GAZA, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- At least 400 Palestinians, either killed or wounded, on Tuesday after Israeli warplanes hit the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
Ministry spokesperson Iyad al-Bozzom said in a press statement sent to Xinhua that "Israeli warplanes bombed a residential neighborhood in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip with seven bombs, each carrying a thousand tons of explosives."
"The Israeli bombing destroyed the entire residential neighborhood," al-Bozzom added. Earlier in the day, the Israeli forces entered northern Gaza and were stationed in the Al-Tawam area and Al-Karama neighborhood in the Palestinian enclave, according to the ministry.
"The Israeli army deepened its ground operations into several areas of the Gaza Strip amid severe air attacks," al-Bozzom noted, accusing the Israeli forces of indiscriminately targeting all citizens' homes.
He added that some Israeli army vehicles were advancing towards al-Rasheed Street, likely in a move to cut off Gaza City and the north from the south.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that its army had "fierce battles" against Hamas "deep in the Gaza Strip."
The IDF noted that, during the past day, Israeli troops attacked hundreds of military targets of Hamas, including anti-tank missile and rocket launching posts below shafts and military compounds inside underground tunnels, and killed "numerous" Hamas militants.
Yaron Finkelman, head of the IDF Southern Command, issued the attack order, telling the Israeli troops entering Gaza that "everyone is looking at us now ... you are the generation of victory," according to an IDF post on the social media platform X.
Israel launched massive strikes on Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas surprise attack on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel. ■
