IDF reportedly struck near emergency responders after attack targeting Deif

During Saturday’s attack on a compound in the southern Gaza Strip where Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif and another top commander were, the IDF launched an additional airstrike near emergency responders, The New York Times reports.

The NYT says it reviewed videos from the scene, which show that after several large munitions struck the compound, one additional small missile hit a nearby busy street, impacting in front of two vehicles marked as belonging to the Hamas-run “Civil Defense” emergency agency.

من مجزرة خانيونس … الاستهداف الثاني الذي كان للدفاع المدني pic.twitter.com/ktYgfldo0Z

— حسن اصليح | Hassan (@hassaneslayeh) July 13, 2024

The videos show a plume of smoke rising near the rescue vehicles, about 90 meters from the compound, the report says. Images published by the paper show that the vehicles sustained shrapnel damage.

The report says the additional strike “apparently” killed and injured first responders.

The additional strike was carried out by the IDF ostensibly to prevent the Hamas-run rescue services from reaching Deif and Rafa’a Salameh, the other top commander.

The IDF told the paper that it had “struck military targets of the utmost significance” but that the strike “will be examined.”