After the attacks on a refugee camp, Israel’s army cannot yet provide any information on civilian casualties. A spokesman emphasized that the fighting was not directed against civilians – but that Hamas was hiding behind civilian infrastructure.
The Israeli military says it cannot yet say how many civilians were killed in its attacks in the Jabalia refugee camp. The militant Islamist Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, is deliberately hiding behind civilian infrastructure there, army spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists. “They want this image of destruction.”
Hagari spoke of a dilemma for the army. On the one hand, she knows that there are still civilians in the area – even though the area is designated as a “red zone” due to the presence of Hamas. At the same time, Hamas’s activity in the refugee camp is a threat to the Israeli army that it must respond to.
Speaker: Further “safe corridors” to the south
Hagari emphasized that the fighting in the Gaza Strip was not directed against the civilian population there. He therefore once again appealed to the people of Jabalia and other areas in the north of the coastal region to move south. The army continues to create “safe corridors” for this purpose.
Footage shows the devastating consequences of Tuesday’s attack, which, according to the army, also caused Hamas tunnels to collapse and leave a crater. According to the Israeli army, the airstrike was aimed at a mastermind of the massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7th. 50 terrorists were killed in the operation in Jabalia. However, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said that many civilians were among the victims.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by the Palestinian and Israeli conflict parties cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
Reports of another attack
According to several news agencies, there was also an attack on the refugee camp on Wednesday. As AFP reports, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Gaza Strip reported new casualties. “Dozens” of people were killed and injured when Israeli warplanes bombed the refugee camp. Israel has not yet provided any information about a new attack.
The military is currently fighting the Islamist Hamas facilities, especially in the north. But there have also been Israeli air strikes in the south. According to Hagari’s account, only targeted attacks on individual Hamas leaders occur in the areas designated for the civilian population. The area is not a “safe zone,” he emphasized. “But it is a safer place than any other place in Gaza.”