The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell says he was "appalled" by the high number of casualties from the bombing by Israel of a refugee camp in Gaza and called for fighting parties to respect the international rules of conflict.

Palestinian health officials said at least 50 Palestinians were killed when Israeli air strikes hit the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza on Tuesday. Israel said the strike had killed a ringleader of last month's deadly Hamas attack on the country.

"Building on (the) EU Council's clear stance that Israel has the right to defend itself in line with international humanitarian law and ensuring the protection of all civilians, I am appalled by the high number of casualties following the bombing by Israel of the Jabalia refugee camp," Borrell said in a statement on X. "Laws of war and humanity must always apply, including when it comes to humanitarian assistance."

EU leaders last week called for pauses in Israeli bombing and Hamas rocket attacks to get humanitarian aid into Gaza through safe corridors, as they said they were deeply concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the area.

UN and other aid officials said civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave were facing a public health catastrophe, with hospitals struggling to treat snowballing casualties as electricity supplies peter out.

"With each passing day, as the situation becomes more and more dire, this is more urgent than ever," Borrell said as he repeated last week's plea. "The safety and the protection of civilians is not only a moral but a legal obligation."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the international calls for a "humanitarian pause" in the fighting, saying that Hamas would take advantage of any truce

First foreign nationals reach Egypt

Meanwhile, the first group of foreign passport holders have been evacuated from the Gaza strip and have reached the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, two sources at the border and local media said on Wednesday.

The Rafah crossing opened to allow a limited number of people to cross from Gaza into Egypt. It is expected that foreign nationals, dual-passport holders and some of the most seriously injured will be allowed through by Egyptian authorities, in a deal said to be brokered by Qatar.

Parents with strollers and elderly people were seen among those getting off a bus on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing in footage broadcast by an Egyptian TV channel close to the intelligence services. 

A spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said there are several thousand foreigners in the Gaza Strip but that they will not all be able to leave in one day. Germany has informed its citizens in Gaza about the possibility of leaving the enclave via the Rafah border crossing.

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Italy is working to get the first Italian citizens out of the region, the Italian foreign minister said on Wednesday. "This morning the Rafah crossing was opened and the first people started to be evacuated. We are working so that the first Italians can also leave the Gaza Strip," Antonio Tajani wrote on X.

'A ceasefire and peace have become more essential'

Turkey and Iran on Wednesday called for a regional conference aimed at averting the spread of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian a day after Iran's top diplomat met Hamas leaders in Qatar.

Iran has warned that armed groups it supports in the region could attack Israel in light of its conflict with Hamas. Fidan said Turkey was pushing for an immediate ceasefire because "it is not difficult to predict that this spiral of violence will grow" without a permanent solution to the escalation.

"We do not want the human tragedy in Gaza to turn into a war that affects the region's countries," he said. The Iranian foreign minister "shared with us that there are strong indications that other armed elements in the region may intervene in the conflict if conditions do not change", Fidan added. "A ceasefire and peace have become more essential."

Amir-Abdollahian said a peace conference involving "Muslim and Arab" countries should be held "as soon as possible". He also called on the Muslim world to boycott Israeli products because of the war.

Israel has been pounding the Gaza Strip since Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on October 7 and, killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli officials. The bombing campaign has killed more than 8,796 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

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