Israeli Strike on Jabaliya Refugee Camp: What’s Known So Far?

A number of countries have condemned Israel's airstrike on Jabaliya refugee camp, with Egypt accusing Israel of a "flagrant violation of international law" and Bolivia severing diplomatic relations with the country in protest.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) airstrike on the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday killed at least 50 people and injured 150 others, according to the Palestinian territory's health ministry.

The administration of a nearby hospital, however, argued that there are about 400 casualties, including 120 deaths. A Qatar-based news network reported that over 100 people were killed and around 300 wounded in the airstrike.

What is known so far about the tragedy? Find out with Sputnik.

What is Jabaliya Camp?

According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), after being forced to leave their villages in what would later become the state of Israel, numerous Palestinians sought refuge in the Jabaliya camp following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Prior to the October 7 conflict escalation, UNRWA described Jabaliya as Gaza's largest refugee camp. It has a total area of 1.4 square kilometers and houses at least 116,000 people. The camp, which has long struggled with overcrowding, is among the poorest areas in the Gaza Strip.

Aftermath of Jabaliya Strike

According to reports, Tuesday's strike caused an explosion that destroyed numerous residential buildings in the heart of the Jabaliya refugee camp.

Warning: Graphic Content!

This image grab taken from AFPTV video footage shows Palestinians looking for survivors in a crater following a stike on the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, on October 31, 2023.

© AFP 2023 / FADI ALWHIDI

This image grab taken from AFPTV video footage shows Palestinians looking for survivors in a crater following a stike on the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, on October 31, 2023.

© AFP 2023 / FADI ALWHIDI

Videos and photos showed several large craters surrounded by shattered buildings as a result of the strike. Media reports quoted Jabalia resident Ragheb Aqal as saying that the strike felt like an "earthquake''.

Israeli strikes that targeted the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza killed and injured at least 400 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the besieged enclave.

Footage from the scene shows the attack left a massive crater and completely destroyed several buildings in the… pic.twitter.com/DRwHM6wtUu

— LuaLuaTV (@LuaLuaEnglish) October 31, 2023

Another Biden-Scholz-Sunak-Macron-backed massacre: Israel dropped US-supplied bombs on the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza🇵🇸, at least 400 have been killed or wounded in this strike. pic.twitter.com/CkBaLBQmyE

— Going Underground (@GUnderground_TV) October 31, 2023

"I went and saw the destruction, [...] homes buried under the rubble and body parts and martyrs and wounded in huge numbers," he added.

Tragedy of War?

The IDF said in a statement that the airstrike on the Jabaliya camp targeted and killed Ibrahim Biari, whom it described as one of the Hamas commanders responsible for the October 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group on Israel. The IDF also claimed that "numerous other Hamas terrorists" were taken out by the strike.

Hamas strongly denied the presence of one of its leaders in the Jabaliya refugee camp. The militant group's spokesman, Hazem Qassem, accused Israel of trying to justify what he called a "heinous crime against safe civilians, children and women" in the camp.

In an interview with a US broadcaster, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht in turn accused Hamas of “hiding, as they do, behind civilians.” When reminded that there were many innocent civilians in the camp, Hecht said, “This is the tragedy of war”, urging them to flee south.

Reaction to the Jabaliya Strike

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs castigated the strike as a "massacre," citing "chilling documented scenes" of children and women. "It has its bones, in a large-scale massacre carried out in full view of the world and under the pretext of self-defense," the ministry added.

Riyad Mansour, the head of the Palestinian Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, told a US broadcaster that the strike was a war crime that should be addressed by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"Those who are responsible for giving the orders for that crime should hear something from Mr. [Karim] Khan from the ICC. And if he has the courage, and I hope he does, we appreciate the fact that he came to Rafah crossing, and he made a statement there. But it would be also nice to issue a warrant of arrest for those who are responsible for such crimes," Mansour stated.

In regard to the Jabaliya strike and Israel's efforts to safeguard Palestinian civilians, White House spokesman John Kirby assured that the United States has received "indications that they are actively striving to do so."

"We’re not going to react to every event in real time, but we’ve certainly recognized that civilians have been hurt. Civilians have been killed to the tune of many thousands [...]. We recognize that, we observe that, and we’re not accepting of any single civilian death in Gaza," Kirby asserted. He also argued that Israel is trying to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has since tweeted that he is "deeply alarmed by the intensification of the conflict between Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza."

Meanwhile, Craig Mokhiber, the director of the New York office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, resigned on Tuesday, referring to the killing of Palestinians as “a text-book case of genocide”.

The strike has been strongly condemned by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, and Egypt. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of violating international law by targeting a residential area, labeling it as an "inhumane" act. "Egypt considered this as a new flagrant violation by the Israeli forces against the provisions of international law and international humanitarian law," the ministry pointed out.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry reportedly denounced the strike “in the strongest terms possible”, decrying the “inhumane targeting” of the refugee camp “by the Israeli occupation forces”. According to the ministry, the attack had “caused the death and injury of a large number of innocent civilians”.

This was echoed by Pakistan's interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, who called the strike "a stark reminder of the ongoing Israeli brutalities and war crimes in Gaza.

He said that "such reprehensible acts can never be condoned or forgotten" and that "the world must act now to end this carnage.

The same tone was struck by Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry, which stressed that it "categorically rejects the genocide carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people following the new attack on the Jabaliya refugee camp, north of the Gaza Strip. We reiterate the call for an immediate ceasefire."

In a separate development after the Tuesday strike, Bolivia has severed diplomatic ties with Israel over its “aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive” in Gaza. Colombia and Chile, neighboring countries of Bolivia, have taken a strong stance by recalling their ambassadors for consultations. They denounced the loss of civilian lives in Gaza and demanded an immediate ceasefire.