Israel strikes Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza, October 7 attack leader among 50 killed

The Israeli military said its fighters, on Tuesday, identified several Hamas terrorists who were entrenched in a multi-story building in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza. This building was located near a school, a medical center and government offices, it said in a post on X.  

"The fighters directed air forces that attacked the terrorists," the military said.

Jabaliya is the largest refugee camp in northern Gaza.

On Tuesday, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said over 50 people were killed and 150 were wounded. However, it added that dozens more were likely buried under the rubble. The ministry denounced the attack, calling it "a heinous Israeli massacre" at the camp, the AFP news agency reported.

In an earlier post on Tuesday, the IDF confirmed that it had targeted and "killed Ebrahim Biari, the commander of the Jabalia center battalion of the Hamas terrorist organization, who was one of the leaders of the murderous terrorist attack on October 7."

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem denied that any senior commander was in the camp and called the claim an Israeli pretext for killing civilians, Reuters reported.

The Gaza health ministry has said over 8,525 people have been killed in Hamas-controlled territory in the last three weeks. Of the dead, the United Nations reported that 3,450, or 40%, were children.

The Israeli strikes came after Hamas militants conducted wide-scale terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7. Hamas fighters killed some 1,400 people in Israel and took 200 people hostage. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by Israel, Germany, the European Union, the United States and other countries.

Saudi Arabia condemns Israeli strike on Gaza camp

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday slammed Israel's airstrike at the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza, with the kingdom's Foreign Ministry issuing a statement expressing itself on the matter.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemns in the strongest terms possible the inhumane targeting by the Israeli occupation forces of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the besieged Gaza Strip, which caused the death and injury of a large number of innocent civilians," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The ministry went on to say that it "totally rejects the repeated targeting by the Israeli occupation forces of densely populated civilian areas" and accused Israel of violating both international law and international humanitarian law.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said the "dire humanitarian situation stemming from the ongoing escalation cannot be justified" and called for an end to hostilities.

It warned of "a humanitarian disaster" and said that ultimately it would be Israel and the international community who would be responsible.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said over 50 people were killed and 150 were wounded in a strike on the Jabalia refugee camp.

On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said fighter jets killed a Hamas commander who it said was responsible for sending Islamist militants into Israel on October 7 to conduct a terror attack.

IDF says it attacked over 11,000 terrorist targets since fighting began

The Israeli military has attacked over 11,000 targets of "terrorist organizations" since the fighting started, the Israel Defense Forces said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

This continued overnight as well. "Combined forces of the IDF attacked many terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip during the night, including operational headquarters and squads of Hamas terrorists," the post read.