• Hamas fighters offer stiff resistance as Tel Aviv’s forces push into north Gaza
• Palestinian death toll crosses 8,500

GAZA STRIP: Palestinian fighters offered stiff resista­nce to invading forces, but the relentless Israeli bombing of the besieged enclave claimed at least 50 lives in the Jabalia refugee camp, on Tuesday.

This takes the total number of those killed in Israel’s brutal bombing campaign to 8,525, including 3,542 children, according to the latest count by the health ministry.

The director of Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital told Al Jazeera that more than 50 Palestinians were killed and 150 wounded in Israeli air strikes on a densely populated area of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

AFP video footage from the scene showed at least 47 bodies recovered from the rubble after the strike hit several houses in the densely crowded camp.

Dozens of onlookers could be seen standing on the edges of two vast craters as people searched for survivors.

Ragheb Aqal, a Jabalia resident, described the strikes as “an earthquake” which shook the entire refugee camp.

“I went and saw the destruction… homes buried under the rubble and body parts and martyrs and wounded in huge numbers,” the 41-year-old told AFP.

“There’s no exaggerating when they talk about hund­reds of martyrs and wounded. People were still “transporting the remains of children, women and elderly”, he added.

The Jabalia camp is Gaza’s largest refugee camp. Accor­ding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian Refugees, the densely populated camp is situated in the north of the besieged enclave and covers an area of 1.4 square km. There are approximately 116,000 registered refugees in the camp.

The camp also housed three UN-run schools, which had subsequently been converted into shelters for hundreds of displaced families.

Fourth night of invasion

On Tuesday, Tel Aviv said it struck 300 targets during its fourth night of land operations in northern Gaza.

Warplanes kept up a relentless barrage of strikes on Gaza, while Israel also claimed that its forces were engaging Hamas fighters inside their vast tunnel network beneath Gaza.

“Over the last day… IDF struck approximately 300 targets, including anti-tank missile and rocket launch posts below shafts, as well as military compounds inside underground tunnels belonging to Hamas,” an Israeli military statement said.

Footage from the Israeli military showed tanks and armoured bulldozers churning up bomb-scarred dirt tracks and troops going from building to building.

In addition, AFP images showed plumes of smoke rising above Gaza and Israeli helicopters raining down rockets on the northern Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, 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.

Hamas has also released footage of battles within Gaza, including what it said was a military vehicle on fire.

The al-Qassam Brigades said fighters also clashed with Israeli forces invading Gaza’s south early on Tuesday, hitting four Israeli vehicles with missiles.

The fighters also fired at two Israeli tanks and bulldozers in northwest Gaza, the group said.

Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman, denied that a Hamas commander had been in the area struck by Israel fighter jets in Jabaliya, according to The New York Times.

Hamas has told mediators it will release a number of foreign prisoners in the coming days, Abu Ubaida, the spokesman of the group’s armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said in a video on its Telegram account on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

He also said his group clashed with the Israeli army on three fronts and was able to “kill and injure a number of Israeli soldiers” as well as destroy 22 military vehicles. The unit’s navy also used an underwater missile called ‘Aasif’ for the first time in the conflict, Abu Ubaida said.

Abu Ubaida also denied that a prisoner freed by Israel had been in Hamas’ hands, saying a number of prisoners were being held by other groups and individuals in the Gaza Strip.

But even as Israel’s staunchest allies voiced concern about the humanitarian crisis in southern Gaza, the UNRWA said there was not nearly enough aid to meet the “unprecedented” needs.

Hisham Adwan, Gaza director of the Rafah crossing with Egypt where some aid has been allowed in, said 36 trucks had been waiting there since the previous day.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2023