As Israel on Tuesday intensified its aerial bombardments throughout the Gaza Strip, resulting in the devastation of residential buildings and the tragic loss of numerous Palestinian lives, UN officials warned that its relief operations in Gaza could soon be stopped if fuel is not allowed in.
Health authorities reported that hundreds of Palestinians lost their lives in the past day, and medical facilities were forced to close due to structural damage from bombings and power shortages.
Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction. Israel, for its part, has vowed repeatedly since the massacre to crush Hamas, says AP. The massive air bombardment continued through the night as Israeli jets hit sites across Gaza, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said. Hamas on Monday released two elderly Israeli women who were part of the approximately 220 individuals, as claimed by Israel, who were held hostage during the October 7 attack and taken into Gaza.
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The airstrikes in Gaza have increased, so has the death toll - 10 Points
1. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says its relief operations across the Gaza Strip will need to be sharply curtailed amid crippling Israeli airstrikes. This comes amid surging death toll resulting from the ongoing bombardment by Israel. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, has warned that it would severely curtail its operations in Gaza Strip on Wednesday night because of a lack of fuel.
2. Gaza's population of 2.3 million has been facing severe shortages of food, water, and medicine ever since Israel imposed a blockade on the territory following the destructive attack by Hamas on southern Israeli towns on October 7.
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3. The Gaza Health Ministry, under Hamas control, reported that Israeli airstrikes resulted in the deaths of at least 704 individuals over the past day, with a majority being women and children. With the escalating death toll in Gaza and diminishing fuel supplies, the capacity of facilities to handle casualties is diminishing. The World Health Organization has indicated that over half of primary healthcare facilities and approximately one in every three hospitals have ceased operations. Hospital staff, overwhelmed by a constant influx of wounded individuals, struggled to prioritize cases.
4. In Washington, John Kirby, the spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, informed reporters that the United States also could not confirm the death toll reported for that particular day. He reportedly said, “The Ministry of Health is run by Hamas, and I think that all needs to be factored into anything that they put out publicly.”
5. On Tuesday, Israel announced that it had conducted 400 airstrikes in the previous day. These strikes resulted in the deaths of Hamas commanders, targeted militants who were preparing to launch rockets into Israel, and struck command centers along with a Hamas tunnel shaft. Israel had reported 320 strikes on the day before.
6. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told the UN Security Council that the proportionate response to the October 7 attack is “a total destruction to the last one” of the militants. “It is not only Israel's right to destroy Hamas. It's our duty,” he said. The fighting has killed more than 1,400 people in Israel — mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack, according to the Israeli government.
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7. The Israeli military reported that it successfully foiled an attempt by a group of Hamas underwater divers who sought to infiltrate Israel from a beach just north of Gaza. They were confronted by air, naval, and ground forces. Israel maintained that it does not target civilians and asserts that Hamas militants are using them as human shields for their attacks. According to Israel, Palestinian militants have launched over 7,000 rockets at Israel since the conflict began, and Hamas announced that it fired another round of rockets on Tuesday.
8. Across central and south Gaza, where Israel told civilians to take shelter, there were multiple scenes of rescuers pulling the dead and wounded out of large piles of rubble from collapsed buildings. Graphic photos and video shot by the AP showed rescuers unearthing bodies of children from multiple ruins.
9. Buildings that collapsed on residents killed dozens at a time in several cases, witnesses said. Two families lost a total 47 members in a levelled home in Rafah, the Health Ministry said. The Health Ministry says more than 5,700 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including some 2,300 minors. The figure includes the disputed toll from an explosion at a hospital last week. The Health Ministry said many wounded are laid on the ground without even simple medical intervention and others wait for days for surgeries because there are so many critical cases.
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10. While Israel has allowed a small number of trucks filled with aid to enter, it has barred deliveries of fuel to Gaza to keep it out of Hamas' hands. The UN said its operation distributing aid will halt Wednesday evening if it does not receive fuel.
