Gaza/Jerusalem/Cairo, October 16 (Press Ki Taquat)
Israeli forces kept up their bombardment of Gaza on Monday after diplomatic efforts to arrange a ceasefire to allow foreign passport holders to leave and aid to be brought into the besieged Palestinian enclave failed.
Residents of Hamas-ruled Gaza said overnight air strikes were the heaviest yet as the conflict entered its 10th day with an Israeli ground offensive believed to be imminent.
Bombing carried on through the day, they said, and many buildings were flattened, trapping yet more people under the rubble. Israeli officials issued multiple warnings of Hamas rocket fire into Israel.
But Israel’s chief military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said there was no Gaza ceasefire and that Israel was continuing its operations.
“There are no such efforts under way at this time. If anything changes we will inform the public. We are continuing our fight against Hamas, this murderous organisation that carried this (the assaults) out.”
On Monday, rocket-warning sirens sounded in several towns in southern Israel, the Israeli military said. Israeli troops and tanks are already massed on the border.
Authorities in Gaza said at least 2,750 people had so far been killed by the Israeli strikes, a quarter of them children, and nearly 10,000 wounded. A further 1,000 people were missing and believed to be under rubble.
Earlier on Monday, Egyptian security sources had told Reuters that an agreement had been reached to open the crossing to allow aid into the enclave.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement: “There is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out.” Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq told Reuters there was “no truth” to the reports about the crossing opening or a temporary ceasefire.
Reuters journalists said a small crowd of people had gathered at the crossing, the only one not controlled by Israel, waiting to enter Egypt.
The United States had told its citizens in Gaza to go to the crossing. The US government estimates the number of dual-citizen Palestinian-Americans in Gaza at 500 to 600.In Gaza’s north, where Israel says Hamas militants are hiding in an elaborate tunnel network, local people said Israeli aircraft bombed areas around the Al-Quds hospital early on Monday. Surrounding houses were damaged, forcing hundreds of people to take shelter in the Red Crescent-run hospital.
“We woke up in horror, and we see them dismembered, it took a long time to remove the rubble by the bulldozers to recover the bodies,” said Baker.
On a nearby street, Abu Ahmed, an elderly man sitting outside his house, said: “Israel has taken a decision to kill every last one of us.”
Reserves of fuel at all hospitals across the Gaza Strip are expected to last only around 24 more hours, putting thousands of patients at risk, the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) said early on Monday.
More than one million people – almost half the population of Gaza – have been displaced within the enclave, the United Nations said, and it is struggling to cope with their needs.
