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13-10-2023
JERUSALEM/ GAZA: Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz vowed Thursday his country would not allow basic resources or humanitarian aid into Gaza until Hamas released the people it abducted during its surprise weekend onslaught.
“Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electric switch will be turned on, no water tap will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home,” he said in a statement.
Around 150 Israelis, foreigners and dual nationals were abducted to the Gaza Strip by Hamas militants as part of the Saturday attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israeli towns and communities around the enclave.
Israel has in turn launched a withering air campaign against Hamas militants in the blockaded Gaza Strip, killing around 1,200 people.
In recent days Israel announced a “complete siege” on Gaza, cutting off water, fuel and electricity supplies. The Palestinian territory’s sole power plant shut down on Wednesday after running out of fuel.
A barrage of Israeli rockets raided down on the Gaza Strip for the sixth consecutive day of violence, wiping out entire neighborhoods and killing dozens of Gazans, Al Arabiya reported on Thursday.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, the Israeli army announced it had launched “a large-scale strike” on the besieged city in an attempt to back militant group Hamas into a corner following an unprecedented incursion by the group on Saturday.
At least 22 people were killed in the overnight Israeli raids on Gaza, Al Arabiya reported, citing local media.
Israeli air strikes on a house in the city of Jabalia, north of Gaza have killed at least 15 people on Thursday morning, according to Al Arabiya.
The Israeli navy also launched bombs on the Palestinian refugee camp al-Shati, or Beach camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Al Arabiya reported.
The Palestinian health ministry had announced on Thursday that the death toll in its territories has risen to more than 1,354, with over 6,049 injuries. At least 1,200 Israelis have died and more than 2,700 people were injured, the Israeli military said.
About 340,000 people in Gaza were left with nowhere no to go as a result of Israel’s continuous bombardment of the city, according to the United Nations.
“Mass displacement across the Gaza Strip continues,” the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement sent on Thursday.
Israel enforced a “complete siege” of the Palestinian territory, preventing food and fuel from reaching the impoverished city.
The densely populated enclave is home to 2.3 million people, most of whom are children. About 80 percent of Gazans had been living in poverty before the latest Israeli violence. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
