- Hamas-run government says Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza killed at least 195 Palestinians, with concerns raised by the UN that these could constitute war crimes.
- Evacuation of foreign nationals from Gaza is underway, with 320 already crossed into Egypt; about 7,500 are expected to leave within two weeks.
- The strikes targeted Hamas military leaders and infrastructure, with Israel’s campaign responding to Hamas’ cross-border attacks from Oct. 7.
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit Israel and Jordan to discuss the conflict and the need to minimize civilian casualties.
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Those figures are from Hamas, who has an incentive to inflate casualty numbers.
It seems like a bad idea to stay there given that Jabalia has been under bombardment for the last month, IDF forces have been very clear that civilians need to evacuate north Gaza, they will consider those who remain to be potential enemy combatants, (“terrorist sympathizers,” as they phrased it,) and there is a network of Hamas’ underground tunnels beneath the area that constitute a valid military target. Of course Hamas wants people to stay where they are despite all this so they can remain human shields and make Israel look bad in the media when the inevitable consequence of refusing to evacuate occurs.
Seems like Israel is sending a strong message that hiding among civilians isn’t an effective shield for Hamas anymore. Much of the Palestinian strategy has been to provoke attacks then portray Israel as war criminals when they inevitably counterattack, and it doesn’t seem like Israel cares about this concern trolling anymore.