11:06 am ET, December 2, 2023
Dozens are feared dead following the demolition of a Gaza refugee camp building
From CNN’s Karim Khader, Abeer Salman, Mick Craver and Martin Coilando
(Fadi Alwhidi/Anadolu/Getty Images)
Dozens of people are feared dead in northern Gaza Jabalya Refugee Camp A multi-storey concrete building was destroyed on Saturday after an apparent strike.
The blast came after Israeli security forces warned people in the area to “evacuate immediately because it is dangerous for you to stay there.”
Anas al-Sharif, a freelance journalist there, said the building housed more than 100 displaced people from northern Gaza.
Images from the scene show the building leveled as Palestinian Red Crescent rescuers and locals tried to dig through the rubble – with one using a broken pan without a handle to shift the concrete dust.
Dozens of victims from the camp were transferred to a nearby Indonesian hospital, while “many more are being pulled out of the rubble,” Palestinian journalist Qader Janoun told CNN.
The IDF did not immediately respond to CNN’s questions about the bombing at the Jabalya refugee camp. It is the largest in Gaza.
The IDF urged residents of several northern Gaza neighborhoods to evacuate and move to the south of Wadi Gaza on Saturday. Warnings were posted in Arabic on social media, but it’s unclear if residents were able to get the messages because electricity, phone signals and internet access are often disrupted in Gaza.
Strikes rain down on Gaza: The Israeli military said on Saturday it had carried out more than 400 strikes in a single day since the ceasefire with Hamas broke down on Friday morning.
Fadel Naim, a doctor at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in northern Gaza, said on Saturday more than 150 injured people had arrived at the hospital from neighborhoods in the area, while at least 100 others were brought to the hospital.
Victims’ families there said their neighborhoods were hit by airstrikes.
