IDF leaves Jablia, over 100 Hamas fighters killed as 1,000 homes destroyed

May 31 (UPI) — Israel Defense Forces said Friday the military has pulled out of Gaza‘s Jabalia refugee camp.

The IDF said more than 100 Hamas fighters were killed and the bodies of seven hostages were retrieved in the 20-day operation.

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“Our forces also eliminated hundreds of terrorists in intense close-quarters combat and located hundreds of weapons, rocket launching compounds and launchers and over 10km of tunnels — all of which were neutralized,” the IDF said on X.

Jabalia civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said over 1,000 homes were destroyed in the fighting. Tens of thousands of civilians fled the area during Israel’s assault.

At least 36,224 Palestinians have been killed and 81,777 injured since Oct. 7, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

U.N. agency said about 18,500 pregnant Palestinian women have fled the city of Rafah’s “unrelenting nightmare.”

Israel’s military invaded Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed at least 1,139 while dozens of Israeli hostages taken in that attack are still held by Hamas.

According to the IDF, Hamas turned Jabalia into a fortified combat complex, firing at Israeli troops from schools and other locations where civilians were sheltering while using tunnel networks built under civilian buildings.

The IDF said two Israeli troops were killed in the Jabaliya operation bringing the total number of troops killed in Gaza to 294.

Hamas said Thursday it won’t negotiate in cease-fire talks “in light of [Israel’s] aggression, killing, siege, starvation and genocide of our people.”

A key aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the Gaza war could continue for the rest of the year.