400 massacred in Jabalia refugee camp bombing

Hundreds of Palestinians were martyred while many others got injured as a result of the violent Israeli airstrikes that targeted Al Talouli Square and Al Hoja Street in Jabalia Camp, north Gaza Strip, Tuesday.Palestinian medical sources said that more than 400 martyrs and 400 injured arrived at the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza, while dozens of others were under the rubble.Qatar News Agency (QNA) quoted the Palestinian Ministry of Health as saying that initial estimates indicate that the number of victims of the bombing in Jabalia may be close to the number of victims of the bombing of Al Ahli Baptist Hospital, which claimed hundreds of martyrs.The occupation warplanes launched 20 missiles and 6 huge bombs with destructive capabilities at a residential square containing at least 20 houses, destroying them on the heads of their residents. The occupation also launched three raids on Al Eshreen Street in the Nuseirat camp, which led to a number of martyrs and wounded, QNA added.Israel has heavily bombarded Gaza since October 7, killing 8,525 people, mainly civilians and including more than 3,500 children.Reuters adds: The camp was struck with tonnes of aerial explosives that hit residential dwellings in the heart of the Jabalia refugee camp in urbanised north Gaza.Footage obtained by Reuters showed a swathe of destruction, with deep bomb craters and gutted, multi-storey cement dwellings as people dug through mounds of rubble with their hands in search of loved ones, dead or alive.Dozens of bodies lay shrouded in white, lined up against the side of Gaza Strip's Indonesian Hospital from what health authorities said was an Israeli airstrike on the refugee camp.The hospital had already been struggling under an influx of patients badly wounded by Israeli bombing, with medics setting up an operating room in a corridor because the main surgical theatres were full, they said.Juggling dwindling supplies of medicines, power cuts and air or artillery strikes that have shaken hospital buildings, surgeons in Gaza work night and day trying to save a constant stream of patients.Hamas said in a statement its fighters were engaging in fierce battles with Israeli ground forces, who were taking losses. "The occupation is pushing its soldiers into proud Gaza, which will always be the cemetery of invaders," Hamas said.Israeli forces also bombed the narrow coastal enclave overnight in air, sea and ground attacks, hitting northwestern areas, witnesses said on Tuesday.On Monday, Israeli forces targeted Gaza's main north-south road and attacked Gaza City, its northern hub, from two directions.UN officials say more than 1.4 million of Gaza's civilian population of about 2.3 million have been made homeless.The al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, said militants also clashed early on Tuesday with Israeli forces invading Gaza's south, hitting four Israeli vehicles with missiles.Hamas also fired at two Israeli tanks as well as bulldozers in northwest Gaza, al-Qassam said. In Beit Hanoun, in the northeast, they "liquidated" an Israeli unit which was ambushed as it entered a building.Reuters was unable to confirm the details of battle reports. Israel's military had no immediate comment on the Hamas accounts.Air raid sirens sounded in the area of Israel's far southern resort city of Eilat on the Red Sea on Tuesday and the Israeli military said it downed an approaching "aerial target".Yemen's Houthis said they had launched a "large number" of ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel, their third operation targeting Israel, with more to come.The mounting death toll in Gaza has drawn calls from the United States, Israel's main ally, other countries and the UN for a pause in fighting to allow in more humanitarian aid.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Washington, stressed the importance of both security assistance for Israel and humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza."Without swift and sustained humanitarian relief, the conflict is much more likely to spread, suffering will grow, and Hamas and its sponsors will benefit by fashioning themselves as the saviours of the very desperation they created," he said.Israel has sealed off Gaza and refuses to allow in fuel supplies lest, it says, they be used by Hamas to wage war.A World Health Organisation official in Geneva said on Tuesday that a "public health catastrophe" was imminent in Gaza.Air strikes on Monday night outside the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza caused a power cut and doctors said they feared for the lives of 250 injured Palestinians being treated there as fuel runs low."Running out of fuel would mean no power and no power would mean the inevitable death of many patients," Dr. Moaeen Al-Masri said.James Elder, a spokesperson for the UN children's agency in Geneva, warned of the risk of infant deaths due to dehydration. Children in Gaza were getting sick from drinking salty water, he said.About 940 children are reported missing in Gaza, he said, with some thought to be stuck beneath the rubble of buildings flattened by Israeli air strikes.Significantly fewer humanitarian aid trucks than needed have reached the besieged enclave, UN officials said. Aid trucks have been trickling into Gaza from Egypt over the past week via Rafah, the main crossing that does not border Israel.