UN rights office says Israeli attacks on Jabalia could be ‘war crime’

The United Nations human rights office has said the Israeli air attack on Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp could amount to a war crime, amid growing horror at the rising number of civilians killed in the nearly month-long war.

The United Nations human rights office has said the Israeli air attack on Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp could amount to a war crime, amid growing horror at the rising number of civilians killed in the nearly month-long war.

The camp, in a densely-populated part of Gaza City, was hit by a missile on Tuesday, leaving a giant crater amid bombed-out buildings before it was then targeted in a second bombing on Wednesday.

The Gaza Government Media Office said at least 195 people had been confirmed dead with more than 100 thought to be missing beneath the rubble. Some 777 people were injured in the attacks, it added.

Israel said the attack targeted a Hamas commander.

“Given the high number of civilian casualties [and] the scale of destruction following Israeli air strikes on Jabalia refugee camp, we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes,” the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights wrote on X.

The comments follow a wave of condemnation from the United Nations, where officials expressed shock and horror at the attacks on Jabalia, Gaza’s largest refugee camp.