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 girls and youngsters being helped down half-destroyed buildings as rescuers and native residents dug by way of the rubble to search out survivors.
The Ministry of Well being in Gaza mentioned greater than 50 folks had been killed within the assault and 150 had been wounded. The Indonesian Hospital, the place many of the victims had been taken, confirmed that greater than 50 folks had been killed.
Hamas’s navy wing mentioned on Wednesday that seven of its civilian captives have been killed within the strikes, together with three international passport holders.
“We’re nonetheless counting the numbers and the folks,” Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan advised Al Jazeera. “We’re nonetheless looking for the folks beneath the rubble. Perhaps on the finish of that, tomorrow, we are able to speak in regards to the precise 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 had been denounced by a number of states in addition to the European Union’s prime diplomat, Josep Borrell.
The EU commissioner for international 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 correct to defend itself according to worldwide humanitarian legislation and guaranteeing 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 statement issued by its Ministry of Overseas Affairs, Saudi Arabia condemned “within the strongest means potential the inhumane focusing on by the Israeli occupation forces of the Jabalia refugee camp”.
Qatar mentioned the strikes had 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, faculties, inhabitants centres and shelters for displaced folks, is a harmful escalation in the midst of confrontations, which might undermine mediation and de-escalation efforts,” Qatar’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs mentioned in a statement.
The United Arab Emirates said 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 Overseas Affairs additionally mentioned it “strongly condemns Israel’s inhumane focusing on of a complete residential sq. in Jabalia camp in northern Gaza that left lots 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 lots of of lives had been misplaced, together with girls and youngsters, was a stark reminder of ongoing Israeli brutalities and warfare crimes in Gaza,” Kakar mentioned in a press release on Wednesday.
“Such reprehensible acts can by no means be condoned or forgotten,” he mentioned. “The world should act now to finish this carnage.”
Iran’s supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called 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 cut 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,” Medical doctors With out Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF), whose employees was at al-Shifa Hospital, the place most of the wounded had 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 had 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 had been screaming and asking for his or her dad and mom,” MSF nurse Mohammed Hawajreh mentioned.
UK-based Medical Help for Palestininians (MAP) mentioned Tuesday’s assault needs to be a “wake-up call”.
“This assault marks a brand new low and will function a wake-up name to world leaders and politicians in all places,” mentioned Melanie Ward, MAP’s chief govt.
“Their meek requests for compliance with worldwide legislation are being ignored totally,” she added. “Israel has as a substitute elevated the ferocity of its indiscriminate and disproportionate assaults. One little one is being killed each 10 minutes consequently and whole households obliterated.”
Stranded
Though greater than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their houses, 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 mentioned the air strikes on Jabalia had killed Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas commander, whom it mentioned 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 folks have been killed in Gaza because the warfare started, together with 3,648 youngsters. The variety of little one deaths is more than have died in all conflicts world wide in every of the previous 4 years.
Greater than 1,400 folks have died in Israel, largely within the October 7 assault.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected requires a ceasefire.
