CNN's Wolf Blitzer confronted an Israeli Defense Forces spokesman on-air about a Tuesday bombing of a crowded refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip that Israel says killed a senior Hamas official who was involved in the Oct. 7 terror attack.
The Times of Israel reported that the IDF indicated the strike had killed the commander of Hamas' Central Jabaliya Battalion, Ibrahim Biari, as well as “several other terrorists and caused underground terror tunnels to collapse, bringing down several nearby buildings.” The report also noted that "at least 50 people were killed in the strike and subsequent collapse" per Palestinian reports.
Blitzer questioned Lt. Col. Richard Hecht of the IDF on the bombing's civilian death toll, asking if Israel still decided to go through with the attack on the Jabalya refugee camp to kill the Hamas official knowing that a number of innocent civilians would be killed in the process.
"But even if that Hamas commander was there, amidst all those Palestinian refugees who are in there in that Jabalya refugee camp, Israel still went ahead and dropped a bomb there attempting to kill this Hamas, Hamas commander, knowing that a lot of innocent civilians, men, women and children presumably would be killed. Is that what I’m hearing?" Blitzer asked.
"That’s not what you are hearing, Wolf," Hecht replied. "We, again, were focused on this commander, again, who — you’ll get more data who this man was — killed, many, many Israelis. And we’re doing everything we can. It’s a very complicated battle space. There could be infrastructure there. There could be tunnels there. And we’re still looking into and we’ll give you more data as the hour moves ahead.”
"But you know that there are a lot of refugees, a lot of innocent civilians, men, women and children in that refugee camp as well, right?” Blitzer asked, pressing Hecht further.
“This is the tragedy of war, Wolf. I mean, we as you know, we’ve been saying for days, ‘Move south, civilians that are not involved with Hamas, please move south,’” Hecht responded.
“Just trying to get more information. You knew there were civilians there. You knew there were refugees, all sorts of refugees. But you decided to still drop a bomb on that refugee camp attempting to kill this Hamas commander. By the way, was he killed?” Blitzer continued.
“I can’t confirm yet. There’ll be more updates,” Hecht said of the civilian toll before addressing the commander's death.
“Yes, we know that he was killed and about the civilians there. We’re doing everything we can to minimize. I’ll tell you again, sadly, they are hiding themselves within the civilian population. And again, we are doing this stage by stage and we’re going to go after every one of these terrorists who was involved in that hideous attack on the 7th of October, Wolf,” Hecht added.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer: You knew that there were innocent civilians in that refugee camp, right?
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 31, 2023
IDF spox: This is the tragedy of war. We told them to move south.
Blitzer: So you decided to drop the bomb anyway.
IDF spox: We’re doing everything we can to minimize civilian deaths. pic.twitter.com/oAtW7jV0pc
The Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, and the director of Gaza's Indonesian Hospital said hundreds of people were killed or injured in the attack, the Washington Post reports. Palestinians carried away the injured and dead on blankets and mattresses, and the series of strikes left a deep crater in the area and toppled buildings.
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense emergency services, Mahmoud Bassal, told the Post that about 20 buildings were destroyed by the blasts. The precise count of those wounded and dead was not immediately clear amid ongoing rescue efforts.
Tuesday's attack reinforced fears that Israel's use of airstrikes and ground operations will put more civilians in the territory at a higher risk and worsen an already extreme humanitarian crisis.
Though aid convoys have maintained a limited delivery of much-needed supplies, the deliveries fall short of satisfying growing demands. Egypt has been prepping hospitals to treat wounded Gazans, but a stalemate in border negotiations has kept wounded people from crossing.
In a potential turning point, Hamas and Egypt said Tuesday that an agreement was brokered to allow 81 injured people from the territory to pass on Wednesday through the Rafah border, which is the only official route from Gaza that Israel does not control.
Israel's expanding push into Gaza has also become a point of contention for allies like the United States, which has asserted Israel's right to retaliate after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed at least 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers but has increasingly pushed for ways to help civilians caught in the war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a Senate hearing in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, said “humanitarian pauses must be considered.”
António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, said in a statement that he was “deeply alarmed by the intensification of the conflict.” International humanitarian law “is not an a la carte menu and cannot be applied selectively," he added.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., admonished Israel and said its attack on the Jabalya refugee camp is "horrible" in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
"Israel has an obligation to protect civilians under the laws of war," Warren wrote. "Hamas’s use of innocent Palestinians as human shields does not excuse bombing a location filled with civilians."
Horrible. Israel has an obligation to protect civilians under the laws of war. Hamas’s use of innocent Palestinians as human shields does not excuse bombing a location filled with civilians. https://t.co/vWtY0a9xtm
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 1, 2023
"This is a war crime," Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., tweeted of the attack. "This unspeakable violence must end. The U.S. government cannot keep funding these atrocities. There must be a #CeasefireNOW."
This is a war crime.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) November 1, 2023
This unspeakable violence must end. The U.S. government cannot keep funding these atrocities.
