned that the “occupation forces” targeted in this massacre “the al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis city, classified as safe zones, and urged citizens to move there. Warplanes, artillery, and drones of the occupation intensely and continuously targeted the tents of displaced persons with various weapons, resulting in hundreds of martyrs and wounded among innocent civilians”.

Hamas affirmed that the massacre indicates the occupation government’s continuation “in its war of extermination against our Palestinian people, through repeated and systematic targeting of innocent civilians in tents, displacement centers, and residential neighborhoods, committing the worst crimes against them, disregarding calls to cease targeting innocent civilians, and paying no heed to any of the laws of war that impose their protection”.

In conclusion, the movement pointed out that “this disregard for international law and treaties, and widespread violations against innocent civilians, would not continue without the support provided by the U.S. administration to the government of Zionist extremists and its terrorist army, covering up its crimes, providing it with all forms of political and military support, and obstructing international justice from fulfilling its role towards these crimes, making it a full partner in them”.

According to the Lebanese-based news outlet Al-Mayadeen, citing “a credible source” the commander of the al-Qassam brigades (the armed wing of Hamas), Mohammed Deif, is well, and Israeli claims of his injury (death) are baseless.

The source indicated that the purpose behind these claims is to cover up for the massacre.

Experts have said the dehumanizing of Palestinians by Tel Aviv was, once again, on full display, as there would have been no chance the IOF could bomb an Israeli settlement if a Hamas leader was hiding there. 

The IOF committed more massacres elsewhere in the enclave on Saturday. At least 17 Palestinians were killed in an attack on a prayer hall at al-Shati refugee camp for the displaced, located west of Gaza City in the north. The second Israeli massacre in the northern part of the Strip took place within three hours of the first. 

The latest scenes to come out of the totally blockaded enclave, showing the desperation and hopelessness among Palestinians, come as the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in the Palestinian territory continues for more than 280 consecutive days. 

Experts say the deadly attacks against more women and children in Gaza will, undoubtedly, derail the ceasefire negotiations, which are currently underway in Qatar. 

top United Nations court in the Hague, the International Court of Justice, has already ordered the Israeli occupation to take steps to protect Palestinians before it rules on a case of genocide brought forward by South Africa against the regime’s leaders.