KUALA LUMPUR – The Israeli military has ramped up its airstrikes on Gaza in the early hours today and vowed to intensify attacks despite widespread condemnation.
Palestinian media reported that at least 11 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, south of Gaza, as well as attacks in the southern city of Rafah.
Meanwhile, Palestinian medics said Israel struck the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early today – killing two Palestinians and wounding others, reported Reuters.
While Israel did not comment on the strikes on the Jenin camp, its military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the regime will “continue to attack in the area of Gaza City”.
This was the same message in a video distributed by the Israeli military yesterday.
“We are going to go into the Gaza Strip…to destroy Hamas operatives and Hamas infrastructure and we will have in our mind the memories of the images and those who fell on Saturday two weeks ago,” said Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi amid news of a planned ground invasion.
On the other hand, Hamas said it fired rockets towards Tel Aviv yesterday in response to Israeli airstrikes that Gaza’s Health Ministry and Hamas media said killed 50 people.
Yesterday, some 20 lorries carrying humanitarian aid and life-saving supplies were allowed to enter the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing and were received by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
However, the United Nations humanitarian office (Ocha) said those items were only equivalent to about 4% of the daily average of imports into Gaza before the current attacks.
Israel’s siege on Gaza came after an attack by Hamas along the border that killed 1,400 people and wounded many others. In response, Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 4,385 Palestinians, including hundreds of women and children, and displaced more than a million people. – October 22, 2023