Israel bombards Gaza as world leaders call for pause in conflict to let aid in
CBC
The latest:
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned Wednesday that without immediate deliveries of fuel it will soon have to sharply cut back relief operations across the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded and hit by devastating Israeli airstrikes since Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel more than two weeks ago.
The warning came as hospitals in Gaza struggled to treat masses of wounded with dwindling resources, and health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory said the death toll was soaring as Israeli jets continued striking the territory overnight into Wednesday.
The Israeli military said its strikes had killed militants and destroyed tunnels, command centres, weapons storehouses and other military targets, which it has accused Hamas of hiding among Gaza's civilian population. Gaza-based militants have been launching unrelenting rocket barrages into Israel since the current conflict started.
Israel's military also said it targeted a cell of Hamas divers attempting to enter Israel by sea near Zikim kibbutz. There was no immediate comment from Hamas on the incident.
Israel said Tuesday it had launched 400 airstrikes over the past day, an increase from the 320 strikes the day before.
The fighting has killed more than 1,400 people in Israel — mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack on Oct. 7, including several Canadians. Hamas is also holding over 200 people that it captured and brought back to Gaza, with four hostages released so far.
Qatari mediators are urging Hamas to quicken the pace of hostage releases to include women and children and to do so without expecting Israeli concessions, said three diplomats and a source in the region familiar with the talks.
The Gulf state, in co-ordination with the U.S., is leading mediation talks with Hamas and Israel over the hostage release.
At the United Nations, the United States and Russia put forward rival plans on humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians. Washington has called for pauses in the fighting and Russia wants a humanitarian ceasefire. A pause, which the Canadian government backs, is generally considered less formal and shorter than a ceasefire.
Arab states firmly back a call for a humanitarian ceasefire amid widespread destruction in Gaza.
Across central and south Gaza, where Israel told civilians to take shelter, there were multiple scenes of rescuers pulling the dead and wounded out of large piles of rubble from collapsed buildings. Graphic photos and video shot by the Associated Press showed rescuers unearthing bodies of children from multiple ruins.
At a mosque in Deir Al-Balah, workers prayed over 24 dead wrapped in body bags, several of them the size of small children. Buildings that collapsed on residents killed dozens at a time in several cases, witnesses said.
The UN says about 1.4 million of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are now internally displaced, with almost 600,000 crowded into UN shelters.
