Israel jets strike Gaza refugee camp: At least 50 dead, including Hamas commander, says military

Israeli airstrikes hit a densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 50 Palestinians and a Hamas commander, and medics struggled to treat the casualties, even setting up operating rooms in hospital corridors.

Israeli tanks have been active in Gaza for at least four days following weeks of air bombardments in retaliation for an attack by Hamas on mostly Israeli civilians on October 7 and the taking of more than 200 hostages.

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement said the strike by fighter jets on Jabalia, Gaza's largest refugee camp, had killed Ibrahim Biari.

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"He was very important, I would say even pivotal in the planning and the execution of the October 7 attack against Israel from the northeastern parts of the Gaza Strip," said IDF spokesperson Lt Col Jonathan Conricus.

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

"And I understand that is also the reason why there are many reports of collateral damage and non-combatant casualties. We're looking into those as well," he said.

Palestinian health officials said at least 50 Palestinians were killed in the refugee camp and 150 wounded. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem denied any senior commander was there and called the claim an Israeli pretext for killing civilians.

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 concrete buildings.

Ragheb Aqal, a Jabalia resident, described the strikes as "an earthquake" which shook the entire refugee camp.

"I went and saw the destruction... homes buried under the rubble and body parts and martyrs and wounded in huge numbers," the 41-year-old told AFP.

"There's no exaggerating when they talk about hundreds of martyrs and wounded."

People were still "transporting the remains of children, women and elderly", he added.

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

Public health crisis

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

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

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

Juggling dwindling supplies of medicines, power cuts and air or artillery strikes that have shaken hospital buildings, surgeons in Gaza have worked night and day trying to save a constant stream of patients.

"We take it an hour at a time because we don't know when we will be receiving patients. Several times we've had to set up surgical spaces in the corridors and even sometimes in the hospital waiting areas," Dr. Mohammed al-Run said.

Hamas to free hostages

Hamas has told mediators it will release some foreign captives in coming days, Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson 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 October 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.

Earlier Tuesday, the health ministry in Gaza said 8,525 people have been killed in the narrow strip of land since Israel launched its bombing campaign on October 7.

The war erupted after Hamas militants from Gaza launched attacks on Israeli communities and army posts, killing around 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials.

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