Israel claims it targeted a top Hamas leader in Jabaliya, Gaza, refugee camp with a series of airstrikes on Tuesday.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry told the media that at least six Israeli airstrikes targeted residential structures in the core of the camp on the outer limits of Gaza City. Authorities say 150 Palestinians were injured, and Fifty were killed.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that airstrikes slayed Ibrahim Biari, the leader of Hamas’s Central Jabaliya Battalion, as well as “neutralizing” an estimated 50 additional terrorists. Hamas has denied these claims.
Asked about the Israeli assault, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said he was unable to speak to particular Israeli operations but that the U.S. thinks taking human safety into consideration is both a moral and a strategic imperative. Unlike Hamas, the Israeli military is not aiming for civilians.
In a media release earlier this week, the IDF showed the results of an operation against a Hamas terrorist facility in the Jabaliya “refugee camp,” a district of high-rises in Gaza City that was originally inhabited by people forced to flee their homes because of conflicts with Israel.
Reports show Israel also conducted an aerial assault on a Hamas leader in another part of Jabaliya, triggering the collapse of subterranean tunnels and drawing international criticism that Israel was attacking a “refugee camp.”
Reporting has revealed that Palestinian ‘ refugee camps’ in the Middle East are dense multi-story residential communities founded by Palestinian refugees when Arab governments waged war with Israel in 1948 and 1967. The title “refugee camp” is misleading since these settlements are not made up of individuals who have just been displaced. Instead, Hamas regularly uses them as a staging ground for its activities, putting the lives of innocent bystanders in danger.
IDF Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari informed reporters in a recent briefing that Israel is attempting to protect people throughout the conflict, But Palestinian terror organization Hamas is trying to prevent civilians from escaping and is running its operations from hospitals. Without human shields, Hamas is vulnerable, which is why Hamas is intentionally preventing people from fleeing to a safer location.
