400 feared killed as Israel bombs Jabalia refugee camp for second day

Israeli airstrikes hit apartment buildings in a refugee camp near Gaza City for a second day in a row, causing 400 deaths and injuries, the Hamas-run government said. The toll from Wednesday’s strikes was not immediately known.

“It is a massacre,” said one eyewitness at the scene of what eyewitnesses said was an Israeli air strike in the Fallujah district of the large camp in the urban sprawl of north Gaza.

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Separately, Palestinians said a bomb had hit an eye hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, causing a fire, though there were no immediate details on casualties or the extent of the damage.

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Gaza — A general view shows smoke as it rises following Israeli strikes in Gaza, October 9, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

Meanwhile, dozens of people with foreign passports entered the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt. It appeared to be the first time that foreign passport holders have been allowed to leave the besieged territory since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than three weeks ago.

Palestinians with dual citizenship walk at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the hope of getting permission to leave Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, November 1, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh Acquire Licensing Rights

Communications and internet services were gradually being restored after the second major cut in five days, according to Paltel, the main service provider. Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that such blackouts severely disrupt their work in an already dire situation in Gaza.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 8,525, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 122 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.

Palestinians search for casualties at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023. REUTERS/Fadi Whadi Acquire Licensing Rights

Meanwhile, Jordan, a key U.S. ally, said Wednesday it has recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel’s ambassador to remain out of the country in protest over the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.

Jordan’s deputy prime minister, Ayman al-Safadi, who is also the foreign minister, said the return of the ambassadors is linked to Israel “stopping its war on Gaza … and the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing.”

Jordan signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994, the second Arab country after Egypt to do so.