The war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas is intensifying. A major Israeli attack on Jabalia results in many deaths – including terrorists, but also civilians. The overview.
Numerous people were killed in a major Israeli military attack on Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip. According to the military, around 50 terrorists were killed in the strike, including a mastermind of the Islamist Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7th. At least 35 people, including children and women, were killed in the attack, according to a doctor at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
In addition, more than 200 injured people were admitted to the clinic, said Hussam Abu Safija of the German Press Agency. When asked about the civilian victims of the major attack, a spokesman for the Israeli army told the US television channel CNN: “This is the tragedy of war.”
Death and devastation in Jabalia
Large craters and completely destroyed houses can be seen in images from the bombed city. Palestinians are searching for survivors and bodies in the mountains of rubble. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, “hundreds of people” were injured and killed in the attack on Jabalia. The authorities did not provide an exact number of deaths. The information could not initially be independently verified.
The Israeli military spoke of a “large-scale attack” on a “Hamas military stronghold” in the west of the city. Some of the terrorists were holed up in a multi-story building near a school, a medical center and government offices. Tunnels in the area also collapsed as a result of the bombing, it said.
According to the UN, Jabalia is the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, which is sealed off by Israel. People who had to flee wars with Israel since 1948 live there. They are looked after by the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA. It is a very densely populated residential area, but is not separated from the surrounding area by a fence or similar like other refugee camps. According to the UN, the area is 1.4 square kilometers in size and has 116,000 residents registered as refugees.
Israel: mastermind of Hamas massacres left dead
The operation killed Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari, who was reportedly involved in the Hamas massacres in the Israeli border area three and a half weeks ago. As is usual for Hamas, he hid among civilians. The Islamist organization had control of civilian buildings in the area, it said. Meanwhile, two Israeli soldiers also died in fighting with Hamas. The two 20-year-old men died on Tuesday in the north of the coastal area, it was said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” about the escalation of the conflict. This included the expansion of ground operations by the Israeli armed forces as well as intensified air strikes and continued rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, the United Nations said in New York. Guterres reiterated calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and unhindered access for aid workers to the Gaza Strip.
Communication networks failed
After a major attack by the Israeli military on Hamas terrorists in the Jabalia refugee camp, all communication networks in the Gaza Strip are interrupted. All communications and internet services were down again, the West Bank-based Palestinian company Paltel said early on Wednesday morning.
Ambulances wait at the border crossing with the Gaza Strip
For the first time since the war began on October 7th, people will be able to leave the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing towards Egypt on Wednesday. They include foreigners and injured Palestinians. On Wednesday morning, more than a dozen Egyptian ambulances drove to a gate at the Rafah border crossing, images from state-affiliated television channel Al-Kahira News showed.
According to the general secretary of the Egyptian Red Crescent in North Sinai, Raed Abdel Nasser, 40 ambulances were ready. According to Al-Kahira News, they were waiting in the transit area of the border crossing on the Egyptian side.
South American countries condemn Israel’s actions
Meanwhile, Bolivia broke off diplomatic relations with Israel over its attacks on the Gaza Strip. The South American country made the decision “in rejection and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and the threat to international peace and security,” the Foreign Ministry said.
At the same time, the South American countries Chile and Colombia recalled their ambassadors for consultations. “Chile strongly condemns the military operation in the Gaza Strip and notes with grave concern that this operation, which constitutes a collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population, does not respect the fundamental norms of international law,” the Chilean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Israel is again calling on civilians to flee
The Israeli army had repeatedly called on the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to seek safety in the south as it wanted to fight the Islamist Hamas facilities in the north. But there are also Israeli air strikes in the south. Meanwhile, the army repeated its call to flee to the south.
Another 59 trucks with urgently needed relief supplies arrived there on Tuesday. According to aid organizations, just over 200 trucks have arrived in the coastal area sealed off by Israel since the beginning of the Gaza war. However, according to the UN, 100 truckloads are needed every day to provide the 2.2 million people with essentials. Before the war began, an average of 500 trucks came into the area every day, according to the UN emergency relief office OCHA.
Clashes also in the West Bank
Meanwhile, there were renewed clashes with the Israeli military in the West Bank, in which two people were killed on Tuesday, according to Palestinian sources. Six other people were injured in the raid, one of them critically.
The situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has deteriorated considerably since the beginning of the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip.
USA strengthens deterrence in the Middle East
The US military is now moving another 300 soldiers to the Middle East, but not to Israel, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in Washington. The aim is to support deterrence efforts in the region and to strengthen the protection of US forces there.
The USA has previously deployed several warships and fighter aircraft to the region. In Iraq and Syria, US forces have been the target of attacks by pro-Iranian militias in recent days.