Hamas Commander Ibrahim Biari Among 50 Killed In IDF Airstrike On Gaza Camp, Israel Claims

New Delhi: Israeli warplanes bombed a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 50 Palestinians, one of them a Hamas commander, and injuring many more. The enclave was facing a humanitarian crisis, with hospitals running out of power and supplies. Israel has been shelling Gaza for four days after weeks of airstrikes, in response to a Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that killed and kidnapped hundreds of mostly Israeli civilians. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they killed Ibrahim Biari, a key planner and executor of the Oct. 7 attack, in a strike on Jabalia, the largest refugee camp in Gaza. “He was crucial for the attack against Israel from the northeast of the Gaza Strip,” IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said.

He added that many other Hamas fighters were in the same underground tunnel network as Biari, and died when it collapsed. He said this also caused civilian casualties, which they were investigating. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem denied that any senior commander was present, and accused Israel of using it as an excuse to kill civilians.

Hamas said Jabalia, which is home to refugees from Israel’s wars since 1948, had 400 dead and injured. Reuters could not confirm these numbers. The explosion left huge holes and destroyed buildings. Israel has warned Gaza residents to leave the north, but many have stayed.

Israel blockaded Gaza after the Hamas attack, and the U.N. and other aid workers said Gaza’s civilians were trapped in a health disaster, as hospitals struggled to cope with the casualties and the lack of electricity. On Wednesday, Gaza’s largest telecommunications provider Paltel said all communications and internet services were cut off again in the enclave.

Gaza Faces Health Emergency

In Washington, anti-war protesters disrupted a congressional hearing on more aid to Israel. They raised their hands stained with red and chanted “Ceasefire now!” “Protect the children of Gaza!” and “Stop funding genocide.” Capitol police escorted them out.

The power generators of Al Shifa Medical complex and the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza will run out of fuel soon, Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza said. He urged petrol station owners to supply fuel to the hospitals urgently.

Surgeons in Gaza have been working around the clock to save lives, with limited resources and under constant threat of attacks. “We don’t know when we will get patients. Sometimes we have to operate in the corridors or even in the waiting areas,” Dr. Mohammed al-Run said.

Hamas, backed by Iran, said it would free some foreign hostages soon, according to Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson of its armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades. He did not give any details on how many or where they were from. Israeli families of the Oct. 7 victims asked the International Criminal Court on Tuesday to investigate the killings and kidnappings by Hamas. Israel does not accept the authority of the court based in The Hague.