Israeli forces pummeled central Gaza by land, sea and air on Wednesday and a telecommunications outage in much of the enclave hit efforts to reach Palestinian casualties, after Israel’s military chief said the war on Hamas would grind on for months.
Israeli forces pummeled central Gaza by land, sea and air on Wednesday and a telecommunications outage in much of the enclave hit efforts to reach Palestinian casualties, after Israel’s military chief said the war on Hamas would grind on for months.
Reflecting Israeli resolve to wipe out Hamas despite growing global calls for a ceasefire, Israel’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said the 11-week-old war would last “many months” and there were no “magic solutions” or “shortcuts”.
In central Gaza’s Al-Maghazi district, five Palestinians were killed in one air strike, medics said, while to the north in Gaza City health officials said the bodies of seven Palestinians killed overnight arrived at Al Shifa Hospital.
Residents also reported heavy fighting east and north of Al-Bureij district and in the nearby village of Juhr Ad-Deek, where they said Israeli tanks are stationed.
Israel’s military on Wednesday reported three more soldiers killed in action in Gaza, bringing total military losses in the enclave since ground operations began on Oct. 20 to 166.
Nearly 21,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israeli intensified its raids this week, particularly in a central area just south of the waterway that bisects the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army told civilians to leave the area, though many said there was no safe place left to go.
The World Health Organization released footage taken mostly on Monday and Tuesday at several Gaza hospitals, with WHO emergency medical team coordinator Sean Casey saying Gaza’s health capacity was 20 percent of what it was 80 days ago.‘IT’S A BLOODBATH’
“There’s blood everywhere in these hospitals at the moment,” said Casey, adding that nowhere in Gaza was safe.
