Israel-Hamas war: Israeli strikes on Gaza refugee camp ‘could amount to war crimes,’ says UN

Israeli strikes on Gaza’s largest refugee camp “could amount to war crimes,” said the United Nations Human Rights Office, on Wednesday (Nov 1). This comes after Israeli forces say they killed another commander of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in their second strike on the same camp. 

The Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians and has taken over 230 people – including Israeli soldiers and civilians, as well as foreigners from numerous countries – as hostages back to Gaza, Israeli officials have said. 

Israel has since retaliated with a constant bombardment as well as a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and killed nearly 8,800 Palestinians, mostly children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, as of Wednesday.

Israel carried out two airstrikes against the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza in two days. On Tuesday (Oct 31), the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry said more than 50 people were killed after Israeli forces bombed the refugee camp.

The Hamas-run government media office said, at least 195 Palestinians were killed after Israeli strikes in the Jabalia refugee camp on Tuesday and Wednesday, reported Reuters. 

The statement also said that around 120 were still missing under the rubble, and at least 777 more were wounded.  

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later claimed responsibility for the attack and said that their operation succeeded in killing a key Hamas commander linked to the October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group.

The Israeli army said they killed the commander of Hamas’ Central Jabaliya Battalion, Ibrahim Biari and several other militants after the strike caused underground terror tunnels to collapse, bringing down several nearby buildings.

Palestinians sifted through rubble in a desperate hunt for people trapped underneath after the second strike on Wednesday, reported Reuters. “It is a massacre,” said one witness of the strike. 

Meanwhile, the Israeli army issued a statement about Wednesday’s strike and said its fighter jets had struck a Hamas command and control complex in Jabalia “based on precise intelligence” and killed the head of the Palestinian militant group’s anti-tank missile unit, Muhammad A’sar.

“Hamas deliberately builds its terror infrastructure under, around and within civilian buildings, intentionally endangering Gazan civilians,” the statement added. 

In a statement on X, the UN human rights office said, “Given the high number of civilian casualties & the scale of destruction following Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia refugee camp, we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes.”

The principle of proportionality cited by the UN plays an important role in the laws of war defined by the Geneva Conventions. 

This includes sparing civilians and civilian structures, but the death of civilians during a conflict does not necessarily constitute a war crime, since warring parties can launch attacks deemed proportionate on military targets knowing that civilians could also be hit.

It is when the attack is deliberately carried out against civilians that a crime is said to be committed or if the scale of the damage to civilians is excessive compared to the military advantage. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “appalled over the escalating violence in Gaza, including the killing of Palestinians…in Israeli air strikes in residential areas of the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp” said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric. 

(With inputs from agencies)

Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.