Refugee camp bombed in Gaza, Israel says it targeted Hamas leader

Dozens of Palestinians were killed. Killed in bombing of Gaza Strip's largest refugee camp, a strike the Israeli army confirmed, saying it targeted one of those responsible for the attack from October 7.

In an AFPTV video, it is possible to count at least 47 bodies draped in shrouds lying on the ground in the courtyard of a hospital after being extracted from the rubble. The images also show a huge crater and destruction caused by the bombing.

The war, triggered by the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel on October 7, unprecedented in its violence and scale, has already left thousands dead and threatens to engulf the entire region.

Since this weekend, the Israeli army has gradually deployed ground troops and intensified its airstrikes. She deplored the death of two soldiers on Tuesday.

Image taken from an AFPTV video showing the bodies of victims after an Israeli bombardment on the Jabaliya refugee camp, October 31, 2023 in the northern Gaza Strip © AFP – Fadi Alwhidi

According to the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, a bombing hit the Jabaliya refugee camp (116,000 refugees) during the day, killing “more than 50” people.

The Israeli army confirmed this bombing which, according to it, targeted a Hamas commander, Ibrahim Biari, presented as one of those responsible for the October 7 attack.

This “elimination” took place “in the part of a vast operation to combat terrorists and terrorist infrastructure belonging to the Jabaliya Central Battalion, which had taken control of civilian buildings in the Gaza Strip.”

According to Jonathan Conricus, spokesperson word of the Israeli army, Ibrahim Biari was in “a vast complex of underground tunnels from where he directed operations”.

“We hit this complex and we estimate that dozens of Hamas fighters were with him and were also killed when the underground complex collapsed,” Conricus said during a press briefing Tuesday evening.

“It was an earthquake scene,” camp resident Ragheb Aqel, 41, told AFP.

Image taken from an AFPTV video showing Palestinians searching for survivors in a huge crater after an Israeli bombardment on the Jabaliya refugee camp, October 31, 2023 in the north of the Gaza Strip © AFP – Fadi Alwhidi

Qatar, involved in attempts to resolve the hostage crisis at the hands of Hamas, condemned “a new massacre”, warning against the extension of Israeli operations, which it said could “undermine mediation efforts”.

Almost a month after the start of the war, calls for a “humanitarian truce” to relieve the suffering of Gaza's 2.4 million inhabitants remain unanswered, despite cries of UN daily alarm.

– Impossible assessments –

“Fierce fighting” in the Gaza Strip pits Israeli soldiers against Hamas, the Israeli army said on Tuesday, adding that dozens of Palestinian fighters had been killed in recent hours.

An Israeli army tank advances towards a position near the border with the Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023 © AFP – Yuri CORTEZ

“We brought in heavily armored vehicles, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, bulldozers,” Jonathan Conricus said Tuesday morning, reporting some “300 targets” struck in 24 hours.

For its part, the military wing of Hamas claimed to have targeted “two armored vehicles” with anti-tank shells, threatening to make the Gaza Strip “a cemetery and a quagmire” for Israeli soldiers.

She also promised to inflict a defeat on Benjamin Netanyahu “which will spell the end of his political career.”

If the fighting is intense, it is impossible to provide human tolls from an independent source.

In Israel, according to the authorities, more than 1,400 people have died since October 7, mainly civilians killed on day of the Hamas attack. At least 240 hostages are still in the hands of the Palestinian Islamist movement that Israel, the United States and the European Union consider a “terrorist” organization, according to the same source.

Photo provided by the Israeli army, on October 31, 2023, of Israeli soldiers in an area of ​​the Gaza Strip © Israeli army – –

The military branch of Hamas assured Tuesday that it stood ready to release “a certain number of foreigners in the coming days”.

Hamas claims that more than 8,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip.

The humanitarian situation in the small territory, subject since October 9 to a “siege “complete” by Israel, is alarming, depriving residents of deliveries of water, food and electricity.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that “more than 485,000 ” the number of Gazans suffering from “severe or moderate psychological disorders”.

An Egyptian convoy of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza parked near the Rafah border crossing, October 31, 2023 © AFP – Khaled DESOUKI

In Rafah (south), tons of aid continue to pile up on the Egyptian side of the border crossing, awaiting inspection by Israel, according to an American official who requested anonymity.

According to COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body overseeing civilian activities in the Palestinian Territories, 70 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Tuesday.

The UN High Commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, implored the Security Council on Tuesday to “overcome” its fractures in order to “demand” a ceasefire.”

In Gaza City, near a Greek Orthodox cultural center hit in the night, Ahmed al-Kahlout, 50, implores. “The minimum they could give us is a truce, just give us three hours,” he told AFP.

Palestinians search for survivors in the rubble of buildings after an Israeli bombardment on the Nuseirat refugee camp, October 31, 2023 in the Gaza Strip © AFP – Mahmud HAMS

– Children in danger –

The Gaza Strip, where according to Hamas 3,450 children have died, has become “a cemetery for thousands of children”, according to the United Nations.

Residents amid the rubble of a building bombed by the Israeli army, October 31, 2023 in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip © AFP – MOHAMMED ABED

Paris announced on Tuesday the death of two French children.

More than a million minors, out of 2.4 million inhabitants in the Palestinian territory of 362 km2, suffer from a lack of drinking water, said James Elder, a UNICEF spokesperson.

The situation in hospitals also worries NGOs, while patients lack medicine.

Egyptian authorities announced that they were ready to receive 81 injured Palestinians via the Rafah crossing point on Wednesday, according to officials. medical sources and security services.

– Regional tensions –

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” on Tuesday, warning of the risk of a “dangerous escalation beyond Gaza.”

The war has exacerbated the tensions in the occupied West Bank, where two Palestinians, including a septuagenarian, were killed Tuesday by fire from the Israeli army, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli advance in the Gaza Strip © AFP – Maxence D'AVERSA, Jean-Michel CORNU, Olivia BUGAULT

At least 122 Palestinians have been killed since October 7 by fire from Israeli soldiers and settlers, 'according to the same source.

The head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell “strongly” condemned on Tuesday the attacks committed “by Israeli settlers against Palestinians”.

On Tuesday, Israel announced that it had intercepted missiles fired from the Red Sea region after Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen claimed to have launched drones towards the Jewish state.

On the Israeli-Lebanese border, where clashes are daily, the Israeli army claimed to have carried out new air strikes targeting Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.

American Secretary of State Antony Blinken must return to Israel on Friday before visiting other countries in the region.

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