ISMAILIA
Seventy-six wounded Palestinians and 335 foreigners entered Egypt from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in first such crossing since the Oct 7 Hamas raid that triggered an ongoing episode of hostilities by Israeli forces in the besieged enclave.
A day after an Israeli air strike killed about 50 people and wounded 150 others in Jabalia, another blast shook Gaza’s largest refugee camp on Wednesday.
Ambulances transported the 76 wounded Palestinians into Egypt and six buses took 335 foreign passport holders who were stuck in Gaza since Israel placed a “total siege” on the Palestinian territory after Hamas’s raid early last month, an Egyptian official at the Rafah crossing said.
Egyptian authorities had said they would allow 90 wounded Palestinians and around 545 foreigners and dual nationals to cross on Wednesday.
“The Rafah terminal will open again on Thursday to allow the passage of more foreigners and dual citizens,” a security source said.
Among the foreigners were 31 Austrians, four Italians, five French nationals and an unspecified number of Germans.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress an estimated 1,000 people, including 400 Americans and their close relatives, were stuck in Gaza seeking evacuation.
The Israeli military claimed it had killed Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas commander who was “pivotal in organising the Oct 7 assault”, in Tuesday’s attack on the Jabalia refugee camp.
Footage showed smoke billowing over the camp and people sifting through piles of rubble and carrying away the injured.
“It is a massacre,” said one eyewitness at the scene.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was appalled by the high number of casualties in Jabalia. He urged all sides to respect the “laws of war and humanity”.
Israel’s military said 15 of its soldiers were killed on Tuesday night as ground forces clashed with “fighters from Hamas and other groups” in Gaza’s north, south and east. It was the biggest one-day loss for Tel Aviv since it invaded Gaza Strip last week.
“We are in a tough war,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a speech. “I promise to all citizens of Israel: we will get the job done. We will press ahead until victory.”
A Hamas spokesperson said it had fired a “large number of rockets” into Israel on Wednesday. Warning sirens sounded all day in southern Israel as well as the Mediterranean port cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod.
Communications and internet services were cut off in Gaza again on Wednesday, telecommunications provider Paltel said.
Palestinians said a bomb had hit an eye hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, causing a fire. There was no word on casualties. In Geneva, the UN human Rights Office said the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) air strikes on Jabalia camp “could amount to war crimes”.
“Given the high number of civilian casualties & the scale of destruction following IDF air strikes on Jabalia refugee camp, we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes,” the office wrote on X.
