A series of Israeli airstrikes hit the densely packed Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza on Tuesday, in what Israel said was an attempt to take out a senior Hamas commander in the area.
The Associated Press reported that at least six Israeli airstrikes hit residential dwellings in the heart of the refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City, citing the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
Gaza officials told Reuters that 50 Palestinians were killed and 150 more wounded. Footage from the scene showed people searching through gutted concrete apartment blocks for loved ones, per Reuters.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday claimed the airstrikes killed Ibrahim Biari, the commander for Hamas’s Central Jabaliya Battalion, along with “neutralizing” an estimated 50 other “terrorists.”
Asked about the Israeli attack on the Jabalya camp later on Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said he could not “speak to individual Israeli strikes,” but that the U.S. believes “taking civilian safety into account is both a moral and a strategic obligation.”
Hellbound and Down 