• 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.
