Israel sharply ramps up Gaza strikes; US alarmed over civilian toll
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More than 17,170 Palestinians have been killed and 46,000 wounded since Oct 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – Israel sharply intensified its strikes on the Gaza Strip, pounding the length of the Palestinian enclave and killing hundreds in a new, expanded phase of the war
The Israeli military said on Dec 8 that it struck more than 450 targets in Gaza from the land, sea and air over the past 24 hours, the most since a truce collapsed last week
With the vast majority of Gazans now displaced and unable to access any aid, hospitals overrun and food running out, the main United Nations agency there said Gaza was “on the verge of a full-blown collapse”.
Residents and the Israeli military reported intensified fighting both in the northern areas, where Israel previously said its troops had largely completed their tasks in November, as well as in the south.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported 350 people killed on Dec 7, bringing the death toll from Israel’s two-month campaign in Gaza to more than 17,170, with thousands more missing and presumed buried under rubble.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war, said there was a gap between Israel’s declared intentions to protect civilians and the casualties.
“As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south... it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection,” Mr Blinken said at a press conference following a meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in Washington on Dec 7.
“And there does remain a gap between... the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground.”
Israel launched its campaign to annihilate Hamas, which rules Gaza, after the militant group’s fighters went on a rampage through Israeli towns on Oct 7
Since then, the vast majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, many forced to flee three or four times, with only the belongings they can carry.
US President Joe Biden spoke separately by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah on Dec 7.
Mr Biden “emphasised the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas, including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities”, the White House said.
No refuge
With the fighting now extended across both halves of Gaza at the same time, residents say it has become almost impossible to find refuge.
Hamas reported that the most intense clashes with Israeli forces were taking place in the north in Gaza City’s Shejaia district, as well as in the south in Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-biggest city.
Reuters journalists in southern Gaza have seen unprecedented numbers of dead and wounded overrunning the main Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where there was no room on the floor for patients sprawled across blood-smeared tiles.
Reuters was unable to access other parts of the enclave but reached residents by telephone who described similar scenes of desperation.
With the fighting now in all directions, there was no place left to flee, said Mr Yamen, sheltering at a school in central Gaza with his family.
“Inside the school is like outside it: the same feeling of fear of near death, the same suffering of starvation,” he said. “Every day we say we somehow survived. But for how long?”
Mr Thomas White, Gaza head of UNRWA, the UN aid agency for Palestinians, wrote on X: “Civil order is breaking down in Gaza. The streets feel wild, particularly after dark. Some aid convoys are being looted, and UN vehicles stoned. Society is on the brink of full-blown collapse.”
Ceasefire demand at UN as Gaza fighting rages
Arab states have renewed their push for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, with the United Arab Emirates asking for the UN Security Council to vote on the morning of Dec 8 on a draft resolution.
The US and ally Israel oppose a ceasefire because they believe it would only benefit Hamas.
The draft was amended to say both “the Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law” and to “demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”.
A resolution needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the five permanent members – the US, Russia, China, France and Britain – to be adopted. The US does not support any further action by the council at this time.
As pressure mounts on Israel over the civilian toll of its war to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian Authority is working with US officials on a plan to run Gaza after the war is over, Bloomberg News reported.
Citing Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, it said the preferred outcome would be for Hamas to become a junior partner under the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), helping to build a new independent state that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
“If they (Hamas) are ready to come to an agreement and accept the political platform of the PLO, then there will be room for talk. Palestinians should not be divided,” Mr Shtayyeh said, adding that Israel’s aim to fully defeat Hamas is unrealistic.
Kerem Shalom border crossing to open
In a development that should help smooth the way for more humanitarian aid to reach besieged Gazans short of basic essentials ,
Egypt, along with the UN, has been lobbying Israel to speed up an inspection process, which requires the vehicles to drive to Egypt’s border with Israel before looping back to Rafah.
The number of trucks crossing daily has dropped to fewer than 100, from nearly 200 during a Nov 24 to Dec 1 truce, according to the United Nations.
Kerem Shalom sits at Gaza’s southern border with Israel and Egypt, and the crossing was used to carry more than 60 per cent of the truckloads going into Gaza before war erupted in October.
With no end in sight to the fighting, a top White House national security aide, Mr Jon Finer, said the US had not given Israel a firm deadline to end major combat operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
There are many “legitimate military targets” remaining in south Gaza, including “much if not most” of the Hamas leadership, Mr Finer said at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington. REUTERS
