A barrage of Israeli air strikes on a densely populated refugee camp close to Gaza Metropolis has drawn condemnation from governments and NGOs throughout the globe.
An assault on Tuesday night on the Jabalia refugee camp demolished a number of condo buildings, leaving craters of their place. Footage from the scene confirmed ladies and youngsters being helped down half-destroyed buildings as rescuers and native residents dug by the rubble to seek out survivors.
The Ministry of Well being in Gaza stated greater than 50 individuals have been killed within the assault and 150 have been wounded. The Indonesian Hospital, the place a lot of the victims have been taken, confirmed that greater than 50 individuals have been killed.
Hamas’s navy wing stated on Wednesday that seven of its civilian captives have been killed within the strikes, together with three overseas passport holders.
“We’re nonetheless counting the numbers and the individuals,” Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan advised Al Jazeera. “We’re nonetheless looking for the individuals beneath the rubble. Possibly on the finish of that, tomorrow, we are able to speak in regards to the actual numbers and possibly some names.”
Al Jazeera’s Wael Dahdouh reported on Wednesday afternoon that Jabalia had been hit once more by intense air strikes.
‘Appalled’
The strikes have been denounced by a number of states in addition to the European Union’s prime diplomat, Josep Borrell.
The EU commissioner for overseas affairs wrote on the social media platform X: “I’m appalled by the excessive variety of casualties following the bombing by Israel of the Jabalia refugee camp.”
Constructing on EU Council’s clear stance that Israel has the precise to defend itself in keeping with worldwide humanitarian regulation and making certain the safety of all civilians, I’m appalled by the excessive variety of casualties following the bombing by Israel of the Jabalia refugee camp.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) November 1, 2023
In a assertion issued by its Ministry of International Affairs, Saudi Arabia condemned “within the strongest approach doable the inhumane concentrating on by the Israeli occupation forces of the Jabalia refugee camp”.
Qatar stated the strikes have been undermining its mediation efforts to safe the discharge of greater than 200 captives held by Hamas in Gaza.
“The growth of Israeli assaults within the Gaza Strip to incorporate civilian objects, like hospitals, colleges, inhabitants centres and shelters for displaced individuals, is a harmful escalation in the midst of confrontations, which might undermine mediation and de-escalation efforts,” Qatar’s Ministry of International Affairs stated in a assertion.
The United Arab Emirates stated it “reaffirmed the necessity for a right away ceasefire” and “underscored that indiscriminate assaults will lead to irreparable ramifications within the area”.
Egypt’s Ministry of International Affairs additionally stated it “strongly condemns Israel’s inhumane concentrating on of a whole residential sq. in Jabalia camp in northern Gaza that left tons of killed and injured” whereas Yemen known as on “the worldwide neighborhood to take a right away stance to cease these crimes”.
Interim Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar equally urged the worldwide neighborhood to play its function in ending such assaults.
“Yesterday’s air raid on Jabalia camp, the place tons of of lives have been misplaced, together with ladies and youngsters, was a stark reminder of ongoing Israeli brutalities and struggle crimes in Gaza,” Kakar stated in an announcement on Wednesday.
“Such reprehensible acts can by no means be condoned or forgotten,” he stated. “The world should act now to finish this carnage.”
Iran’s supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, known as on Muslim states to stop oil and meals exports to Israel to cease the bombardment of Gaza throughout a speech on Wednesday, based on Iranian state media.
In the meantime, with out naming Jabalia, some states have begun to distance themselves from Israel. Bolivia has minimize diplomatic ties whereas neighbours Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors for consultations.
‘A brand new low’
Humanitarian organisations additionally expressed criticism of the assault.
“We’re horrified by information coming from Jabalia camp the place excessive numbers of individuals have reportedly been killed by an Israeli airstrike,” Docs With out Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF), whose workers was at al-Shifa Hospital, the place lots of the wounded have been handled, wrote on the X social media platform.
“Younger youngsters arrived on the hospital with deep wounds and extreme burns. They got here with out their households. Many have been screaming and asking for his or her dad and mom. I stayed with them till we may discover a place, because the hospital was full with sufferers.” – Mohammed Hawajreh, MSF nurse.
— MSF Worldwide (@MSF) October 31, 2023
“Younger youngsters arrived on the hospital with deep wounds and extreme burns. They got here with out their households. Many have been screaming and asking for his or her dad and mom,” MSF nurse Mohammed Hawajreh stated.
UK-based Medical Support for Palestininians (MAP) stated Tuesday’s assault ought to be a “wake-up name”.
“This assault marks a brand new low and may function a wake-up name to world leaders and politicians all over the place,” stated Melanie Ward, MAP’s chief government.
“Their meek requests for compliance with worldwide regulation are being ignored totally,” she added. “Israel has as an alternative elevated the ferocity of its indiscriminate and disproportionate assaults. One little one is being killed each 10 minutes in consequence and whole households obliterated.”
Stranded
Though greater than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their properties, a number of hundred thousand stay stranded within the north, the place Israeli troops and tanks have superior on a number of sides of Gaza Metropolis.
An Israel military assertion stated the air strikes on Jabalia had killed Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas commander, whom it stated was “pivotal” within the planning and execution of the lethal assaults on October 7 into southern Israel, which set off the most recent Israel-Gaza battle. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem denied any senior commander was within the camp.
To this point, no less than 8,796 individuals have been killed in Gaza for the reason that struggle started, together with 3,648 youngsters. The variety of little one deaths is extra than have died in all conflicts all over the world in every of the previous 4 years.
Greater than 1,400 individuals have died in Israel, principally within the October 7 assault.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected requires a ceasefire.
