Israel defends strike on Jabalia refugee camp thought to have killed dozens

Israel is defending its decision to launch an airstrike against Jabalia, a densely settled refugee camp in northern Gaza, claiming the operation was necessary and proportionate to go after an important Hamas commander.

The attack, which levelled buildings and left a massive crater, killed over 50 people, according to separate estimates from the health ministry in Gaza and the director of the local Indonesian Hospital, Al Jazeera reports. Civilians are among the dead, according to the health ministry.

At a briefing attended by The Independent, IDF officials said eliminating Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari justified the bombing.

The Israeli military accused Biari of helping lead combat operations against the IDF in the region and of being a key part of the planning of the 7 October Hamas surprise attack on Israeli civilians that ignited the war.

“It was not only a legitimate military target but an important military target to strike – and all things were factored in including the possibility of non-combatants being affected,” IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said at the briefing.

“We understood that he was in a vast underground tunnel complex from where he was directing operations. We struck that complex and it is our assessment that dozens of Hamas combatants were with him and were also killed, when the underground complex imploded, collapsed. And I understand that is why there are many reports of collateral damage and non combatant casualties. We are looking into those as well.”

When asked by The Independent whether the IDF thought the strike was a proportionate Lt Col Concricus repeated that it was a “military objective ... of high importance – and we assess that dozen of multiple Hamas operatives were killed. Once we know more and have confirmed information about other casualties, if there are others and what their extent will be, I will be able to answer that.“

Some observers criticised the strike as an unacceptable attack on civilians.

"Egypt strongly condemns the Israeli inhumane targeting of an entire residential square in Jabalia camp northern Gaza and left hundreds killed and injured," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry told Turkish state media.

The Israeli security partner added that the strike was "a blatant violation of the international law" that will deepen the crisis of the war.

The bombing is estimated to have injured 150 people.

“We are horrified by news coming from Jabalia camp where high numbers of people have reportedly been killed by an Israeli airstrike,” Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières said in a statement following the strike. “We condemn this latest episode of senseless violence and reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire to prevent more deaths across the Strip. Enough is enough!”

"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 could find a place, as the hospital was full with patients," an MSF nurse, Mohammed Hawajreh, said of what he saw following the attack, according to the group.

The IDF blamed Biari for planning a 2004 terrorist attack, and said he was embedded in Jabilia in a “vast underground tunnel complex from where he was directing operations” beneath civilian buildings. Numerous Hamas militants inside the complex died in the strike, per the IDF.

The IDF official also added during the briefing that civilians were warned to leave northern Gaza ahead of the unfolding Israeli offensive.

“We have called civilians and non-combatants to evacuate numerous times,” Lt Col Conricus said.

Human rights officials have said that Israel’s “bone-chilling” warnings to over a million civilians to leave northern Gaza ahead of the IDF’s heavy-duty assault on the territory were all but impossible to obey.

The Palestinian territory is blockaded on all sides, and the IDF has targeted civilian infrastructure like a school for refugees and cut off or destroyed key services like electricity, telecommunications, and fuel delivery, leaving ordinary Gazans with few options for safety or mobility to escape the fighting.

The main border crossing out of Gaza into Egypt has also been sealed, except for limited shipments of humanitarian aid.

“This will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and further push people in Gaza into the abyss,” the United Nation’s Palestinian refugee agency said shortly after the warning was given.

“The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hellhole and is on the brink of collapse,” the statement added.

The scope of the Israeli operation in Gaza has continued to grow in recent days.

There are more than 20,000 IDF troops in Gaza, and Israeli security experts told The Independent even this represents only a measured deployment of the IDF’s potential fighting power in the tiny Palestinian territory.

“There is no need to rush in, it’s inch by inch, metre by metre, trying to avoid casualties and trying to kill as much as possible Hamas terrorists,” said Amos Yadlin, former chief of Israel’s defence intelligence.

“It’s a very slow movement to make sure we clear all the tunnels and protect our forces. Moving fast is not a good idea here.”

The strike on Jabalia comes as Israel and its key allies like the US face increased pressure to declare a ceasefire and halt the continued deaths of civilians.

Protesters repeatedly interrupted Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s testimony before the US Senate, chanting and holding up their hands, which were symbolically painted blood red.

The protesters chanted anti-war slogans during Mr Blinken’s opening remarks, with one man yelling “save the children of Gaza!”, according to The Wall Street Journal.