At least 195 Palestinians have now been confirmed killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp on Tuesday and Wednesday, prompting United Nations rights officials to warn that targeting densely populated residential areas "could amount to war crimes."
Some 120 people were still missing under the rubble, and at least 777 more were wounded, the Gazan government media office said Thursday.
Israel claims it had targeted and killed Hamas leaders in Jabalia, Gaza's largest refugee camp. It alleges the group had command centers and other "terror infrastructure under, around and within civilian buildings, intentionally endangering Gazan civilians."
On Wednesday, Palestinians sifted through rubble in a desperate hunt for trapped victims. "It is a massacre," said one witness.
The U.N. decried Israel's most recent bombings, joining a chorus of international condemnation from as far afield as Bolivia, which severed diplomatic ties in protest.
The U.N.'s top human rights body – citing "the high number of civilian casualties" and scale of destruction – said it had "serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes."
Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel "to condemn the Israeli war that is killing innocent people in Gaza."
Israel has rejected such accusations, claiming Hamas deliberately uses civilian areas to hide command posts and arsenals that are used to attack Israeli civilians.
The Israel Defense Forces alleged Tuesday's strike on Jabalia killed Hamas leader Ibrahim Biari and destroyed an underground tunnel complex.
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht described Bihari as a "high-value target" who was involved in planning the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.
Hamas, meanwhile, said seven of the 240 hostages it is holding, including three foreign passport holders, died in Tuesday's bombing, a claim that was impossible to verify.
The group's leader, Ismail Haniyeh, accused Israel of committing "barbaric massacres against unarmed civilians," saying it was covering its own "defeats."
