DOUBLE BLAST
Hamas claims ‘second strike’ has hit Gaza ‘terror stronghold’ refugee camp 24hrs after militant commander was wiped out
Deputy PM Oliver Dowden said Israel is fighting 'an enemy that hides among civilians'
HAMAS has claimed a refugee camp in Gaza dubbed a "terrorist stronghold" by Israel has been hit for the second time in 24 hours.
A top commander for the terrorist group was killed in an Israeli airstrike at the Jabalia camp on Tuesday, which Hamas claimed killed 50 civilians.
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The IDF described the explosion on Tuesday as a "wide-scale strike on terrorists and terror infrastructure".
It said that the blast killed the commander of Hamas's Central Jabaliya Battalion Ibrahim Biari, one of the Hamas leaders responsible for orchestrating the deadly October 7 attacks.
Hamas claimed today that there had been a second blast at the camp, just 24 hours later.
An official in Hamas-run Gaza said "Large numbers of martyrs are still under the rubble as a result of the second massacre of the occupation in the Jabalia camp".
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The refugee base, which is the largest in the Gaza Strip, is home to almost 120,000 people.
Deputy PM Oliver Dowden described the airstrikes as part of the "terrible nature" of the conflict in the Middle East.
Asked by Sky News whether Israel had broken international law with the strikes, Mr Dowden said: "This is the reality of the conflict with an organisation like Hamas.
"Hamas is a terrorist organisation that has murdered in cold blood over 1,000 innocent Israeli men, women and children, and now seeks to hide amongst the civilian population. This is a very difficult conflict.
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"We continue to urge the Israeli government to abide by international law.
"I believe that the Israeli government is continuing to do so against an enemy that hides among civilians. It is the terrible nature of this appalling conflict."
IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said that Biari, who was also accused of carrying out the 2004 attack on Ashdod Port, and directing rocket fire at Israel for the past two decades, was a "necessary target" hiding in the refugee camp.
He told the Sun: "Jabaliya refugee camp has effectively become a fortified position.
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"Hamas has institutionalised abused and taken the people of Jabalia hostage.
"What we took out and what we struck yesterday was the staging ground, the position where the arch-terrorist, Ibrahim Biari was hiding out.
"He has been at the forefront of terrorism for the last two decades and I'm sure if he was given the chance to conduct more butchery of our people he wouldn't think twice.
"He was a military target, a necessary military target, he was surrounded by his henchmen and therefore he was a necessary target.
"Indeed, we know that he was involved in the planning and executing of the seventh of October attack in the vicinity of Jabalia and the forces that entered from the Jabalia area.
"He was part of the operation that we are determined on destroying and dismantling Hamas capabilities, taking out its leaders and this is this is what we did yesterday."
Meanwhile, Hamas said today that Israel targeted residential buildings in the refugee camp for the second day.
Gaza's Ministry of Health claimed today that a second strike at the west side of the Jabaliya camp in the Al-Faluga area left dozens dead and injured including children.
The terror group also claimed that seven hostages were among the victims of the attack, including three foreign passport holders.
A statement by the Hamas military wing Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades read: "Seven detainees were killed in the Jabalia massacre yesterday, including three holders of foreign passports."
It had previously claimed that "almost 50" hostages had been killed in earlier raids.
Photos of Tuesday's blast showed neighbourhoods reduced to rubble and giant sinkholes splitting the streets in the aftermath of the explosion.
Pictures showed two huge craters, with damaged buildings on either side.
And an IDF statement after the strike read: "IDF forces under the command of the Givati Brigade took over a Hamas military stronghold in West Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, in-ground operations today."
They added that "about 50 terrorists were eliminated", but the official death toll has not yet been confirmed.
IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari added: "During this operation, many terrorists were killed.
"Terrorists who were with him inside the building as well as under the building in tunnels.
"The targeting of the building he was in led to destruction in other buildings because of this extensive underground infrastructure.
"The purpose of that infrastructure was to carry out attacks against Israel and that infrastructure has collapsed."
Onlookers gathered with some seen climbing into the holes as they desperately searched for any survivors.
Civilians covered in dust left over from the remains of fallen buildings were pictured digging through bricks while pulling bodies from the rubble.
One eye-witness : “I was waiting in line to buy bread when suddenly and without any prior warning seven to eight missiles fell.
“There were seven to eight huge holes in the ground, full of killed people, body parts all over the place,” he said.
“It felt like the end of the world.”
At an Indonesian hospital, the nearest major medical facility to Jabaliya, footage showed large numbers of injured people, including children lining the streets, as doctors rushed to treat them.
Many of the wounded could be seen receiving treatment on the floor because of the hospital’s overcrowded conditions.
Earlier on Tuesday Hamas claimed the strike hit the Jabalia refugee camp - and that over 50 civilians had lost their lives.
"More than 50 martyrs and around 150 wounded and dozens under the rubble, in a heinous Israeli massacre that targeted a large area of homes in Jabalia camp in the northern Strip," a Gazan health ministry statement said.
Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, said on Tuesday that the death toll of Palestinians rose to 8,525 since October 7.
However, previous Hamas claims of death tolls caused by Israeli strikes have been widely called into question.
Earlier this month, Hamas claimed an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza hospital killed 500 - but doubt was casted over the number.
Israel has hit back with a furious denial - insisting the devastation was the result of a rocket misfired by Hamas allies Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Israel released its evidence after vehemently denying responsibility for a catastrophic explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital.
Two Hamas operatives were allegedly recorded saying the rocket was fired by another Palestinian terror group, Islamic Jihad.
And satellite images from the site appear to reveal minimal damage to the hospital itself.
Meanwhile, Israeli TV broadcast footage appeared to show a rocket barrage being fired over the hospital from within the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli claims were backed by US President Joe Biden and UK PM Rishi Sunak, and the huge death toll was widely disputed.
Biden reportedly told Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the blast appeared to have been done "by the other team, not you."
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Netanyahu, meanwhile, said: "The barbaric terrorists in Gaza are responsible for the attack on the Gaza hospital, not the IDF.
"The people who brutally murdered our children are murdering their own children too".
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