Israel on Thursday launched new attacks on Gaza, vowing there would be no letup in its bombardment of the Hamas-controlled territory until the militants release the estimated 150 hostages they are holding.
“Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be lifted, no water hydrant will be opened, and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home,” Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Humanitarian for humanitarian. And nobody should preach us morals.”
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch confirmed that Israel used white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza on Wednesday in what constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law. White phosphorus can cause severe burns and long-term health issues.
Israel ramped up preparations for a ground invasion of Gaza but said no decision had been made on moving forward with such an offensive.
Israel’s military has positioned 300,000 reservists near the Gaza border as it responds to a Hamas attack that killed at least 1,300 people in Israel.
A campaign of Israeli airstrikes that began hours after Saturday’s Hamas incursion has killed at least 1,500 people in Gaza. Israel says it has dropped 6,000 bombs over six days of bombardment.
“The numbers of casualties are increasing every hour,” Bashar Murad, director of the humanitarian group the Palestinian Red Crescent, told Alhurra, an Arabic language satellite TV sister organization of the Voice of America. “The number of dead and injured that arrived to the hospitals is much more than the capacity of these hospitals.”
The U.S. said that 27 Americans were killed in the Hamas attack and 14 are missing.
The United Nations said nearly 340,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in Gaza, with more than two-thirds of them taking shelter in U.N. schools.
Humanitarian organizations have expressed alarm about the fast-dwindling supplies of food, water, fuel and medicine in Gaza amid an Israeli blockade of the narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said, “The continuation of war crimes against Palestine and Gaza will receive a response from the rest of the axis. And naturally, the Zionist entity and its supporters will be responsible for the consequences of that.” Amirabdollahian was speaking through a translator upon his arrival in Beirut.
Iran and Israel are enemies, and Iran supports Hamas, but Iranian officials have denied any involvement in the recent Hamas rampage.
Meanwhile, the chief of staff for Israel’s military, Herzi Halevi, acknowledged Thursday that the military had failed to protect people living near Gaza when Hamas launched its attack.
He said the Israel Defense Forces are “responsible for the security of the country and its citizens, and on Saturday morning in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip, we did not,” Halevi said. “We will learn, we will investigate, but now is the time for war.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi highlighted the need to “ensure the regularity of humanitarian and relief services, as well as aid to the people in the Gaza Strip.”
Source : VOA News
