Airstrikes against refugee camps

News 

 

The war between Israel and Hamas  

Airstrikes against refugee camps in Gaza  

 

Lina Thorén 

 

Updated 23.25 | Published 07.20  

Smoke over Jabalia after an Israeli air attack on Wednesday. Photo: Hatem Moussa/AP  

 

Over 80 people may have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia in northern Gaza.  

 

Video clips show terrified children among bloody bodies inside a school building.  

 

There are also reports from Khan Youni in the south that civilians have been killed in attacks. 

 

Flyers tell people to flee.  

 

The al-Fakhura school is located in Gaza's largest refugee camp, Jabalia, and is run by UNRWA. In recent times, it must have functioned as a refugee camp.  

 

A source told the AFP news agency that the Israeli attack came at dawn. 

 

Videos on social media show bodies covered in blood and dust on the floor of a building where mattresses have been pulled under school desks.  

 

The BBC has images from the scene showing devastation and injured people. 

 

Israeli flags fly from the ruins of Gaza. The picture was taken on Saturday 18 November. Photo: Ariel Schalit/AP  

 

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini comments on the data: "Horrible images of scores of people killed and injured," he writes in a post on X.  

 

Later on Saturday, another large explosion was reported in Jabalia.  

 

According to Palestinian authorities, a building was destroyed and 32 people were killed, including 19 children. Most of them from the same family, the Abu Habal family. 

 

UNRWA Director Philippe Lazzarini. Photo: Ludovic Marin / AP 

UNRWA-chefen Philippe Lazzarini kommenterar uppgifterna: ”Fruktansvärda bilder av mängder av människor som dödats och skadats”, skriver han i ett inlägg på X.

Senare på lördagen rapporterades om ännu en stor explosion i Jabalia.

Enligt palestinska myndigheter ska en byggnad förstörts och 32 personer dödats, varav 19 barn. De flesta av dem från samma släkt, familjen Abu Habal.

Hard to confirm information  

 

The information about the attacks and the many dead comes from the Palestinian Health Authority, which is controlled by Hamas.   

 

The Israeli army has not confirmed. 

 

- I cannot confirm that the IDF is behind this event. But just like you, we see the pictures in social media. We are looking into it, IDF spokesman Peter Lerner told the BBC.  

 

Smoke rises from the Gaza Strip. The picture was taken on the night of Saturday, from southern Israel. Photo: Leo Correa/AP 

 

Offensive south  

 

Israeli airstrikes are said to have also targeted the refugee camp at the town of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.  

 

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that at least 26 people were killed overnight Saturday, most of them children. The head of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis states that the hospital has received the bodies.  

 

The bombings are said to have continued during Saturday. According to the health authority, at least 47 more people have been killed.  

 

 

 

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are in Khan Younis, having fled the bombings in northern Gaza.  

 

On Friday, flyers were spread over the area urging civilians to flee from there.  

 

The intense fighting between Israel and Hamas has now been going on for over six weeks. 

 

Well over 10,000 people have died and over a million and a half in Gaza have lost their homes and are displaced. Satellite images show large crowds moving south on the Salah al-Din road, which connects the northern and southern Gaza Strip.  

 

FACTS  

Background  

 

The terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel early in the morning on October 7 - thereby starting the bloodiest war the region has experienced since the 40s.  

 

Armed Hamas militiamen made a coordinated move across the border while thousands of rockets were fired at Israeli territory. 

 

According to Israeli estimates, around 1,200 people were killed, most of them unarmed civilians who were shot, stabbed and burned to death. On several kibbutzim and a music festival arranged near the border, pure massacres were carried out. 

 

It is the deadliest attack on Israel in the country's history.  

 

Around 200 people were taken hostage by Hamas and taken from Israel to Palestine. It is unclear how many of them are still alive. 

 

Israel responded to the Hamas attack with full-scale war and has since peppered the Gaza Strip with airstrikes. Gaza City has largely been left in ruins.  

 

A low-intensity ground invasion has also begun and Hamas is said to have lost control over large parts of Gaza.  

 

More than 12,000 people are believed to have been killed, several thousand of them children, according to Palestinian health authorities. However, the figures are very uncertain, partly because many dead may still be buried in the ruins after the Israeli attacks and partly because the authorities are controlled by Hamas.