Gaza border opened to allow some badly wounded, and foreign passport holders, flee the war

Hundreds of dual passport holders and dozens of seriously injured Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza on Wednesday after more than three weeks under siege, while Israeli airstrikes destroyed apartments in a densely populated area for the second straight day.

Hundreds of dual passport holders and dozens of seriously injured Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza on Wednesday after more than three weeks under siege, while Israeli airstrikes destroyed apartments in a densely populated area for the second straight day.

The group were the first people to leave Gaza -- other than four hostages released by Hamas and another rescued by Israeli forces -- even as bombings have driven hundreds of thousands from their homes, and food, water and fuel run low. It remained unclear whether more people would be allowed to leave Gaza in coming days.

The latest strikes in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City demolished multi-story apartment buildings, and dozens of men afterward dug through the rubble, searching for survivors, according to footage from Al-Jazeera television, one of the few media outlets still reporting from northern Gaza. It showed several wounded people, including children, being brought to a nearby hospital.

The Hamas-run government said the strikes killed and wounded many people, but the exact toll was not yet known.

The toll was also unknown from Tuesday's strikes on buildings in the same camp, though the director of a nearby hospital said hundreds were killed or wounded. Israel said those strikes destroyed military tunnels beneath the buildings and killed dozens of Hamas fighters, including a senior commander involved in the militants' bloody Oct. 7 rampage that ignited the war.

In a sign of increasing alarm over the war among Arab countries, Jordan on Wednesday recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel's ambassador to remain out of the country. Jordan, a key U.S. ally, signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994.

Jordan's deputy prime minister, Ayman al-Safadi, said the return of the ambassadors is linked to Israel "stopping its war on Gaza and the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing." He warned that the conflict could spread and threaten "the security of the entire region."