Evacuation of foreign nationals from the Gaza Strip

(Patria) - More foreign nationals were preparing to leave the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday, and the enclave's Hamas-run government said at least 195 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp, attacks that United Nations human rights officials said could be war crimes, Reuters reported.

At least 320 foreign nationals from an initial list of 500, as well as dozens of severely injured Gaza residents, crossed into Egypt on Wednesday under an agreement between Israel, Egypt, and Hamas.

Evacuees included passport holders from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Officials in Gaza said the border crossing would reopen on Thursday to allow more foreigners to leave. A diplomatic source said about 7,500 foreign passport holders would leave Gaza over approximately two weeks.

Loud explosions were heard in the early morning hours of Thursday around Al-Quds Hospital in the densely populated Gaza City, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported. Israeli authorities had previously warned the hospital to evacuate immediately, and UN officials said it was impossible to do so without endangering patients.

Israel said its strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday killed two Hamas military leaders in Al-Jabalya, Gaza's largest refugee camp. Israel said the group had command centers and other “terrorist infrastructure below, around and inside civilian buildings, deliberately endangering Gaza civilians”.

The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said on Thursday that at least 195 Palestinians were killed in two Israeli attacks on Jabalya, with 120 still unaccounted for under the rubble. At least 777 more were wounded, the statement said. Palestinians searched the rubble on Wednesday in a desperate attempt to find trapped victims.

UN human rights officials said the strikes on the camp could be war crimes.

“Given the large number of civilian casualties and the scale of destruction following Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalia refugee camp, we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights wrote on X.