Anas Baba
Gaza, Oct 10 (EFE). – Hundreds of airstrikes raised the death toll in Gaza to 830 on Tuesday, with more than a thousand homes completely destroyed and 140,000 people in makeshift shelters isolated from the world after the closure of the Egyptian border.
Hamas, the Islamist organization that sparked the conflict with its surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, warns that the total blockade of the Strip and the paralysis of the power plant for lack of fuel will create a humanitarian, health and environmental crisis.
According to testimony, the bombings in residential areas come without warning and omit the common Israeli practice in Gaza of warning with a noisy but harmless rocket to give residents a short time to leave.
Also, while the bombings used to be so precise that neighboring homes were usually unharmed except for some broken windows, now the explosives pulverize the building and destroy neighboring homes.
“The roar of explosions and gunfire creates a collective fear. We are on the verge of exhaustion and despair,” Mara Wahidi, a 24-year-old woman who returned “full of hope” to Gaza from Turkey just two weeks ago, told EFE.
“Now my dreams are shattered. The shortage of water, the lack of electricity and the instability of the Internet are a reality that turns every day into a struggle for survival,” the young woman said.
According to the latest update from Gaza authorities, 830 people have been killed and 4,250 injured.
Some 140,000 people are in temporary shelters, 168 residential buildings have been completely destroyed, 12,600 homes have been damaged and half a thousand are now uninhabitable, according to the Palestinian government’s press office.
The Ain Shifa hospital in Gaza City received 500 victims, including dead and wounded, and a medical center in the city was forced to close after being hit by an airstrike.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israeli forces of using white phosphorus against the Gaza Strip.
“Israeli occupation uses the internationally prohibited white phosphorus against Palestinians in Al Karama area, north of Gaza,” Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed in X sharing a video.
The claim has yet to be independently verified, but Israel has faced similar accusations in the past, admitting to using phosphorus shells during the 2006 Lebanon war against Hezbollah.
While phosphorus is not classified as a chemical weapon under international law, its use against civilians is considered a war crime under the Geneva Convention.
It was also the first time since 2008 that Israel had bombed the Gaza port.
According to the Israeli army, the air force concentrated its attacks on Monday in the area of Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip.
On Tuesday it launched about a hundred bombs against the neighborhood around the Al Forqan mosque, which it considers a Hamas operation center.
Bombings were also carried out in the Rafah area bordering Egypt to destroy a tunnel used to smuggle weapons and equipment into Gaza, a military statement said.
According to the Palestinian Sanad agency, the Rafah bombing hit no man’s land between the Gazan and Egyptian border posts, preventing the use of the crossing.
The bombing caused the withdrawal of Egyptian trucks carrying fuel and other goods to Gaza, and since then this crossing, which was briefly opened on Tuesday morning, has been closed, leaving Gaza’s 2.2 million people trapped and isolated from foreign aid.
Two senior Hamas officials were killed in the bombings Monday night, as reported Tuesday by the press office of the Israeli Armed Forces and sources from Gaza confirmed to EFE.
Yoad Abu Shmala, Minister of Economy of the Gaza Strip, who managed the financing of terrorism inside and outside the Gaza Strip, and Zacaría Abu Maamar, head of internal relations, who participated in the planning of attacks against Israel, according to the military note.
Hamas has asserted that there are currently no negotiations with the Israeli government, but there are diplomatic efforts to reach an understanding through intermediaries.
The aim is to pressure Israel to reduce its tactics of collective punishment against the population of Gaza and prevent harm to civilians, sources from the organization assured EFE.
Hamas has ruled out negotiating a prisoner exchange under war conditions.
amb-iut/mcd
