The Israeli military says it has captured a key Hamas military stronghold at northern Gaza Tuesday on the second day of a ground offensive that has seen thousands of troops along with tanks and other armored equipment push into the strip since the weekend.

“The stronghold was used for training and execution of terrorism activities,” the IDF said. “During the ground activity, the troops eliminated approximately 50 terrorists, as well as destroyed entrances to terrorist tunnels and weapons.”

Military officials said the stronghold about three miles north of Gaza City was a training ground for Hamas’ Jabaliya battalion and served as a staging ground for the October 7 attacks on southern Israel. Squads on the ground are said to have located firing ranges and a network of tunnels underneath the ground, as well as caches of weapons. Two Israeli soldiers are reported to have died during the operation.

In addition to some 50 terrorists killed, the IDF says the commander of Hamas’ Jabaliya battalion, Ebrahim Biari, was also killed. He is described as one of the architects of the October 7 massacre, as well as several other attacks on Israel during the past two decades.

Biari was killed in a strike near the Jabaliya refugee camp where he was, one Israeli officer told CNN, “hiding, as they do, behind civilians.” He said the Israeli forces are doing everything they can to minimize civilian deaths, but they are often part of what he called “the tragedy of war.” Hamas officials said dozens are dead following the strike and hundreds more wounded.

An IDF spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, told Israeli press outlets that fighting in the Gaza strip is becoming more complex as troops operate deeper into the Hamas-run territory. “This is complex hand-to-hand combat. In the fierce battles that took place today, we lost troops,” he says.

In an indication that the bombing of the camp is quickly shaping up as a bludgeon for the Western press to use against Israel, many American outlets seized on the refugee camp assault as evidence that Israel is ignoring its pledge to minimize civilian casualties as it carries out its campaign. In a testy exchange on CNN Tuesday, anchor Wolf Blitzer repeatedly attacked an IDF spokesman over the army’s rationale for the attack.

“Even if that Hamas commander was there amidst all those Palestinian refugees who are in that Jabaliya refugee camp, Israel still went ahead and dropped a bomb there,” Mr. Blitzer said in the segment, “knowing that a lot of innocent civilians, men, women and children presumably would be killed? Is that what I am hearing?”

The IDF officer, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, responded by repeating that Israeli officials have been telling residents of north Gaza to move south for weeks for their own safety.

“But you know that there are a lot of refugees, a lot of innocent civilians — men women and children — in that refugee camp as well, right?” Mr. Blitzer repeated. “You knew there were civilians there, you knew there were refugees, all sorts of refugees, but you still decided to still drop a bomb on that refugee camp attempting to kill the Hamas commander?”