2023-10-31 18:08:00
(CNN) — Israel’s attack on a Hamas commander in the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza caused catastrophic damage and left a large number of victims, according to eyewitnesses and doctors in the enclave.
“I was waiting in line to buy bread when suddenly, and without warning, seven to eight missiles fell,” Mohammad Ibrahim, a witness, told CNN.
“There were between seven and eight huge holes in the ground, full of dead people and body parts everywhere,” he said. “It felt like the end of the world.”
Israel Defense Forces (FD) spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht confirmed to CNN that the Israeli military was responsible for the attack and said it targeted a senior commander of the extremist group Hamas, whom he accused of “hiding.” , as they do, behind civilians”. Civilian deaths, Hecht also said, are “the tragedy of war.”
Hecht said the area is “a very complicated battleground” where “there could be infrastructure, tunnels.”
According to an IDF statement, the attack killed Ibrahim Biari, whom it described as one of the Hamas commanders responsible for the October 7 attack on Israel, where more than 1,400 people were killed and hundreds taken hostage.
The IDF also said that “many other Hamas terrorists” were hit in the attack and claimed that the Jabalia Central Battalion had taken control of civilian buildings.
However, Hamas strongly denied the presence of one of its leaders in the camp. Hazem Qassem, spokesman for the militant group, accused Israel of trying to justify what he described as a “heinous crime against civilians, children and women safe in the Jabalia camp.”
The aftermath of this Tuesday’s explosion in the Jabalia refugee camp. (Anas al-Shareef/Archyde.com)
Images from the site showed a huge crater amid rubble and damaged buildings. Palestinians and rescuers are seen trying to find victims, some using their hands to pick up debris.
Shortly after the explosion, the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem condemned the weeks-long Israeli aerial bombardment of Gaza, saying that “the magnitude of the carnage that Israel has caused and continues to cause in Gaza is horrific,” in a statement published this Tuesday.
“So far more than 8,000 people have died, more than half of them women and children. Entire buildings have collapsed with their occupants still inside. Entire families have been annihilated in an instant. This criminal harm to civilians is intolerable and it is necessary to state again and again the obvious: not everything is permitted in war, including the war against Hamas.”
“Attacking civilians is always prohibited and Israel must stop these attacks now,” he added.
“An unimaginable scene”
At the Indonesian hospital, the closest high-complexity medical center to Jabalia, videos showed a long line of bodies lying on the floor, as well as a large number of injured people, including children, as doctors rushed to treat them. Many of the injured could be seen receiving treatment on the floor due to the overcrowded conditions of the hospital. Hospital director Dr. Atef al-Kalhout estimated that dozens of people died in the explosion.
“What we see is an unimaginable scene: wounded martyrs, hundreds of charred bodies,” said another doctor, Mohammad al Rann. “The only thing we can do is continue to take them in. Most of the injuries are due to explosives, head injuries and amputations.”
According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Interior Ministry, 20 houses were “completely destroyed” in the bombing. Photos from the site showed multiple large craters in the ground, surrounded by debris from destroyed and damaged buildings.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry described the attack as a “massacre”, referring to “chilling documented scenes” of children and women. “It has its roots in a large-scale massacre carried out in full view of the world and under the pretext of self-defense,” the statement added.
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack and said it held Israel responsible for “this dangerous development,” in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
And Egypt accused Israel of violating international law with what it called an “inhumane” attack on a residential area. “Egypt considered this as a new flagrant violation by Israeli forces of the provisions of international law and international humanitarian law,” the ministry said.
CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman, Hamdi Alkhshali, Kyle Blaine and Tamar Michaelis contributed to this report.
News in development…
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