targating.



Israeli military says it was targeting 'a very senior Hamas commander' in air strike on Jabalia refugee camp

Gaza's Rafah border crossing to be opened Wednesday for 81 severely wounded Palestinians to be treated in Egypt -officials

GAZA/JERUSALEM, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Palestinian health officials said at least 50 Palestinians were killed when Israeli air strikes hit a densely populated refugee camp in north Gaza on Tuesday, as Israeli ground forces battled Hamas gunmen based in a sprawling tunnel network.

Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, speaking to CNN, confirmed the Israeli strike on Jabalia refugee camp and said it targeted "a very senior Hamas commander in that area". He added: "We're looking into it and we'll be coming out with more data as we learn what happened there." 

U.N. and other aid officials said civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave were engulfed by a public health catastrophe, with hospitals struggling to treat snowballing casualties as electricity supplies peter out.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed international calls for a "humanitarian pause" in fighting to enable emergency aid deliveries to civilians suffering from critical shortages of food, medicine, drinking water and fuel.

He has vowed to press ahead with plans to annihilate Hamas after several inconclusive wars dating back to the militant group's 2007 takeover of Gaza.

Officials at Gaza's Indonesian Hospital said more than 50 Palestinians had been killed and 150 wounded when tons of aerial explosives struck residential dwellings in the heart of the Jabalia camp in urbanised north Gaza.

The Israel military has accused Hamas, which rules the narrow coastal territory, of using civilian buildings as cover for fighters, commanders and weaponry, accusations it denies.

Footage obtained by Reuters showed a swathe of destruction, with deep bomb craters and gutted, multi-storey cement dwellings as people dug through mounds of rubble with their hands in search of loved ones, dead or alive.

Medics lay the dead swaddled in white cloth in a long line outside the hospital, located in the adjacent town of Beit Lahiya, as the injured including wailing children were rushed inside for treatment amid scenes of pandemonium.

A Hamas statement said there were 400 dead and injured in Jabalia, which lies on Gaza City's outskirts within the main northern ground zone of combat between dug-in Hamas militants and Israeli troops and tanks. Jabaliya is home to refugee families affected by the war with Israel since 1948.

Reuters could not independently verify the reported casualty figures.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed his call on Tuesday to protect civilians caught up in the conflict, emphasizing the need for a balancing act and preventive measures from all parties.

“International humanitarian law sets out clear rules that cannot be ignored. This is not an a la carte menu and cannot be applied selectively,” Guterres said in his statement.

TUNNELS

The tunnels under the cramped enclave are a prime objective for Israel as it expands a four-day-old ground offensive - after three weeks of aerial bombardment - into Gaza from the north to hit Hamas in retaliation for the Islamist group's deadly surprise attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Some of the 240 hostages that Israel says were seized by Hamas that day are believed to be held in the tunnel complex, posing a further complication for the Israelis on top of the difficulties of fighting in a crowded urban setting.

Hamas has told mediators it will release a number of foreign captives in the coming days, its armed wing spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a video on its Telegram account on Tuesday. He gave no details on the number of captives or their nationalities. [1/10] Palestinians search for the injured at the site of an Israeli attack on a house in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023. REUTERS/Anas al-Sharif acquires licensing rights

The Israeli military said it had struck about 300 targets over the past day, including anti-tank missile systems, missile launchers under tunnel silos and an underground Hamas military complex.

The militants responded with anti-tank missiles and machine gun fire, the report said. Several militants were killed, but the number was not disclosed.

Hamas said in a statement that its militants engaged in fierce fighting with Israeli ground forces, resulting in casualties. “The occupation is driving soldiers into the proud Gaza Strip,” Hamas said. “Gaza will always be a graveyard for invaders,” he said.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, military officials said, but did not specify when.

Israeli forces have repeatedly urged civilians to evacuate from the northern Gaza Strip to the south to avoid the brunt of armored attacks. Hundreds of thousands have left, but many remain, residents say, continuing to emigrate and fearing deadly Israeli bombing raids in the south.

Gaza health authorities say 8,525 people, including 3,542 children, have died in Israeli attacks since October. 7. UN officials say more than 1.4 million civilians in Gaza (about 2.3 million) are homeless.

According to Israel, an attack by Hamas across the border on October 7 killed about 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Reuters could not independently confirm the number of victims.

The al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, said militants clashed early on Tuesday with Israeli forces invading Gaza's south, hitting four Israeli vehicles with rockets.

Later, it said fighters ambushed Israeli armoured vehicles penetrating the central Jur al-Dik area of Gaza and destroyed three of them with al Yassin 105mm