The Wall Street Journal revealed in an investigative report published on Friday that Israel launched an air strike last October 31 on the Jabalia camp, “aiming to kill Ibrahim al-Biyari, the leader of the Hamas battalion in the camp, who Israeli intelligence believed was directing the battles against the forces” which claimed the lives of dozens of innocent Palestinians in the camp,” according to what the Israeli army told the newspaper.

The newspaper says, "But targeting Al-Biyari was not without a price, as the attack resulted in the killing of at least 126 people, who were left under the rubble of destroyed buildings, in one of the attacks that was considered one of the bloodiest in the Gaza war, according to the "Air-Wars" organization. “It is a non-profit organization associated with the University of London that investigates the killing of civilian victims in conflict zones.”

The newspaper report describes how “the alley-like streets and closely packed buildings in the Block 6 neighborhood of the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza were filled with people on the afternoon of October 31. Some stood in a long line in front of the local bakery, while others were crammed more tightly than usual into small apartments.”

At approximately 3:30 p.m., Israeli warplanes dropped several large bombs in a tight pattern on the neighborhood. Satellite images showed that the explosions completely destroyed a rectangular block, leaving deep craters where more than a dozen buildings had stood. The strike killed Ibrahim Al-Biyari, the Hamas battalion commander in Jabalia, who Israeli intelligence believed was directing a nearby battle, and dozens of other operatives, according to the Israeli military.

The newspaper explains, “The decision to bomb a crowded urban neighborhood in the middle of the afternoon to kill an enemy commander was a signal early in the war that Israel was willing to use overwhelming force against the Hamas leadership, even if it meant risking large numbers of civilian casualties.

The newspaper notes that in the days and weeks that followed, Israeli forces penetrated deeper into Gaza, seeking to dismantle Hamas in response to the armed group’s surprise attack on October 7, which left more than 1,200 people dead in Israel. The Israeli attack has taken a heavy toll, with an estimated 21,000 people killed, according to Palestinian health officials, drawing condemnation from human rights groups and other countries. The Biden administration, a staunch ally of Israel, has repeatedly informed the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that its military operation is causing too many civilian casualties.

Based on an investigation conducted by the newspaper, based on interviews with survivors and senior officers in the Israeli army, the air strike in Jabalia shows that Israeli military planners made “a series of miscalculations based on insufficient information” that led to much greater destruction and loss of life than they expected.

The newspaper reached “three important results,” as it described it:

1- Israel decided not to warn civilians in the area of an imminent air strike by sending phone messages for fear of giving the militants time to evacuate the area.

2- The Israeli army used at least two of the largest bombs in its arsenal instead of smaller munitions.

3- Air Force commanders tried to limit collateral damage by directing bombs between buildings, using fuses to delay detonation so they could penetrate roofs, destroy tunnels and topple buildings standing above them.

The Israeli occupation army confirmed in a statement to the newspaper that it “adheres to international law, directs its strikes at military targets and invests significant resources to reduce harm to civilians,” which is refuted by the newspaper’s report.

In a written statement, the occupying army said that it "is committed to international law, directs its strikes at military targets and invests significant resources to reduce harm to civilians." The statement added that the army "does not launch attacks except when the expected harm to civilians is not excessive compared to the expected military advantage, based on the information available before the attack."

The newspaper quotes an occupation army official as saying that the "fog of war" prevents knowing the details.

The war is approaching its third month, as Israeli tanks advanced deep into a town in the central Gaza Strip, Thursday, after days of relentless bombardment that forced tens of thousands of already displaced Palestinian families to flee in a new wave of mass exodus, according to Reuters.

Israeli forces bombed the area surrounding a hospital in the heart of Khan Yunis, the main city in the southern Gaza Strip, where residents fear a new ground incursion into the lands crowded with families who were displaced during the war that has been going on for 12 weeks.

The Palestinian health authorities said earlier that 210 Palestinians were confirmed killed as a result of Israeli attacks during the past 24 hours, bringing the war death toll to 21,320 people, or approximately one percent of the population of the Strip. It is feared that there are thousands more dead under the rubble.