Situation inside Gaza is ‘beyond catastrophic’
Israel destroyed a neighborhood in northern Gaza on Friday after giving people a 30-minute warning to leave, and it also struck an Orthodox Christian church where others had taken cover as a way of signaling that an order to invade Gaza was shortly to come.
According to Palestinian sources, more than 3,785 Palestinians have died, including more than 1,500 children. According to the UN, more than a million people are now homeless.
International aid is stacked up near Gaza, where Palestinians are in desperate need of food and water as a result of Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign while it is still recovering from its worst strike in history.
After Hamas began an attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7, Israel promised to destroy the organization.
In retaliation, Israeli airplanes have destroyed entire city blocks in Gaza in preparation for an alleged impending ground invasion.
According to the UN, more than one million of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been displaced, and the humanitarian situation is getting worse every day because the trucks waiting at the border have not yet been given permission to enter.
A picture taken from the southern Israeli city of Sderot
Smoke rising over the northern Gaza Strip after an Israeli bombardment is captured on camera from the Israeli city of Sderot in the south. FIGURE: Reuters
Ahmed Ali, chairman of the Egyptian Red Crescent, said he was receiving “two to three planes of aid per day” as he observed medicine, water purifiers, and blankets being unloaded at El Arish airport in Gaza.
According to UNICEF’s Gulf spokeswoman Sara Alzawqari, the situation in Gaza is “beyond catastrophic”. “Time is running out and the numbers of casualties amongst children are rising.”
The lone gateway into Gaza, the Rafah border, was supposed to open on Friday, according to Egyptian state-affiliated television Al Qahera News. However, Cairo later claimed that more time was needed for road repairs.
An arrangement reached by US President Joe Biden to allow in 20 trucks was referred to as “a drop in the ocean of need” by the WHO’s emergency director in Geneva. Michael Ryan remarked that there needed to be 2,000 trucks.
The drumbeat of war was getting louder in Israel as officials gathered troops for a ground offensive while the country was still coming to terms with the bloodiest strike in its 75-year history.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited front-line troops close to Gaza while wearing body armor and urged them to “fight like lions” and “win with full force.”
Yoav Gallant, the defense minister, also visited the front lines and informed some of the tens of thousands of soldiers who were waiting for the ground invasion that new orders would soon be issued.
People take part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Utrecht
On October 19, 2023, participants hold a pro-Palestinian march in Utrecht. After Israel struck a hospital in Gaza, protests have been ongoing for several days in a number of Dutch cities. AFP PHOTO.
Biden encouraged the United States to take the lead in backing Israel and Ukraine during a rare speech from the Oval Office, saying he would later on Friday make a “urgent” request to Congress for assistance.
In just his second primetime address to the country as president, Biden stated that “American leadership is what holds the world together” while standing behind the illustrious Resolute Desk.
He expressed his unwavering support for Israel while also highlighting the hardship of Palestinians who are stranded in Gaza, adding that they “urgently need food, water, and medicine”.
For the purpose of preventing Iran or Hezbollah, both of which are Hamas friends, from interfering, the United States has already positioned two aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean.
As a result of days of fighting with Hezbollah forces near the border with Lebanon, Israel announced plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, raising concerns of a wider conflagration.
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan have warned that the violence may spread and have denounced what they have called the “collective punishment” of Gazans.
Israeli tanks seen on a road near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. PHOTO: Reuters
The most recent tragic attack, which occurred late on Thursday in Gaza at a church compound, was blamed on both sides in the meantime.
According to the Gaza interior ministry, an Israeli strike is to blame for the deaths and injuries of several Palestinians who were taking refuge at the church.
Witnesses told AFP that the attack destroyed the church’s exterior and brought down a nearby structure, and that several injured persons were taken to hospitals.
The Israeli army stated that one of its airstrikes against a “command and control center belonging to a Hamas terrorist” resulted in damage to a church wall.
“Reports of casualties are known to us. An investigation into theevent is ongoing, a spokeswoman told AFP.
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