There must be a #CeasefireNOW https://t.co/LLKUWybYfq
"Make no mistake: these human rights abuses are being carried out with U.S. weapons, U.S. funding, and with 'no red lines,'" added Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. "And now we are set to vote on an additional $14 billion with no restrictions or conditions. The United States Congress should not fund violations of U.S. and international law."
Make no mistake: these human rights abuses are being carried out with U.S. weapons, U.S. funding, and with “no red lines.” And now we are set to vote on an additional $14 billion with no restrictions or conditions. The United States Congress should not fund violations of U.S. and… https://t.co/fBy2NcxFvQ
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 1, 2023
The director of the New York office of the U.N.'s human rights agency declared his retirement in a sharply worded letter pertaining to the war this week, according to the New York Times, accusing the U.N. of abandoning its principles and international law while failing to stop Israel's bombardment of the territory, which he called a "genocide."
"I write at a moment of great anguish for the world, including for many of our colleagues," Craig Mokhiber, the former director and a human rights lawyer, wrote in the Oct. 28-dated letter. "Once again, we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes, and the Organization that we serve appears powerless to stop it.”
In the letter, which the U.N. confirmed was authentic, Mokhiber accused the U.S. and UK governments and much of Europe of being "complicit," describing Israel's offensive in Gaza and the West Bank — which has killed at least 8,500 Palestinians, including more than 3,500 children since Oct. 7 per the Gaza Ministry of Health, and damaged medical facilities, mosques, schools and residences — as "a textbook case of genocide."
He addressed the letter to Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, who has called for an immediate ceasefire and criticized Israel for blockading Gaza and deploying airstrikes on the territory. Mokhiber, who has spent four decades investigating Palestinian human rights violations and genocides against the Tutsis, Bosnian Muslims, the Yazidi and the Rohingya for the U.N., further accused key parts of the organization of having "surrendered" to pressure from the U.S., the body's top donor, and for fearing the "Israel Lobby."
In response to the letter, the spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights agency, Laura Gelbert Delgado, said on Tuesday, "These are the personal views of a staff member who retires today. The position of the Office is reflected in its public reporting and statements.”
The Carter Center, founded by Jimmy Carter, the only U.S. president to call Israel's policies in Palestine apartheid, and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, on Tuesday echoed international calls for a ceasefire in Gaza as the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7 reached 8,525, per Common Dreams.
The organization, which was established to champion and fight for human rights globally, quoted the humanitarian and Democratic politician in its statement: "We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children."
"We urge all parties to agree to a ceasefire," the Carter Center added. "We ask for the opening of humanitarian corridors into Gaza and the reinstatement of essential services to the area. We urge the immediate, safe return of all hostages, and we call on both sides to abide by international law."
In his Nobel lecture, President Carter said, “We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” His words resonate today more than ever as the Israel-Hamas conflict enters a new and even more dangerous phase.
— The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) October 31, 2023
Full statement: https://t.co/owJytTRfg4
The Center's call for the ceasefire came as a U.N. official cautioned that Gaza has devolved into a "graveyard" for children since Israel instituted the blockade, which cut access to fuel, electricity, water and food, and began its offensive attacks.
"Hamas is responsible for the horrific October 7 massacre of more than 1,400 innocent people in Israel and the taking of more than 200 hostages," the Carter Center said. "And the innocent people of Gaza are now unfairly suffering from the ongoing conflict and the acute humanitarian crisis that has unfolded."
"Collective punishment is contrary to international law," the organization continued. "So is the murder of civilians."
Hamas on Saturday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to an exchange of the Israeli civilians the group took hostage when it launched its surprise attack and the Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. Family members of some of the Israeli hostages have echoed that call.
Netanyahu, however — boosted by the Biden administration and U.S. politicians, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — has rebuffed calls for a ceasefire, which UNICEF said on Tuesday could save the lives of 1,000 children in Gaza in just 72 hours.
"The violence must stop now," the Carter Center said. "There is no military solution to this crisis, only a political one that acknowledges the common humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians, respects the human rights of all, and creates a path for both societies to live side by side in peace."
Since the start of the conflict, the U.N. has received widespread criticism from both Israel and Palestinians for what has been described as an inadequate response to the war, whether that be for not being clear enough about Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas or for not being able to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza while the death toll mounts and thousands are displaced.
The U.S. government's stance on the conflict and steadfast support of Israel has also garnered mounting national pushback as more Americans call for a ceasefire in the region.
A majority of Americans, both Democrat and Republican, believe the U.S. government should push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, according to a Data for Progress poll conducted between Oct. 18 and 19 finding that 66 percent support that move.
While Democrats were the most in favor at 80 percent, the majority of Republicans and independents also supported a ceasefire at 56 percent and 57 percent, respectively.
MSNBC host Chris Hayes noted Tuesday that, despite the results of the poll showing that overwhelming public support for the move, “calling for a ceasefire is still a distinctly minority opinion inside Congress as a whole.”
“There’s only 18 members of Congress that have signed on to a resolution calling for a ceasefire. All of them are Democrats,” Hayes said, according to Mediaite, adding, “It does seem at least more popular with the American public than members of Congress.”
