Israel war on Gaza live: 24 hours of ‘bloody, brutal’ attacks on civilians
- Israel’s jets, artillery hit densely-populated civilian areas in Gaza’s north, centre and south over 24 hours, killing dozens, with Israeli ground troops “systematically demolishing residential homes” in Rafah, says Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza.
- “The bodies of thousands of the missing children remain buried under the rubble,” UNICEF deputy chief tells the UNSC in a briefing on Gaza.
We need ‘out of box’ solution to end war
Gershon Baskin, a former Israeli negotiator for captives’ release and Middle East director of the International Communities Organisation, has suggested the UN send international peacekeeping forces into Gaza to “protect the Palestinian people and force the Israelis to withdraw”.
“We need to think out of the box and come up with solutions that will enable this war to end, the Israeli hostages to come home, and a rebuilding process of Gaza to begin,” Baskin told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv. “It needs to be done collaboratively [with Palestinians], but we need to get this war to end quickly.”
Baskin also called for more international pressure on Israel to open up border crossings and facilitate more aid flow within Gaza, where hundreds of thousands face catastrophic hunger.
“This has to be done and it has to be a result of international pressure because it’s doubtful Israel will do it on its own,” he said.
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Here’s a recap of recent developments:
- Israel’s military has attacked numerous residential homes in Gaza City’s Sabra and Shujayea neighbourhoods, killing at least eight people, reports Wafa.
- A Palestinian girl has died of malnutrition in Kamal Adwan Hospital, joining dozens of other children who have suffered the same fate during the war, according to a health official quoted by Reuters.
- Israeli forces have rounded up 28 people, including a female student, across the occupied West Bank in violent raids since last night.
- Twenty-one Palestinian children with cancer have been evacuated from the enclave, but there are 25,000 others who also need treatment abroad, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.
- Israel’s chief rabbi has slammed the Supreme Court for ruling that ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, long exempt from military service, must be drafted, saying the court justices “don’t understand” the students’ critical contribution to Israel.
Palestinians rush to fix water tanks damaged by war
Repair workers in Gaza are being inundated with requests to fix rooftop water tanks, often riddled by Israeli bullets or bomb shrapnel.
“Before the war … we used to fix only one or two water tanks every month, but now we get dozens due to the occupation [Israeli forces] bombing of homes,” Muhammad Bashir, a repairman in Deir el-Balah, told AFP.
“Most of the tanks we get are damaged by drone fire,” he added.
The tanks, which are filled up by water trucks or pump water from domestic wells, are critical for families during the war, when much of the enclave’s main water infrastructure is wrecked.
Palestinian girl dies of malnutrition: Report
Citing a health official, the Reuters news agency is reporting that the girl died overnight in Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital.
She is among dozens of children to die from starvation or dehydration during the war, including at least four others this week.
Many more could suffer the same fate as one in five Palestinians in Gaza face “catastrophic food insecurity”, according to the UN’s hunger monitoring system.
Israel’s chief rabbi blasts Supreme Court ruling on ultra-Orthodox military service
Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef has lambasted the Supreme Court for its ruling that ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, long exempt from military service, must now be drafted.
Quoted in the Hebrew-language HaDerech newspaper, Yosef said: “The children of the Torah are the existence of the people of Israel, but they [Supreme Court justices] don’t understand it.”
“Thanks to what we survived? Thanks to the Supreme Court? No … only thanks to the Holy Torah scholars,” he added. “They protect all the soldiers and all the people of Israel.”
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews forego work and rely on government funding to study the Torah full-time. Their absence from the military, from which they have long been exempt, has provoked a backlash among other Israelis during the war, when hundreds of thousands of reservists have been called up to fight.
Twenty-one Palestinian children with cancer to get treatment abroad: Gaza ministry
Gaza’s Ministry of Health has said that a children’s relief organisation in the US cooperated with the World Health Organization to coordinate the exit from the besieged enclave of 21 Palestinian children with cancer.
More than 25,000 children need treatment abroad, it added.
Israel steps up attacks on residential areas of central, northern Gaza
We continue to hear loud Israeli explosions and attacks across central and even northern Gaza. There has been a clear step-up in attacks in these areas.
Overnight and into the early hours of the morning, the Israeli military targeted five residential homes in Gaza City’s Sabra and Shujayea neighbourhoods. At least three people have been killed in Sabra, while five others have been killed so far in Shujayea.
Gaza’s Civil Defence says its crews have managed to rescue a number of civilians trapped under the rubble in these areas. There are still some missing victims.
In the central area, the Bureij refugee camp has been widely targeted. We can still hear the sound of explosions there. At least one Palestinian has been reported killed, with two others wounded. They have been transferred to al-Awda Hospital for treatment.
