Gaza’s only power plant was shut down on Wednesday after it ran out of fuel as the situation in the besieged enclave is becoming increasingly desperate for civilians after days of relentless Israeli airstrikes.
At least 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and 5,339 have been wounded since Hamas launched its attack on southern Israel. According to Israeli officials, the bodies of 1,500 Hamas militants have been found inside Israel, but the death toll is not confirmed. Violence has also spiked in the West Bank, where at least 29 Palestinians have been killed since Saturday.
On the Israeli side, at least 1,200 people have been killed, and 3,007 have been wounded. It’s estimated that Hamas captured about 150 people in Israel that have been brought into Gaza in an apparent attempt to gain leverage for negotiations.
Gaza has been under Israeli blockade since 2007, but was put under a “complete siege” this week, meaning no food, fuel, medicine, or water, can enter the territory. The only way out for Gazans, the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, has been closed after airstrikes hit. Israel has threatened to bomb aid trucks entering from Egypt.
Gaza hospitals are overwhelmed with people injured from airstrikes and will soon run out of fuel for their generators. A Gaza-based Doctors Without Borders official said the enclave’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, only has enough fuel for three more days.
Ghassan Abu Sitta, a reconstructive surgeon at al-Shifa, told AP the hospital was also running out of other vital supplies. “We’re already beyond the capacity of the system to cope,” he said. He added that the health system in Gaza “has the rest of the week before it collapses, not just because of the diesel. All supplies are running short.”
Israel has mobilized 300,000 reservists and is expected to launch a ground invasion of Gaza, one of the most densely populated places on earth that’s home to over 2 million people, half being children. According to Middle East Eye, about a third of the 1,100 people killed in Gaza so far were children, but the true toll is unclear.
The US is strongly backing Israel’s onslaught and according to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, is not setting any red lines, giving Israel free rein to kill civilians. “I’m not here to draw red lines or issue warnings or give lectures to anybody,” Sullivan said.
Source: AntiWar.
