Anas al-Shareef/Portal
The aftermath of the Israeli attack on the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza on Tuesday.
Jerusalem CNN –
An Israeli attack on a Hamas commander in the densely populated Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza has left catastrophic damage and killed large numbers of people in the enclave, according to eyewitnesses and medics.
“I was waiting in line to buy bread when suddenly and without warning, seven to eight rockets hit,” an eyewitness, Mohammad Ibrahim, told CNN.
“There were seven to eight huge holes in the ground full of dead people, body parts lying everywhere,” he said. “It felt like the end of the world.”
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN that the airstrike targeted a Hamas commander, whom he accused of “hiding behind civilians like they do.” Hecht also said that the deaths of civilians were “the tragedy of war.”
However, Hamas has strongly denied the presence of one of its leaders in the camp, Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the group said in a statement on Tuesday.
At the Indonesian hospital, the closest major medical facility to Jabalya, videos showed a long line of bodies lying on the hospital floor and a large number of injured people, including children, as doctors rushed to treat their injuries. Because the hospital was overcrowded, many of the injured could be seen being treated on the floor. The head of the hospital, Dr. Atef al-Kalhout, estimated that numerous people were killed in the explosion.
“What you see is a scene that no one can imagine: injured martyrs, hundreds of charred bodies,” said another doctor, Mohammad al Rann. “All we can do is keep recording them. Most injuries are due to explosives, head injuries and amputations.”
According to the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry in Gaza, twenty houses were “completely destroyed” in the bombing. Photos of the site showed several large craters in the ground surrounded by the rubble of destroyed and damaged buildings.
Hecht, the IDF spokesman, said the area was “a very complicated battlespace” in which “there could be infrastructure and tunnels there.”
Egypt on Tuesday strongly condemned what it called “inhumane Israeli attacks on the residential area of Jabalya camp,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement, accusing Israel of violating international law.
“Egypt considered this a new blatant violation by the Israeli Armed Forces of the provisions of international law and humanitarian law,” the ministry said.
This story is evolving and will be updated.