Israeli air strikes are pounding the Gaza Strip for a sixth consecutive day as fears of a humanitarian catastrophe within the besieged Palestinian enclave mount.
Israel on Thursday stated it has dropped 6,000 bombs weighing 4,000 tonnes on Gaza prior to now six days, killing greater than 1,400 folks.
Officers in Gaza stated the lifeless included 447 youngsters, 248 ladies and 10 healthcare staff. Greater than 150 folks had been killed on Thursday alone.
Total neighbourhoods in Gaza – residence to 2.3 million folks, half of them youngsters – have been destroyed by the incessant bombing, forcing 338,000 Palestinians to flee their properties and take shelter.
The demise toll within the occupied West Financial institution has additionally surged to 31 whereas greater than 600 folks have been injured, based on the Palestinian Ministry of Well being.
On the Israeli facet, at the very least 1,300 folks have been killed because the armed Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel and took at the very least 100 folks captive on Saturday.
Israel has imposed an entire siege of Gaza, slicing entry to meals, water, medicines and gasoline, as its forces put together for a attainable floor assault.
Here’s a recap of the newest developments:
Gazans rendered homeless by bombing
The United Nations humanitarian workplace stated Israeli bombardment of Gaza has levelled greater than 1,000 properties since Saturday whereas one other 560 housing models have been severely broken and rendered uninhabitable.
Greater than 12,600 properties have sustained harm as a consequence of Israeli air strikes, stated the company, referred to as the Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
It stated the discount in water provides as a consequence of Israel tightening its siege on the strip has resulted in dire water shortages for greater than 650,000 folks.
Sewage techniques have been destroyed, OCHA added, sending fetid wastewater into the streets and posing a well being hazard.
Israeli air strikes have made cemeteries in Gaza harmful to achieve so mourning households are burying their lifeless in casual graveyards dug in empty tons, studies stated.
Hospitals ‘threat turning into morgues’
Human rights teams stated Gaza’s well being system, already stretched to its limits by a 16-year blockade, is on the verge of full collapse. The enclave’s solely energy plant was pressured to close down on Wednesday after it ran out of gasoline.
The Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross (ICRC) stated Gaza’s hospitals “risk turning into morgues” as severely wounded civilians, together with infants, are rushed inside its crowded wards, the place beds and medical provides are operating out.
“As Gaza loses energy, hospitals lose energy, placing newborns in incubators and aged sufferers on oxygen in danger,” stated Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s regional director.
OCHA stated all 13 hospitals within the territory are solely partially operational as a consequence of extreme shortages of gasoline and essential medical provides.
Israel on Thursday stated there could be no humanitarian exceptions to its siege of Gaza till all its hostages are freed by Hamas.
“Humanitarian assist to Gaza? No electrical change can be lifted, no water hydrant can be opened and no gasoline truck will enter till the Israeli hostages are returned residence,” Israeli Vitality Minister Israel Katz stated in a social media publish.
Egypt says facilitating assist flights to Gaza
Egypt on Thursday stated it was directing worldwide assist flights for Gaza to an airport in northern Sinai though Israeli bombardments alongside the border have to this point hampered the supply of the aid.
The Rafah border crossing between the Sinai and Gaza remained open, the Egyptian Ministry of International Affairs stated, including that Egypt requested Israel to keep away from concentrating on the Palestinian facet of the crossing after strikes prevented regular operations there.
Israel’s bombing and complete siege on Gaza has triggered alarm in Egypt, which shares a border with the south of the slender coastal enclave.
El Arish airport in northern Sinai, about 45km (28 miles) from the Gaza border, was ready to obtain assist deliveries from Qatar and Jordan, however these wouldn’t depart the airport till humanitarian corridors had been established, Egyptian safety sources informed the Reuters information company.
![Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on October 12, 2023 as raging battles between Israel and the Hamas movement continue for the sixth consecutive day. - Thousands of people, both Israeli and Palestinians have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip, entered southern Israel in a surprise attack leading Israel to declare war on Hamas in Gaza on October 8. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/33Y42TY-highres-1697113662.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513)
US secretary of state in Israel
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Thursday as President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to send a message of unequivocal assist to its ally Israel and deter regional forces hostile to it from becoming a member of the combat alongside Hamas.
Blinken addressed reporters in Tel Aviv, saying the demise toll for US residents killed within the assaults by Hamas has risen to at the very least 25, up from 22 on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated: “Thanks, America, for standing with Israel immediately, tomorrow and all the time.”
Additionally on Thursday, US Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin stated he anticipated Israel’s army to “do the proper factor” because it prepares for a floor assault on Gaza. He stated the US has positioned no situations on army help to Israel.
Rights teams fear that, going through little exterior stress, Israel’s assault on Gaza may transfer ahead with little regard for civilian casualties or adherence to worldwide regulation.
Palestinians killed by settlers in West Financial institution
Whereas the world’s focus has been fastened on occasions in Gaza and Israel, tensions within the occupied West Financial institution are additionally at a boiling level with an Israeli lockdown in place and Israeli settlers killing a number of Palestinians in a sequence of assaults over the previous week.
On Thursday, a Palestinian father and his son had been shot dead by Israeli settlers and troopers participating in a funeral procession held for 4 Palestinians killed in a settler assault the day earlier than.
Additionally on Thursday, two Palestinians had been injured by Israeli forces in a capturing close to a police station in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli police stated they opened fireplace at a bunch of Palestinians after one man allegedly shot on the police station.