On 31.10 the IDF targeted a Hamas military compound in Jabalya (a high-story building and a linked network of offensive underground tunnels) where Hamas personnel, weapons and combat infrastructure were located. Also senior Ibrahim Bihari, responsible for past terrorist attacks on Israelis and the large-scale massacre of Israeli civilians on 7th October 2023. The IDF thus deemed the building and associated tunnels a legitimate military target under the laws of armed conflict.

Many media platforms, including the BBC, reported that dozens of Palestinians had been killed and 100’s wounded by the Israeli attack. This was based on a statement from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry and the hospital in Beit-Lahiya that hundreds of / 52 Palestinians had been killed, with no breakdown.

So far we know that the Israeli air force launched a series of precision strikes on the Hamas military targets in Jabalya, killing about 50 Hamas terrorists, including senior commander Bihari, and destroying much of the offensive tunnel infrastructure. IDF ground forces also entered Jabalya to support these efforts.

Jabalya witnesses reported that secondary damage to residential buildings above the tunnels caused casualties among civilians who had not followed – or had been prevented by Hamas from following – repeated IDF instructions (in Arabic) to evacuate the area.

Ynet and Times of Israel reported on 2.11 that IDF soldiers witnessed Hamas sending out around 100 women and children as human shields to protect the Hamas military compound. Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions forbids use of human shields. The use of human shields is also a specific intent war crime as codified in the Rome Statute, which was adopted in 1998.

More than 240 Israeli civilian hostages are still held captive in the Gaza Strip. Since the beginning of the war 333 Israeli soldiers have been killed (correct as of noon on 2nd November), 23 in northern Gaza alone.