Is Israel going to completely wipe out Gaza? From Juan Cole at juancole.com:
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In one of the biggest massacres it has so far committed, the Israeli Air Force on Tuesday bombed the Jabaliyaa refugee camp in Gaza, killing or wounding at least 400 persons and destroying the Block Six residential complex, felling 20 buildings. More victims are believed to be under the rubble.
An Israeli military spokesman said that the strike was directed at Hamas leader Ibrahim Biari, a mastermind of the October 7 attack on Israel. Although Israeli authorities proclaimed that they had succeeded in killing Biari, Hamas announced that he was still very much alive.
It should be noted that the Palestinians, now dead or wounded, living in Jabaliyaa are refugees because Zionist forces ethnically cleansed them from what is now southern Israel in 1948 and expelled them as refugees to Gaza. Some 70% of the families in Gaza are such refugees. Israeli state concerns for the security of towns in southern Israel is concern to protect squatter-settlements where these Palestinians used to live.
Killing and wounding 400 noncombatants and destroying 20 residential buildings to get at one target, even if the target is a wanted terrorist, is strictly forbidden under the post-World War II laws of war and International Humanitarian law. These laws are codified in the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute that underpins the International Criminal Court.
