A barrage of Israeli airstrikes on a densely populated refugee camp near Gaza City has drawn condemnation from governments and NGOs around the world.
An attack Tuesday evening on the Jabalia refugee camp demolished several apartment buildings, leaving craters in their place. Images from the scene showed women and children being helped down from the half-destroyed buildings as rescuers and local residents searched through the rubble for survivors.
Gaza’s health ministry said more than 50 people were killed in the attack and 150 others injured. The Indonesian hospital, where most of the victims were taken, confirmed that more than 50 people had been killed.
Hamas’ military wing said Wednesday that seven of its civilian prisoners were killed in the strikes, including three foreign passport holders.
“We are still counting the numbers and the people,” Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera. “We are still trying to find the people under the rubble. Maybe at the end tomorrow we can talk about the exact numbers and maybe some names.
Al Jazeera’s Wael Dahdouh reported Wednesday afternoon that Jabalia was again hit by intense airstrikes.
“Dismayed”
The strikes were denounced by several states as well as the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell.
The European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs wrote on the social network »
Building on the clear position of the EU Council that Israel has the right to defend itself in accordance with international humanitarian law and to ensure the protection of all civilians, I am dismayed by the high number of casualties following the bombing by Israel from the Jabalia refugee camp.
– Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) November 1, 2023
In a statement published by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saudi Arabia condemned “in the strongest possible terms the inhumane targeting of the Jabalia refugee camp by the Israeli occupying forces”.
Qatar said the strikes undermined its mediation efforts to secure the release of more than 200 captives held by Hamas in Gaza.
“The expansion of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip to include civilian objects, such as hospitals, schools, population centers and shelters for displaced people, constitutes a dangerous escalation in the clashes, which would undermine efforts to mediation and de-escalation,” Qatar said. » said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.
The UAE said it had “reaffirmed the need for an immediate ceasefire” and “stressed that indiscriminate attacks would lead to irreparable consequences in the region”.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also said it “strongly condemns Israel’s inhumane targeting of an entire residential square in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, which left hundreds dead and injured,” while Yemen called on “the international community to take an immediate stance to put an end to these crimes.” .
Acting Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar also urged the international community to play its role in stopping such attacks.
“Yesterday’s air raid on the Jabalia camp, where hundreds of lives were lost, including women and children, is a stark reminder of Israeli brutality and ongoing war crimes in Gaza,” Kakar said in a press release Wednesday.
“Such wrongdoing can never be tolerated or forgotten,” he said. “The world must act now to end this carnage. »
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslim states to stop oil and food exports to Israel in order to stop the bombing of Gaza during a speech on Wednesday, according to Iranian media. Iranian state.
Meanwhile, without naming Jabalia, some states have begun to distance themselves from Israel. Bolivia severed diplomatic ties while its neighbors Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors for consultations.
“A new low”
Humanitarian organizations also criticized the attack.
“We are horrified by the news coming from the Jabalia camp, where a large number of people have reportedly been killed by an Israeli airstrike,” said Médecins Sans Frontières (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF), whose staff were there. al-Shifa hospital, where many of the injured were treated, wrote on the social media platform
“Young children arrived at the hospital with deep wounds and severe burns. They came without their families. Many were screaming and asking for their parents. I stayed with them until we found a place, because the “The hospital was full of patients.” – Mohammed Hawajreh, MSF nurse.
– MSF International (@MSF) October 31, 2023
“Young children arrived at hospital with deep wounds and severe burns. They came without their families. Many were screaming and asking for their parents,” said Mohammed Hawajreh, an MSF nurse.
The UK-based Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said Tuesday’s attack should be a “wake-up call”.
“This attack marks a new low and should serve as a wake-up call to world leaders and politicians around the world,” said Melanie Ward, chief executive of MAP.
“Their humble requests to respect international law are completely ignored,” she added. “Israel has instead increased the ferocity of its indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. As a result, a child is killed every 10 minutes and entire families are wiped out. »
Failed
Although more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their homes, several hundred thousand remain stranded in the north, where Israeli troops and tanks have advanced on several sides of Gaza City.
An Israeli military statement said airstrikes on Jabalia killed Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas commander, who it said played a “critical” role in planning and carrying out the deadly October 7 attacks. in southern Israel, which sparked the latest Israel-Gaza conflict. conflict. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denied the presence of a senior commander in the camp.
So far, at least 8,796 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, including 3,648 children. The number of child deaths exceeds that of all conflicts in the world in each of the last four years.
More than 1,400 people died in Israel, most of them in the October 7 attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a ceasefire.