An Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in northern Gaza killed at least 50 people, including a top Hamas commander linked to the October 7 terror attack on innocent civilians, reports said.
A series of aerial explosives rained down on residential homes in the heart of the Jabalia refugee camp – located in the densely populated northern part of the besieged area, according to Hamas officials.
The Israeli military said that the attack was aimed at Hamas terror infrastructure in an area where civilians had been warned to evacuate.
“This is a tragedy of war,” IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer after the attack on Tuesday.
Hecht accused Hamas of “hiding, as they do, behind civilians” and urged anyone living in Gaza “to move south” in accordance with Israel’s evacuation order.
Two IDF soldiers were killed during fighting in northern Gaza on Tuesday – the first reported Israeli ground troops’ deaths since Israel expanded its incursion into the area four days ago, a military spokesman said.
Palestinian health officials said at least 50 were killed in the airstrikes on the refugee camp. AFP via Getty Images
Both soldiers, the Givati Brigade, were killed in “hand-to-hand combat,” Daniel Hagari of the IDF told The Wall Street Journal.
Footage obtained by Reuters showed people in the devastated refugee camp desperately searching for survivors through the rubble of destroyed cement buildings, surrounded by deep craters.
The dead, covered in cloth, were laid out on the street by doctors. The injured, including children, rushed into the building for treatment.
Hamas claimed there were 400 victims in Jabalia, which is on the outskirts of Gaza City and has housed refugees from its conflict with Israel since 1948.
The airstrike caused the injured to flee to seek treatment. Ismael Mohamad/UPI/Shutterstock
“I was waiting in line to buy bread when suddenly and without any prior warning seven to eight missiles fell,” said an eyewitness, Mohammad Ibrahim, to CNN.
“There were seven to eight big holes in the ground, full of dead people, body parts all over the place,” he said. “It felt like the end of the world.”
When asked about the refugee camp strike, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday that he could not comment on individual attacks, but said the Israeli military does not “deliberately target civilians, unlike Hamas,” CNN reported.
Several countries in the Middle East have condemned Israel’s attack on Jabalia, including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Palestinians walk among the rubble after an Israeli airstrike in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, in Gaza City. MOHAMMED SABER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Israel has ordered the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from northern Gaza as it launches its ground offensive. Ismael Mohamad/UPI /Shutterstock
“Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemns the Israeli aggression targeting the Jabalya camp in the Gaza Strip this afternoon, holding Israel, the occupying power responsible for this dangerous development,” tweeted the Jordanian Foreign Ministry in a statement.
Hamas claims that the Israeli ground forces suffered a defeat in a fierce battle in northern Gaza.
“The occupation is pushing its forces into proud Gaza, which will always be the graveyard of invaders,” Hamas said in a statement.
Israeli military officials said it struck more than 300 targets in the last 24 hours on Tuesday.ZUMAPRESS.com The attack on Jabalia was condemned by other Middle Eastern countries, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia.Ismael Mohamad/UPI/Shutterstock
The United States today announced it will send 300 additional troops to the Middle East amid attacks on military bases.
Hamas’ extensive 300-mile tunnel system under Gaza City has been a prime target for IDF ground forces.
As many as 240 hostages are believed to have been taken by the militants when they launched an attack on Israel on October 7, complicating an already difficult urban war. Hamas said it would begin releasing those with foreign passports on Tuesday.
Many Gazan civilians have refused Israeli orders to move south and remain behind as Israel continues to shell the territory relentlessly.
IDF officials said it struck more than 300 targets over the past day – including anti-tank missiles and rocket-launching posts under tunnel shafts, as well as an underground Hamas military compound.
More than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel responded to a Hamas attack on October 7 with relentless airstrikes, according to Gaza health officials. Ismail Mohamad/UPI/Shutterstock More than 1.4 million Gazans have been displaced, according to UN.ZUMAPRESS.com
“The North is at the moment, at least we hope, as clean as possible from non-combatants because that is the goal we set for ourselves, to know how to deal mainly with terrorists and not harm non-combatants,” Israel National. Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told a television briefing in Jerusalem.
“But the southern turn will come, the central turn will come… As we have mentioned, this is a long battle,” added Hanegbi
Some 8,525 people, including 3,542 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, according to Gaza health authorities. UN officials said more than 1.4 million of Gaza’s civilian population of about 2.3 million have been displaced.
About 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed in cross-border Hamas attacks on October 7, Israel said.
The Israeli army says 317 of its soldiers have been killed since the start of the war.
By Postal Wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
