Israel Monday ordered a “complete siege” and an “immediate” cut to water supply to the Gaza Strip as it continued to pound densely populated enclave forcing panic stricken residents to flee for their lives.
Since Saturday’s surprise operation by Palestinian fighters, Israeli aircraft have been pounding Gaza while its ground forces have struggled to retake control of villages and towns overrun by Palestinian fighters.
Expanding the theatre of operation Israeli warplanes on Monday bombed a densely populated neighborhood at the Jabalia refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
The Gaza Health Ministry said on Monday the death toll from the Israeli attacks had reached 510, including 91 children and 61 women, with 2,751 others injured.
In a statement, the Israeli air force said it had dropped some 2,000 munitions and more than 1,000 ton bombs on Gaza in the last 20 hours.
Minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant said on Monday Israel is escalating measures against the Gaza Strip to a “total blockade” including a ban on admitting food and fuel, describing this as part of a battle against “beastly people”.
“We are putting a complete siege on Gaza… No electricity, no food, no water, no gas — it’s all closed,” Gallant said in a video message, referring to the enclave that is overcrowded with 2.3 million people.
Israel’s chief military spokesperson said the regime has drafted a record 300,000 reservists as it is “going on the offensive”.
The latest onslaught on Gaza started on Saturday immediately after Palestinian fighters in a stunning move breached military fence and launched an unprecedented strike inside Israel leaving more than 700 Israeli’s dead besides abducting over hundred, including some top generals.
Analysts say the government of hardline prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was resorting to harsh measures like cutting off water, electricity and food supplies to the Gaza strip in order to deflect criticism for the humiliation his military suffered at the hands of a ragtag militia. The attack caught Israel’s vaunted military and intelligence services off guard as Israel’s border with Gaza is considered one of the most heavily fortified in the region.
On Monday, fighting was still raging at seven or eight locations inside Israel captured by the fighters.
“It’s taking more time than we expected to get things back into a defensive, security posture,” Israeli Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told journalists.
Gallant meanwhile said he had ordered a total siege of the Gaza Strip, cutting off food, fuel and electricity to the more than two million Palestinians living in the enclave. “I have given an order–Gaza will be under complete closure. There will be no electricity, food or fuel [delivered to Gaza],” said Gallant in remarks at Israel’s Southern Command, according to a transcript released by the Israeli government.
Gaza depends on deliveries via Israel and Egypt for food, fuel, medicine and other essential goods. Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas swept the elections there in 2007, banning almost all Palestinians from entering or leaving without special permission.
The territory’s economy had been largely integrated into Israel following the 1967 occupation and remains dependent on imports of supplies, particularly food, through its border crossings with Israel and Egypt. Egypt, which has already signed a peace deal with Israel, has also severely limited Palestinians’ ability to cross its border in the south of the enclave.
The tight blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.
On Saturday Israeli’s snapped power supply leaving hospitals and emergency services in a tight spot.
The relentless Israeli strikes have also led to the displacement of more than 123,000 people in the Gaza Strip since the weekend, according to the United Nations.
“Over 123,538 people have been internally displaced in Gaza, mostly due to fear, protection concerns and the destruction of their homes,” the UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, said on Monday.
More than 73,000 are sheltering in schools, some of which have been designated emergency shelters.
Meanwhile, Hamas spokesperson Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades today claimed that four Israeli hostages were killed in the retaliatory bombing by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
“The occupation’s bombing tonight and today on the Gaza Strip led to the killing of four enemy prisoners and the martyrdom of their captors, the Qassam Mujahideen,” Abu Obeida was reported as saying.
“The Zionist enemy’s military targeting and bombing of homes inhabited by women and children, mosques and schools in Gaza amount to war crimes and terrorism,” Hamas official Izzat Reshiq said in a statement.
The US meanwhile has extended full support to Israeli military action with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin saying that he has ordered the Ford carrier strike group to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel.
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