Hamas’s military branch confirmed on Wednesday, November 1, that seven hostages, including “three foreign passport holders,” were killed in the Israeli bombing of the Jabaliya refugee camp on Tuesday. The Islamist movement said the attack on the largest camp in the Gaza Strip left “more than 50” dead and hundreds injured. No other source can confirm this assessment. The Israeli army admitted to carrying out this operation, which resulted in the assassination of Ibrahim Biari, considered one of those responsible for the October 7 attack. Follow our live stream.
The fate of the hostages is uncertain. After the bombing of the Jabaliya camp, Qatar, which has been involved in attempts to resolve the hostage crisis, condemned “a new massacre” and warned of operations that could “undermine mediation efforts.” Hamas’s military branch assured on Tuesday that it was ready to release “a certain number of foreigners in the coming days.”
First evacuations of foreigners and the wounded to Egypt. Dozens of foreigners and dual nationals, as well as ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians, left the Gaza Strip for Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday. The Egyptian authorities had announced the extraordinary opening of this border crossing to allow the evacuation of around 545 people with dual nationality and foreigners, as well as almost 90 people in need of surgical care.
The toll on the Israeli army is rising. The latter published on Wednesday the names of nine soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip the day before, bringing to 326 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the Hamas attack on October 7. On Tuesday, the army reported the first two deaths as part of its ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel says it has attacked “more than 11,000 targets.” According to the army of the Jewish state, these places, which have been attacked since the beginning of the war, belong to “terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.” On a human level, Hamas claims that more than 8,500 people have died on the Palestinian side in less than a month, including around 3,500 children. For their part, the Israeli authorities assure that more than 1,400 people have died since October 7, mostly civilians killed on the day of the attack.