Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
The IDF on Wednesday said it had attacked a terror command and control base in the Jabaliya refugee camp inside what Palestinian media claims was a UNRWA clinic. "The terrorists were hiding inside a command and control center that was being used for coordinating terrorist activity and served as a central meeting point for the terrorist organization," the IDF said in a statement.
"Additionally, the compound was used by the Hamas' Jabaliya Battalion to plan terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops. Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of aerial surveillance and additional intelligence."
After Israel said it was expanding its offensive against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Palestinian media outlets reported on Wednesday that at least 19 people were killed in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza in an Israeli strike on an UNRWA clinic. The reports claimed that at least nine children were among the dead and that bodies were being pulled from the rubble.
"Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law while taking over civilian infrastructure, and while brutally exploiting the civilian population as a human shield for its terror attacks against the State of Israel," the IDF said in a statement.
The military expansion in Gaza comes amid widespread evacuations from combat zones. The IDF warned Gazan civilians on Tuesday to leave Rafah and nearby towns to avoid harm. The IDF Arabic spokesperson, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, said in a statement that the army was "resuming intense combat to eliminate the capabilities of terrorist organizations" in the area and advised residents to move to the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone. Similar warnings were also issued to residents of the northern Gaza Strip.
The operation also follows two incidents of rocket fire from Gaza, targeting border communities including one launch from the area of Khan Younis in the south and another from the northern parts of the Strip. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier that the IDF was expanding its offensive on Hamas terrorists in Gaza. In a statement he said the troops were instructed to "crush and cleanse the area of terrorists and terror infrastructure and to seize wide areas that will be annexed to Israel’s security zones."
live
Fire breaks out after IDF strikes Jabaliya
His comments prompted an angry response from families of hostages held in Gaza who asked whether the government had decided to sacrifice the lives of the remaining 59 captives held by Hamas. Katz then released a second post saying the military operation was meant to put pressure on Hamas to agree to release all of the hostages.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
Talks to advance a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal have been stalled after Hamas rejected proposals for further hostages' release unless Israel was prepared to move to the second phase of the ceasefire deal agreed in January, that would bring an end to the war.