The Israeli Air Strikes on Tuesday: A Keystone for Hamas–run Operations in Gaza and the Impact on Refugees and Gazans

Videos verified by The New York Times captured the aftermath of an airstrike on Wednesday in the Falluja neighborhood of Jabaliya approximately half a mile from the site of Tuesday’s strike. The destruction shown is of similar magnitude, with several large buildings completely flattened. Rescue workers and residents are digging through the rubble and carrying the injured and dead, including children.

The devastated neighborhood was hit again on Wednesday, the same day local officials said dozens were killed and hundreds were wounded in the Tuesday attack. A number of people have been killed and wounded in a new Israeli strike.

Ms. Hammad’s last WhatsApp messages to her cousin Ahmed, 31, who had told her he was hosting dozens of people in a four-bedroom apartment, went unread.

A teacher and writer in Brooklyn, Sousanhammad said she had been trying to contact her family inJabaliya. She was able to communicate with her father’s side of the family while she was in the United States, because she had grown up in Gaza.

Mr. Hammash, who is now taking shelter in southern Gaza, said continuing communications outages were adding exponentially to the anguish of living amid deprivation and death.

“This is getting more insane every day,” Yousef Hammash, an employee of the Norwegian Refugee Council who was born in the Jabaliya neighborhood hit by the airstrike, said Wednesday.

Sometimes, phones rang and rang unanswered. Other times, callers were greeted with a somber recorded message: “Contact with the beloved Gaza Strip was lost as a result of the ongoing aggression,” a voice said. “May God protect Gaza and its people.”

Israel’s “expanded” ground operations kicked off over the weekend after a major communications failure in Gaza.

The internet and phone service in Gaza went down again Wednesday and there was activity at the border. The outage was attributed to the international routes that were previously reconnected being disconnected again.

59 trucks of aid entered Gaza on Tuesday, the largest group of trucks entering in one day. Israel is blocking the delivery of fuel. Dozens of additional trucks were expected to enter Gaza Wednesday.

The Hamas-run border crossing authority announced early Wednesday that the Rafah border would be open for some foreign passport holders to exit Gaza. Nearly 500 foreigners, most of them citizens of eight countries, were listed in a list published by the authority. It is possible the list of 489 foreign nationals is not comprehensive and more people will be added.

Many of the people gathered at the Palestinian side of the border were carrying suitcases and cartloads of goods, with some of them carrying donkeys.

On the other side of the Rafah crossing from Gaza into Egypt stood ambulances, waiting to evacuate critically injured people from the besieged territory, where Israeli airstrikes have killed thousands.

Hundreds of Americans and other foreign passport holders were poised to leave the Gaza Strip on Thursday, following the first major departure of civilians during the war between Israel and Hamas.

The State Department has been in contact with around 400 Americans who have expressed a desire to leave, department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Wednesday. With their family members, the total number is around 1,000, Miller said.

Israel needs a “humanitarian pause” in the “second phase” of the war: The White House and a voice for the Palestinians

At least 17 Israeli soldiers have died since Israel’s ground troops entered Gaza in what officials have called the “second phase” of the war. In total, 332 Israeli soldiers have died in the conflict so far, most of them on Oct. 7.

Human rights groups, international leaders and left-leaning members of the Democratic party are all calling for a cease-fire. The White House, once steadfast in its support of Israel’s opposition to a cease-fire, has shown support in recent days for what officials have called a “humanitarian pause.”

“I think we need a pause,” he said, speaking to a crowd of supporters after giving a campaign speech. A brief cessation of military operations could “give time to get the prisoners out,” he added, which the White House later clarified to refer to hostages held by Hamas.