By Ken Afor
The first batch of civilians to flee Gaza entered Egypt on Wednesday, with an agreement brokered by Qatar. When the Israeli army began to clash with the Hamas militants, it continued to bombard the Palestinian region from land, sea and air.
Another explosion ripped through Gaza’s largest refugee camp, Jabaliya, on Wednesday, a day after Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed a Hamas leader, killing about 50 people and wounding 150 others.
There is no information about the victims so far, but the video showed thick smoke over the camp and people searching for casualties and carrying the injured from the pile of stones.
An eyewitness who was at the scene of Israel’s air strike on a large camp in the Fallujah region in northern Gaza said, “This is a massacre.”
Palestinians on Sunday said a bomb hit an eye clinic in Gaza City on Wednesday, causing a fire, but no details of casualties or damage were given.
The war started more than three weeks ago. Dislocated refugees passed through the Rafah crossing point and a source at the border said they were carrying out a security check on the Egyptian side.
Three Egyptian sources and a Palestinian official said that at least 320 foreign passport holders and some seriously injured Gazans were among the first beneficiaries of the campaign between Egypt, Israel and Hamas.
A report on Egypt’s plans stated that approximately 7,500 foreign immigrants will be evacuated from Gaza within two weeks, and that El Arish Airport will also be suitable for those going out. Experts said that the refugees are expected to first walk to Cairo by road and then fly from there.
“An important step in the right direction, which we need to build on,” UN special envoy for Middle East peace said on X social media platform, hailing the opening of Rafah to the first evacuees.
Palestinians said that Israeli warplanes, artillery and cannons bombed Gaza at night, causing loss of life and property.
Hospitals face a tough defense as they have to close. Due to fuel shortage, Israel did not allow humanitarian aid to be sent to the devastated region, citing concerns that the fuel would be sent to Hamas militants.
Israel is sending ground troops and bombs to Hamas-controlled Gaza after weeks of airstrikes in retaliation for the Islamist group’s cross-border attack on southern Israel on October 7.
Israel promises to destroy Hamas. However, civilian deaths and the need for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, where food, fuel, water and medicine are lacking, attracted international attention.
Jordan, one of the few Arab countries that has normalized relations with Israel, said on Wednesday that it would withdraw its embassy from Tel Aviv until Israel ends its attacks on Gaza.
Nahed Abu Taeema, director of Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip, told Reuters that 19 seriously injured patients at the hospital would be evacuated with the 81 patients to Egypt.
“Those require advanced surgeries that can’t be done here because of the lack of capabilities, especially women and children,” said Abu Taeema.
Israel and Egypt have agreed on a list of foreigners who can leave Gaza, a Western official said. An Israeli official confirmed that Israel had coordinated the withdrawal with Egypt.
Greece prepared a hospital in Sheikh Zuwaid according to medical facilities. An ambulance is waiting in Rafah.
The first source said the agreement had nothing to do with other issues, such as fears of the release of approximately 240 people detained by Hamas since the incursion of October 7, or the “suspension of humanitarian aid” experienced in many countries.
Israel says Hamas launched its offensive with a ground offensive in southern Israel on October 7 that killed about 300 soldiers and 1,100 civilians.
The Gaza health ministry said that at least 8,796 Palestinians, including 3,648 children, were killed in the narrow coastal strip in Israeli attacks.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that an attack on the Jabaliya refugee camp killed Hamas leader Ibrahim Biari, who Israel said was responsible for the group’s October 7 attacks. The main figures of the attack also include dozens of Hamas soldiers.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was shocked by the high number of victims in Jabalia and called on everyone to respect the laws of war and human rights.
The Israeli army says Hamas attacks soldiers in crowded areas and use them as cover for commands and weapons.
While 15 Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes in Gaza on Tuesday, the army, after informing their relatives, said that their wounds were the most serious in a day since the start of the attack.
“We are in a tough war,” Netanyahu said. “I promise to all citizens of Israel: We will get the job done. We will press ahead until victory.”
Hamas’ cross-border rocket fire continues loudly in communities in southern Israel and the Mediterranean port cities of Ashkelon and Ashdodra.
During the night, Israeli ground forces clashed with rebels from Hamas and other groups in the north, south and east of Gaza; apparently some of the retreat was focused on advancing rather than full impact.
Telecommunications spokesman Paltel said that communication and internet services were cut off again in Gaza on Wednesday.
The violence, the worst in years of conflict, comes at a time when Palestinians hope for an independent state and the end of Israeli occupation has little hope of success.
Reconciliation is now a distant memory; Netanyahu’s right-wing government is expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Israel sees Hamas, which has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, as an imminent threat.
