GAZA: Injured residents and foreigners escaped Gaza to Egypt Wednesday, the first evacuations from the war-torn Palestinian territory pounded by Zionist warplanes in retaliation for an unprecedented Hamas attack. The brief glimmer of hope sparked by the temporary opening of the Rafah border crossing was quickly snuffed out as a fresh strike pulverized buildings in Gaza’s biggest refugee camp for a second consecutive day, killing dozens according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “continue until victory” over Hamas, whose Oct 7 attack sparked the latest conflict, the deadliest in decades of unrest between the two sides. AFP reporters at Gaza’s southern border saw ambulances whisking away the wounded to Egyptian field hospitals, including one young boy with heavy bandaging around his stomach. Whole families, struggling to carry their worldly possessions, rushed through the heavily fortified crossing towards Egypt.

An Egyptian official said 76 wounded and 335 with foreign passports entered Egypt from Gaza. The Egyptian authorities had said they would allow 90 wounded Palestinians and around 545 foreigners and dual nationals to cross on Wednesday.

Jordanian citizen Umm Saleh Hussein said she received word in the middle of the night that she was on the list for evacuation. “We’ve faced many problems in Gaza, the least of which were the shortage of water and the power outage,” she told AFP. “There were bigger problems such as the bombardment. We were afraid. Many families were martyred.”

A first group of mostly women and children arrived in Egypt, an official told AFP on condition of anonymity, as TV images showed parents with pushchairs and elderly people clambering off a bus. “It’s enough. We’ve endured enough humiliation,” said Gaza resident Rafik Al-Hilou, accompanying relatives including children aged one and four hoping to cross into Egypt. “We lack the most basic human needs. No Internet, no phones, no means of communication, not even water. For the past four days, we haven’t been able to feed this child a piece of bread. What are you waiting for?”

The Jabalia camp suffered a second strike in as many days Wednesday, with AFPTV images showing major damage and rescuers clawing through rubble to extract blood-stained casualties. Dozens were killed and wounded, according to the Gaza health ministry, which came a day after Zionist jets hit the camp, killing at least 47 people, according to an AFP count. Rescuers said “whole families” had died.

UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the Zionist entity’s strikes on the Gaza refugee camp. “The secretary-general is appalled over the escalating violence in Gaza, including the killing of Palestinians, including women and children in (Zionist) air strikes in residential areas of the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

“This is just the latest atrocity to befall the people of Gaza where the fighting has entered an even more terrifying phase, with increasingly dreadful humanitarian consequences,” said Martin Griffiths, UN humanitarian chief. The Zionist entity said Tuesday’s raid was a successful hit on top Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari, but the large death toll drew a chorus of international condemnation.

Hamas said seven hostages, including three foreign passport holders, had died in Tuesday’s bombing. The group’s leader Ismail Haniya accused the Zionist entity of committing “barbaric massacres against unarmed civilians”, saying it was covering its own “defeats”. AFP reporters saw more tanks pour over the border into northern Gaza, as the Zionist entity stepped up its ground incursion launched late last week. Its bombing campaign has killed 8,796 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.

The Zionist entity said 15 soldiers died in ground fighting in Gaza on Tuesday, taking to 330 the number of troops killed since Oct 7. The situation in Gaza remained desperate, with food, fuel and medicine for the 2.4 million residents all running short, according to aid groups. Palestinian residents told AFP they had evacuated from northern Gaza, as demanded by the Zionist entity, but were still under threat.

“We’ve been told people are evacuating from Gaza City towards the central area of the Strip beyond the valley, so we headed there,” Amen Al-Aqluk told AFP. “After 20 days, we were bombarded. Three of our kids lost their lives and we all got injured. There is no hope in the Gaza Strip. It is not safe anymore here. When the border opens, everybody will leave and emigrate. We encounter death every day, 24 hours a day.”

With fears mounting the violence could spiral into a regional war, US President Joe Biden called for “urgent mechanisms” to dial down tensions and said top diplomat Antony Blinken would embark on another Middle East tour from Friday. Turkey and Iran called for a regional conference to prevent a conflagration, as the Zionist entity faces a daily barrage of aerial attacks from Hamas and other Iran-backed groups around the Middle East, including Yemen’s Houthi rebels. In the north, the Zionist entity has traded near-daily fire with Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. – AFP