LONDON: Veteran CNN journalist Wolf Blitzer confronted an Israeli Defense Forces official during an interview about the airstrike on a refugee camp in Gaza this week that left at least 50 people dead.
IDF officials insist the attack the Jabalia refugee camp on Tuesday was justified as the objective was to eliminate Hamas Commander Ibrahim Biari. But Blitzer pressed military spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht for more information about the decision to proceed with the strike, despite knowing that numerous civilians would be at risk.
“But even if that Hamas commander was there amidst all those Palestinian refugees … Israel still went ahead and dropped a bomb there, attempting to kill the 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 during the interview on Tuesday.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer: You knew that there were innocent civilians in that refugee camp, right?
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
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 31, 2023
Hecht repeated that the attack had targeted a Hamas commander and that efforts were made to minimize civilian losses.
“We, again, were focused on this commander, who you’ll get more data about who this man was — (he) killed, many, many Israelis,” he said.
“And we’re doing everything we can. It’s a very complicated battle space. There could be infrastructure there. There could be tunnels there.”
The loss of refugee lives is a “tragedy of war,” Hecht said, but he added that people in northern Gaza had been warned to relocate to the south of the territory.
According to the Gaza health ministry, the airstrike on the refugee camp killed at least 50 people and injured 150. Hecht said that “numerous Hamas terrorists were hit in the strike,” including Biari, the commander of Hamas’ Central Jabaliya Battalion. Israeli officials said he was one of the leaders responsible for sending members of the elite Nukbha special forces unit into Israel to carry out the murderous attacks on Oct. 7. CNN reported that Hamas denies Biari was at the site of the attack.
Many countries and organizations have denounced the strike on the camp, with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry describing it as an “inhumane targeting.”
