Egypt is set to open the Rafah border crossing for a number of Palestinians who were injured in Gaza. The country will take 81 seriously wounded people from the besieged
Strip and treat them in Egyptian hospitals, reported the New York Times citing Gaza’s General Authority for Crossings and Borders.
The Israeli military admitted to launching a wide-scale airstrike on the densely inhabited Jabalia refugee camp where potentially “dozens” of civilians have been killed in the blast.
The Israel Defence Forces said it had targeted Hamas infrastructure in the area “that had taken over civilian buildings” and that tunnels under the buildings had collapsed in the strike.
During a briefing attended by The Independent, Israeli officials defended the attack as proportionate, saying the operation led to the killing of Ibrahim Biari, the commander of Hamas’ Central Jabaliya Battalion.
The “military objective was of high importance,” lieutenant colonel Jonathan Conricus, an IDF spokeperson, said at the briefing.
“Multiple Hamas operatives were killed,” he added.
Meanwhile, at least nine Israeli soldiers died in Gaza fighting, said IDF without immediately providing more details.