Israel strikes dense Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, says Hamas commander killed

GAZA/JERUSALEM – Israeli air strikes hit a densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing at least 50 Palestinians and a Hamas commander.

The Israeli military said 11 soldiers were also killed in fighting in Gaza on Tuesday.

It was the biggest one-day loss for the armed forces since Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on Oct 7, killing about 300 soldiers and some 1,100 civilians.

Israel’s Army Radio said most of Tuesday’s dead were infantrymen whose vehicle was struck by an anti-armour missile.

Israel sent its forces into Gaza following weeks of air bombardments in retaliation for the attack by Iran-backed Hamas.

An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) statement said the airstrikes on Jabalia, Gaza’s largest refugee camp, had killed Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas commander it said was “pivotal” in the planning and execution of the assault.

Dozens of Hamas combatants were in the same underground tunnel complex as Biari and were also killed when it collapsed in the attack, an IDF spokesperson said.

The IDF was looking into non-combatant casualties, he added.

“I will do anything to destroy Hamas entirely. I am committed to that. That is the war (for) the future of Israel – nothing less,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters on Wednesday.

“Hamas terrorists have two options – either be killed or surrender without conditions.”

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem denied any senior commander was in the camp.

He called the claim an Israeli pretext for killing civilians. Palestinian health officials said at least 50 Palestinians were killed and 150 wounded.

A Hamas statement said there were 400 dead and injured in Jabalia, which houses families of refugees from wars with Israel dating back to 1948.

Reuters could not independently verify the reported casualty figures.

The blast left large craters surrounded by wrecked buildings.

Israel says it has sent repeated warnings to Gaza residents to evacuate northern areas and while many have gone south, many have not.

Israel besieged Gaza after the Hamas attack.

The UN and other aid officials said civilians in the enclave were living in a public health catastrophe, with hospitals struggling to treat casualties as electricity supplies petered out.

On Wednesday, communications and internet services were completely cut off in the enclave again, Gaza’s largest telecommunications provider Paltel said.

In the West Bank, at least three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military operation, the director of the Red Crescent, Mahmoud Al-Saadi, said.

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In Washington, a group of anti-war protesters raised red-stained hands to interrupt a hearing in Congress on providing more aid to Israel.

They shouted slogans including, “Ceasefire now!” “Protect the children of Gaza!” and “Stop funding genocide”. Capitol police removed them from the room.

Power generators in Al Shifa Medical complex and the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza will run out of fuel in a few hours, Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza said. He called on petrol stations owners in the enclave to urgently feed the two hospitals with fuel if possible.

After the attack on Jabalia, dozens of bodies lay shrouded in white, lined up against the side of the nearby Indonesian Hospital, footage obtained by Reuters showed.

Hamas has told mediators it will soon release some of the 200 or so foreign captives it had taken during the attack on Israel, Mr Abu Ubaida, the spokesman of the group’s armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said in a video on the Telegram app on Tuesday.

He gave no further details on the number of captives or their nationalities.

Meanwhile, Israeli families of victims of the Oct 7 attack appealed to the International Criminal Court on Tuesday to order an investigation into the killings and abductions.

Israel is not a member of the Hague-based court and refuses to recognise its jurisdiction.

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‘Progress’ on safe passage for foreigners

The United States has made “real progress” in the last few hours in negotiations to secure a safe passage for Americans and other foreign nationals who wish to leave Gaza, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the government and then make other stops in the region, the department said.

On Tuesday, Mr Blinken said the US and other countries were looking at “a variety of possible permutations” for the future of Gaza if Hamas militants are removed from control.

Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas after several inconclusive wars dating back to the militant group’s 2007 takeover of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed international calls for a “humanitarian pause” in fighting to enable emergency aid deliveries to civilians suffering from critical shortages of food, medicine, drinking water and fuel.

The US, Qatar and Egypt have been working to open the Rafah crossing into Egypt to allow people to come and go.

Egyptian authorities would allow 81 Gazans who were severely wounded in the weeks of bombardment to enter Egypt on Wednesday to complete their treatment, the Palestinian border authority said. REUTERS

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