Hamas says at least 50 killed in airstrike on Jabaliya camp; no independent confirmation

The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip now says at least 50 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Jabaliya camp in northern Gaza.

Earlier it put the figure at some 400 dead and wounded.

“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 Jabaliya camp,” a ministry statement says.

Hamas figures cannot be confirmed but AFP video footage from the scene appeared to show at least 47 bodies recovered from the rubble after the strike hit several houses in the camp.

Dozens of onlookers could be seen standing on the edges of two vast craters as people searched for survivors.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes.

Ragheb Aqal, a resident, describes the strikes as “an earthquake” that shook the entire refugee camp.

The entire neighborhood bombed to the ground just like that, it was filled with people.#Jabalia_massacre pic.twitter.com/6gHw3Q67N5

— Hossam (@mahmoud97hossam) October 31, 2023

Other residents reported that minutes after the Israeli strikes, the ground began to collapse and buildings fell into sinkholes that opened up.

The Air Force has been targeting Hamas tunnels built under neighborhoods.

#BREAKING: Jabaliya residents are claiming that several minutes after an Israeli airstrike the ground around them began to collapse, leading to massive casualties, many of whom fell into sinkholes along with structural frames of the apartment buildings.

— Gaza Report – اخبار غزة (@gaza_report) October 31, 2023