Tuesday’s Israeli airstrikes on Gaza’s largest refugee camp resulted in dozens of deaths, demolished apartment buildings, and killed a number of militants, including what the Israeli military claimed to be a Hamas commander.
In footage from Al Jazeera TV, there were four sizable holes, heaps of wreckage where residential buildings had stood, and scores of people searching through the debris for survivors.
The Israel Defence Forces claimed to have killed Ibrahim Biari, a key figure in the Oct. 7 attack, when they bombed a Hamas “stronghold.” Additionally, the IDF claimed that tunnels beneath civilian structures had collapsed and that Hamas “had taken over” them.
The operation’s primary objective was to kill Biari, who had “litres of Israeli blood in his hands,” according to a video that was tweeted by military spokesperson Jonathan Conricus. Additionally, “dozens of Hamas combatants who were hiding in the vast tunnel complex that was underneath the Jabaliya area” were also slain.
According to Reuters, there was a procession of injured persons of various ages being carried into Indonesian Hospital amid screams and confusion, and there was a lengthy queue of bodies covered in white fabric laid outside the hospital.
For his second trip to the Middle East in three weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel on Friday. Prior to his meeting with Israeli authorities, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia all released statements denouncing Israel’s attacks on the Jabaliya refugee camp. The three Arab nations took notice of the perilous and worsening circumstances in Gaza.
Israel received diplomatic recognition from the UAE in 2020, but not before issuing a dire warning that “indiscriminate attacks will result in irreparable ramifications in the region.”
In reaction to Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza, three South American nations have cut their diplomatic ties with the Israeli government. On Tuesday, Chile and Columbia withdrew their ambassadors to Israel, citing humanitarian concerns for the population in Gaza.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated on X, formerly known as Twitter, “We cannot be there if Israel does not stop the massacre of the Palestinian people.”
Bolivia demanded that Israel stop its military offensive and severed diplomatic ties with the nation. According to Bolivia’s deputy foreign minister, Freddy Mamani, the nation “decided to break diplomatic relations with the Israeli state in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip” during a news conference on Tuesday.
