ISRAEL tonight said it “eliminated” a terrorist stronghold in Gaza, hitting back at Hamas claims refugees were killed.
Hamas had claimed the Israeli airstrike took the lives of more than 50 refugees in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
APIsrael claimed today’s airstrike wiped out a Hamas stronghold[/caption]
GettyBuildings were left flattened following the blast[/caption]
Israel are continuing to move their tanks into Gaza
APHamas claimed the base was a refugee camp[/caption]
ReutersThe IDF claimed that Hamas terrorists were using the base as a hideout[/caption]
GettyWhite body bags lined the street following the destruction[/caption]
But Israel’s IDF hit back, claiming the explosion was a “wide-scale strike on terrorists and terror infrastructure”.
The commander of Hamas’s Central Jabaliya Battalion Ibrahim Biari was killed in the strike, the IDF said.
Photos showed neighbourhoods reduced to rubble and giant sinkholes splitting the streets in the aftermath of the massive blast.
An IDF statement read: “IDF forces under the command of the Givati Brigade took over a Hamas military stronghold in West Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, in-ground operations today.”
They added that “about 50 terrorists were eliminated”.
IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari added: “During this operation many terrorists were killed.
“Terrorists who were with him inside the building as well as under the building in tunnels.
“The targeting of the building he was in led to destruction in other buildings because of this extensive underground infrastructure.
“The purpose of that infrastructure was to carry out attacks against Israel and that infrastructure has collapsed.”
Pictures showed two huge craters, with damaged buildings on either side.
Onlookers gathered with some seen climbing into the holes as they desperately searched for any survivors.
Earlier today Hamas claimed the strike hit the Jabalia refugee camp – and that over 50 civilians had lost their lives.
“More than 50 martyrs and around 150 wounded and dozens under the rubble, in a heinous Israeli massacre that targeted a large area of homes in Jabalia camp in the northern Strip,” a Gazan health ministry statement said.
Earlier today Hamas had put the death toll in Gaza at 8,525.
However, previous Hamas claims of death tolls caused by Israeli strikes have been widely called into question.
Earlier this month, Hamas claimed an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza hospital killed 500.
But Israel has hit back with a furious denial – insisting the devastation was the result of a rocket misfired by Hamas allies Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Israel released its evidence after vehemently denying responsibility for a catastrophic explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital.
Two Hamas operatives were allegedly recorded saying the rocket was fired by another Palestinian terror group, Islamic Jihad.
Meanwhile, Israeli TV broadcast footage appeared to show a rocket barrage being fired over the hospital from within the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli claims were backed by US president Joe Biden and UK PM Rishi Sunak, and the huge death toll was widely disputed. who
Biden reportedly told Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the blast appeared to have been done “by the other team, not you.”
Netanyahu, meanwhile, said: “The barbaric terrorists in Gaza are responsible for the attack on the Gaza hospital, not the IDF.
“The people who brutally murdered our children are murdering their own children too”.
APCivilians were left looking for survivors following the airstrike[/caption]
ReutersHuge craters and sinkholes were left throughout the area[/caption]
ReutersPeople were seen climbing into the craters to search for any survivors[/caption]
ReutersThe neighbourhood was completely ripped apart following the intense blast[/caption]
Civilians desperately attempted to rescue anyone they could find among the rubbleReuters
APPlumes of thick black smoke could be seen filling the air from the site[/caption]
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