Anadolu Agency – October 29, 2023
At least 130 Palestinians killed on 23rd day of Israeli attacks on Gaza
By Ikrame Imane Kouachi
GAZA CITY, Palestine
More than 130 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured in attacks Israel carried out in Gaza on the 23rd day of its ongoing conflict with Hamas, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.
There were dozens of casualties in attacks on the Beach refugee camp in Gaza City, while warplanes also bombed a six-story residential building in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood.
Israel also dropped bombs on homes in the Al-Zaytoun, Al-Tuffah, and Shujaiya neighborhoods.
There were airstrikes on homes in the Jabalia refugee camp, and warplanes also destroyed a residential square in Bir al-Naja, north of the Gaza Strip.
In the center of the Gaza Strip, the planes struck homes in the Bureij and Nuseirat camps, and the city of Deir al-Balah.
Homes were also targeted in the cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah.
Israel has heavily bombarded Gaza since Oct. 7 when the Palestinian group Hamas carried out a cross-border attack, killing 1,400 people, and taking many hostages.
The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said the Israeli strikes had killed at least 7,703 people, mainly civilians and many of them children.
Gaza's 2.3 million residents are also grappling with shortages of food, water, fuel, and medicine due to Israel’s blockade of the enclave. Only a few aid trucks have crossed into Gaza since the opening of the Rafah crossing point last weekend.
ANADOLU AGENCY – October 27, 2023
'With all comms cut off, Israeli attacks literally destroying Gaza'
With the besieged enclave cut off from the world, Israeli attacks are "literally destroying Gaza from air, land, and sea,” the Palestinian ambassador to the UK said on Friday.
"I have been trying to reach my family in Gaza for hours with no success,” said Husam Zomlot in a statement.
He added that "all telecommunications and internet have been cut, while Israeli strikes are literally destroying Gaza from air, land, and sea.”
"How many more innocent people: children, parents and grandparents will be murdered before the world steps in?” he asked.
His desperate statement followed an Israeli army announcement that its ground forces would expand their activities in the Gaza Strip during the night, a signal that a long-feared ground operation may have begun.
Communications and internet services in the Gaza Strip were completely cut off on Friday evening amid heavy Israeli bombing of feeder lines, towers, and networks, the Palestine Telecommunications Company said.
Ooredoo Palestine, a mobile provider in the West Bank, said its cellphone services were completely cut off from the Gaza Strip.
The conflict in Gaza began on Oct. 7 when the Palestinian group Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood - a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air.
Hamas said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
The Israeli military then launched a relentless bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been running out of food, water, medicine, and fuel, and aid convoys recently allowed into Gaza have carried only a fraction of what is needed.
Nearly 8,800 people have been killed in the conflict, including at least 7,326 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis. Some 70% of the deaths in Gaza are women and children, according to official figures.
Hundreds of building destroyed in overnight Israeli strikes on Gaza
Israel's army relentlessly hammered Gaza on Saturday after a night of fierce bombardment that rescuers said destroyed hundreds of buildings.
Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged Israel to "immediately stop" the attacks, while the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas demanded a government explanation about their fate amid the army's intensified air and artillery strikes.
Israel launched its withering bombardment of Gaza in response ot the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.
The health ministry in Gaza Strip said Saturday that Israeli strikes have killed over 7,700 people, more than 3,000 of them children. In comparison, Israeli death toll stands at 1,400.
The latest Israeli raids were one of the most intense nights of attacks since the war began and coincided with ground operations.
With tens of thousands of troops massed along the Gaza border ahead of an expected full-blown invasion, Israeli forces had also made limited ground incursions on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
"Hundreds of buildings and houses were completely destroyed and thousands of other homes were damaged," said Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
The intense bombardment had "changed the landscape" of northern Gaza, he told AFP.
Operations intensify
"The army entered the Gaza Strip and extended its operations" with tanks and artillery, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Saturday.
Israeli fighter jets hit 150 Hamas targets, the army said. The military also published images purporting to show strikes and its tanks maneuvering within the Gaza Strip.
Hamas's armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said it was "confronting an Israeli ground incursion" in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip and east Bureij in the center.
Why are they bombing us?'
Israeli warplanes flew overhead on Saturday and regular concussive booms could be heard coming from Gaza, where many buildings lay in ruins, AFP journalists saw.
A thick haze of smoke covered Gaza and southern Israel after the night of heavy bombardment.
"There are a large number of martyrs and a large number of survivors under the rubble, and we cannot reach them," a Gaza civil defence official said.
In a bombed-out street in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, 50-year-old Om Walid Basal said her apartment block had been destroyed by Israel.
"This was our house. We lived here just with our children," she said.
"Why are they bombing us? Why are they destroying our homes?"
Communications blackout
The families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas demanded on Saturday an immediate government explanation about their fate after the army intensified strikes on Gaza.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents some 229 people believed abducted by Hamas, said the war cabinet failed to explain to relatives whether the ground operation endangered the captives' well-being.
"The families are worried about the fate of their loved ones and are waiting for an explanation. Every minute feels like eternity," the group said.
On Thursday, al-Qassam Brigades said "almost 50" hostages had been killed in Israeli bombing raids since Oct. 7. AFP could not immediately verify the figure.
Hamas said all internet connections and communications across Gaza had been cut, accusing Israel of taking the measure "to perpetrate massacres with bloody retaliatory strikes from the air, land and sea."
Human Rights Watch also warned the near-total telecommunications blackout in Gaza risked providing cover for "mass atrocities."
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communications outage had disrupted ambulance services.
Lynne Hastings, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, also stressed on X that "hospitals and humanitarian operations can't continue without communications."
'Stop this madness'
"Israel must immediately stop this madness and end its attacks," Turkish President Erdoğan wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, after the U.N. General Assembly called for an "immediate humanitarian truce" in Gaza.
The non-binding resolution Friday received overwhelming support, with 120 votes in favor, 14 against and 45 abstentions.
It was welcomed by Hamas but harshly criticized by Israel and the United States for failing to mention Hamas, with Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan calling it an "infamy."
Israel's bombardment has displaced more than 1.4 million people inside the crowded territory, according to the U.N., even as supplies of food, water and power to Gaza have been almost completely cut off.
Israel has blocked all deliveries of fuel, alleging it would be exploited by Hamas to manufacture weapons and explosives.
"Without a fundamental change, the people of Gaza will face an unprecedented avalanche of human suffering," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned.
'Nothing more than crumbs'
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Gazans were "not only dying from bombs and strikes, soon many more will die from the consequences of (the) siege."
A first tranche of aid was allowed in last weekend, but only 74 trucks have crossed since then. The U.N. says an average of 500 trucks entered Gaza every day before the conflict.
"These few trucks are nothing more than crumbs that will not make a difference," Lazzarini said.
Between the bombardments and the fuel shortages, 12 of Gaza's 35 hospitals have been forced to close, and UNRWA said it has had to "significantly reduce its operations."
Violence has also risen sharply in the occupied West Bank since the October 7 attacks, with more than 100 Palestinians killed and nearly 2,000 wounded, according to the U.N.
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