Israel said it has targeted Hamas’ military commander in a massive strike in the crowded southern Gaza Strip that killed at least 90 people, according to local health officials.

More than 300 people were injured in the attack.

It is not immediately known whether Mohammed Deif was among the dead.

Israeli officials confirmed that he and a second Hamas commander, Rafa Salama, were the targets of the strike.

A military official later said they were “still checking and verifying the result of the strike”, but did not deny it took place inside the Israeli-designated safe zone.

Deif is believed by many to be the chief architect of the October 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war.

He has topped Israel’s most-wanted list for years and is believed to have escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts in the past.

His potential killing threatens to derail cease-fire talks and would be seen as a major Israeli victory in the nine-month campaign.

An Israeli tank near the Israel-Gaza border
Hamas leaders were targeted during the strike, Israeli officials said (AP)

Hamas said in a statement in response to Israel: “These false claims are merely a cover-up for the scale of the horrific massacre.”

At the hospital, Associated Press journalists counted more than 40 bodies and witnesses there described an attack that included several strikes.

Footage of the aftermath showed charred tents, burnt-out cars and household belongings scattered across the blackened earth as emergency workers and Palestinians displaced by the nine-month war searched for survivors.

Victims were carried on the hoods and in the hatchbacks of cars, and on donkey carts and carpets.

Witnesses said the strike landed inside Muwasi, the Israeli designated safe zone that stretches from northern Rafah to Khan Younis.

The coastal strip is where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled to in search of safety, sheltering mostly in makeshift tents.

“This was designated as a safe zone filled with people from the north,” said one displaced Palestinian man who did not give his name.

“Children were all martyred here. We collected their pieces with our hands.”

He estimated there were seven or eight missiles and that first responders were targeted as well.

According to an Israeli official, the strike was carried out within a fenced area of Khan Younis that was run by Hamas, but did not elaborate on the precise location.

Palestinians help a wounded man after Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed or injured (AP)

Deif is believed by many to be the chief architect of the October 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and triggered the Israel-Hamas war.

He has topped Israel’s most-wanted list for years and is believed to be paralysed after escaping multiple Israeli assassination attempts in the past.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas’ October 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and abducted about 250.

Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,300 people in Gaza and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory’s health ministry.

The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

More than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, and most are now crowded into squalid tent camps, facing widespread hunger.

The latest deadly strike comes as US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators continue to push to narrow gaps between Israel and Hamas over a proposed deal for a three-phase ceasefire and hostage release plan in Gaza.