Gaza government accuses Israel of ‘spreading fake news’ to distract from its deadly attack on displaced Palestinians' tents

The Gaza government said Saturday that Israel is "spreading fake news" about targeting Hamas leaders to divert attention from its deadly attack on displaced Palestinians' tents in Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel has practiced "a policy of deception repeatedly since the start of its offensive, in an attempt to cover up its failures and crimes against civilians and the displaced, especially among children and women," the Gaza Media Office said in a statement.

The office also condemned what it called "Israel's use of media deception, spreading fake news, rumors, and lies in an attempt to divert attention from its ongoing crimes against our Palestinian people."

It held Israel and the US "fully responsible for the continuation of these horrific massacres of civilians and for using media deception as a means to divert public attention from the truth and to tell fabricated and untrue narratives."

The office called on the international community, the UN, international groups, and all countries of the world to pressure Israel and the US "to stop the genocide and the ongoing bloodshed in the Gaza Strip and to legally pursue Israel."

- Claims, but no evidence

The attack on Saturday morning killed more than 71 Palestinians and injured 289 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Following the attack, Israeli daily Hayom claimed, without giving any evidence, that the main goal of the airstrike was to eliminate Mohammed Deif, commander-in-chief of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing.

Israeli Army Radio also claimed that the attack targeted an "important figure" in Hamas, but with the outcome unknown.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 88,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.