Israel intensifies airstrikes on Gaza as conflict with Hamas enters 19th day

Israel continued to pound Gaza with intense airstrikes ahead of an impending ground invasion as the conflict with Palestine based terrorist group Hamas entered the 19th day.

Israeli airstrikes, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, have killed hundreds of Palestinians in the last day, predominantly women and children. Ashraf al-Qidra, a ministry official, stated that they had received 1,550 complaints of missing people, including 870 children, and that some of the unaccounted-for individuals might still be buried beneath the wreckage of demolished structures.

Israel increased the number of airstrikes it launched on Gaza on Tuesday, going from 320 the day before to 400 during the past day, including on the southern part of the territory where it had ordered residents to flee. In addition to hitting terrorists who were getting ready to launch rockets into Israel, command centres, and a Hamas tunnel, it claimed to have killed senior Hamas leaders. On a beach just north of Gaza, a group of Hamas underwater scuba divers attempted to attack Israel. The Israeli military claimed to have stopped them.

Gaza’s hospitals are overflowing with casualties and residents seeking safety from Israeli bombing, forcing them to close due to a shortage of water and fuel for generators. Doctors, health officials, and international assistance agencies described dreadful situations where doctors were had to operate under minimal or no anaesthetic, by the light of their cellphones, or in some cases, with vinegar in place of disinfectant.

As US President Joe Biden criticised efforts to bring aid via a crossing from Egypt as “not fast enough,” the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that eight relief trucks had been permitted into Gaza as of late Tuesday. The UN had earlier said about 20 trucks had been unable to cross into Gaza from Egypt via the Rafah crossing.

During statements at the UN Security Council, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasised that nations should continue to provide humanitarian aid to Palestine. He declared, “We call on all countries” to provide aid to Gaza. Blinken declared, “A civilian is a civilian is a civilian,” and Palestinian citizens “must be protected.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli military claimed on Wednesday that a number of Palestinians opened fire on Israeli police during an overnight operation in the occupied West Bank, while Palestinian officials claimed that three persons were killed.

In the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the military claimed that armed Palestinians “fired and hurled explosive devices” at its forces. Then, it said, “hits were identified” after the military used a drone to attack them.

The drone fired at least two shots, according to accounts from the camp and the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, WAFA. WAFA cited Wissam Bakr, the director of the Jenin Governmental Hospital, as stating that three people had died and over twenty had been injured.

Israel has demanded the resignation of UN Secretary General António Guterres, citing his statement that the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people” cannot be justified in light of the “appalling attacks” carried out by Hamas against Israel on October 7. According to him, the attack on Israel came after “56 years of suffocating occupation” by Israel for the Palestinian people, and did not occur “in a vacuum.”

The Middle East scenario is deteriorating rapidly, according to Guterres. During a Tuesday UN security council meeting in New York, Guterres issued a demand for an urgent ceasefire and issued a warning that fighting would spread to other areas of the region.

Gilad Erdan, the ambassador of Israel to the UN, called Guterres’ statement “shocking” and suggested that he step down. According to him, it demonstrated that the UN chief was “wholly detached from the reality in our area and that he sees the slaughter carried out by Nazi Hamas terrorists in a warped and immoral way.”

Riyad al-Maliki, the foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority and an adversary of Hamas, criticised the UN security council for its passivity.

“The ongoing massacres being deliberately and systematically and savagely perpetrated by Israel – the occupying power against the Palestinian civilian population under illegal occupation – must be stopped. It is our collective human duty to stop them,” he said.

At the UN, the US and Russia presented opposing ideas to assist Palestinian civilians. In order to solve Gaza’s shortages of food, water, medical supplies, and energy, both nations ask the UN Security Council for resolutions. But while Russia wants a humanitarian ceasefire, the US, which opposes one, has only asked for pauses to let aid into Gaza.

The Israeli military is “ready and determined” for the next phase of the fight, according to spokeswoman Daniel Hagari, but they are still expecting more political guidance.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned Hezbollah in Lebanon of “horrible consequences” if it chose to meaningfully participate in the conflict at a joint media appearance with the president of France. Netanyahu declared that the conflict might take some time and that Hamas had to be annihilated. Upon its completion, he declared, no one will reside “under Hamas tyranny”.

Emmanuel Macron demanded the release of captives and claimed that Israel and France had a common enemy in terrorism. He argued that terrorism must be combated with regulations rather than with mercy.

In case of unrest spreading outside of Gaza, US authorities are putting together a backup plan to evacuate Americans from the Middle East. John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesperson, emphasised that although there aren’t any “active efforts” to evacuate Americans other than charter flights departing from Israel, it would be “irresponsible” to not make plans for a variety of contingencies.

Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, who was kidnapped in the attack on Israel on October 7 and released by Hamas on Monday, told the media that she had “been through hell.” She claimed to reporters that terrorists from Hamas riding motorcycles had kidnapped her, beaten her with sticks, and made her walk. She continued by describing the circumstances in which she had been detained in the tunnels.

(With agency inputs)