Israel shuns calls for humanitarian pause as evacuees cross into Egypt

In this frame grab from video, Palestinians stand and others search for survivors and bodies following Israeli airstrikes at the Jabaliya refugee camp on Gaza City's outskirts, Oct 31, 2023. (PHOTO/AP)

Israel shunned international calls for a humanitarian cease-fire and further shocked most of the world including the European Union by bombing a refugee camp in continued strikes to eliminate Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) militants, while the first group of injured evacuees entered Egypt since the conflict broke out on Oct 7.

The Israeli military said strikes on Jabalia, Gaza’s largest refugee camp, had killed Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas commander. The Oct 31 and Nov 1 attacks killed 195 and injured 770 with 120 people still missing, Hamas officials said. Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, said seven civilian hostages were killed, including three foreign passport holders. There was no comment from Israel on the claim.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed international calls for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting, saying that Hamas would exploit any truce.

Eleven Israeli soldiers were also killed in fighting on Oct 31, the Israeli military said, its biggest one-day loss since the initial assault. 

The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell says he was “appalled” by the high number of casualties from the bombing of the refugee camp and called for fighting parties to respect the international rules of conflict.

“Building on (the) EU Council’s clear stance that Israel has the right to defend itself in line with international humanitarian law and ensuring the protection of all civilians, I am appalled by the high number of casualties following the bombing by Israel of the Jabalia refugee camp,” Borrell said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. “Laws of war and humanity must always apply, including when it comes to humanitarian assistance.”

UN and other aid officials said civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave were facing a public health catastrophe, with hospitals struggling to treat snowballing casualties as electricity supplies peter out.

“With each passing day, as the situation becomes more and more dire, this is more urgent than ever,” Borrell said as he repeated last week’s plea. “The safety and the protection of civilians is not only a moral but a legal obligation.”

From inside a refugee camp, a UN aid team leader told the media that everyone he met there was asking for food and water. 

Dozens of Palestinians gathered outside the Nasser Hospital morgue waiting to get the bodies of their relatives for burial.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said the Turkish hospital was out of service under Israeli strikes and fuel shortfall. Gazan medical officials noted that over half of all Gaza hospitals have stopped operation due to the exhaustion of fuel.

Bolivia has severed its diplomatic ties with Israel, citing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza. Meanwhile, Jordan, Chile, and Colombia have recalled their ambassadors.

Iran’s supreme leader on Nov 1 urged Muslim governments to unite and stop oil and other exports to Israel to pressure a cease-fire.

Turkiye and Iran have called for a regional conference aimed at averting the spread of the conflict. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian a day after Iran’s top diplomat met Hamas leaders in Qatar.

Fidan said Turkiye was pushing for an immediate cease-fire because “it is not difficult to predict that this spiral of violence will grow” without a permanent solution to the escalation. “We do not want the human tragedy in Gaza to turn into a war that affects the region’s countries,” he said.

On Nov 1, through the Rafah border crossing, the only lifeline for people seeking to leave the conflict-ravaged enclave, the first group of some 500 holders of foreign passports and some 80 injured people entered Egypt, according to Egyptian and Palestinian sources.

The Rafah crossing opened to allow a limited number of people to cross from Gaza into Egypt. It is expected that foreign nationals, dual-passport holders, and some of the most seriously injured will be allowed through by Egyptian authorities, in a deal said to have been brokered by Qatar.

A spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said there are several thousand foreigners in Gaza but that they will not all be able to leave in one day.