Palestinians walk past destroyed houses, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip on Feb. 22, 2024.Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
At least 30 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes that hit several houses at a square on Friday in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, medics said, where residents said tanks blew up roads and houses as they thrust further into the territory.
The Palestinian official news agency WAFA said at least 20 women and children were among those killed. Medics said at least 50 other people were wounded. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
Before the new strikes, the Gaza health ministry said at least 39 Palestinians, 20 of them in Jabalia, had been killed by Israeli military strikes across Gaza on Friday.
Residents of Jabalia in northern Gaza said Israeli tanks had reached the heart of the camp, using heavy air and ground fire, after pushing through suburbs and residential districts.
They added that the Israeli army was destroying dozens of houses daily, from the air and ground, and by placing bombs in buildings then detonating them remotely.
The Israeli military said its forces, which have been operating in Jabalia for the past two weeks, killed dozens of militants in close-quarters combat on Thursday and carried out aerial strikes and dismantled military infrastructure.
Later on Friday, residents in Jabalia and two nearby towns said communications and internet services were cut, disrupting rescue operations by ambulance teams and the ability of people affected by Israeli operations to seek help. The escalation of Israel’s Jabalia operation came a day after it said it had killed the country’s number one enemy, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ chief, whom it blamed for ordering the Oct. 7 attack on Israel – the deadliest in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Israeli military says its operation in Jabalia is intended to stop Hamas fighters regrouping for more attacks.
Residents said Israeli forces had effectively isolated the far northern Gazan towns of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, and Beit Lahiya from Gaza City, blocking movement except for those families heeding evacuation orders and leaving the three towns.
On Friday, health officials appealed for fuel, medical supplies and food to be sent immediately to three northern Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by the number of patients and injuries.
At the Kamal Adwan Hospital, medics had to replace children in intensive care with more critical cases of adults badly wounded by Israeli air strikes on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Jabalia on Thursday.
The attack killed 28 people. Israel said it had targeted militants holed up in the complex.
Kamal Adwan’s director, Hussam Abu Safiya, said in a video sent to the media that the children had been moved to another division inside the facility, where they were being well taken care of.
Israel said it sent in about 30 truck-loads of aid into northern Gaza on Friday including food, water, medical supplies, and shelter equipment. “We’re fighting Hamas, we’re not fighting the people of Gaza,” military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani told journalists in an online briefing.
Hamas and health officials, however, say the aid has not been reaching the worst affected areas, including Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, said on X that the attack on the school was the third on an UNRWA facility this week, adding the agency had now lost 231 team members in the past year of fighting.
Abu Safiya said medical staff were exhausted and hospital supplies, including food, were being badly depleted.
Doctors at the Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals have refused to leave their patients despite evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military at the start of its Jabalia push.
Northern Gaza, which had been home to well over half the territory’s 2.3 million people, was bombed to rubble in the first phase of Israel’s assault a year ago.
Israel began its military campaign after the Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas-led fighters, who killed 1,200 people and captured 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive so far, according to Gaza’s health authorities.