Israel pummels Gaza as hunger tightens grip
Reuters :
Israeli warplanes and tanks pounded southern Gaza overnight and on Tuesday, and the UN said aid distribution to Gazans facing growing hunger had largely stopped because of the intensity of fighting in the two-month-old war between Israel and Hamas.
In the southern Gazan city of Rafah, which borders Egypt, health officials said 22 people including children were killed in an Israeli air strike on houses overnight.
Civil emergency workers were searching for more victims under the rubble.
Residents said the shelling of Rafah, where the Israeli army this month ordered people to head for their safety, was some of the heaviest in days.
“At night we can’t sleep because of the bombing and in the morning, we tour the streets looking for food for the children, there is no food,” said Abu Khalil, 40, a father of six, speaking to Reuters by phone from Rafah.
“I couldn’t find bread and the prices of rice, salt or beans have doubled several times over.
This is starvation,” he said. “Israel kills us twice, once by bombs and once by hunger.”
In Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s main city, residents said tank shelling focused on the city centre.
One said tanks were operating on Tuesday morning in the street where the house of Yahya Al-Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in Gaza, is located.
Health officials said two people were killed overnight in the city.
Hundreds more civilians have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Palestinian enclave since the US on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire.
Aid agencies say hunger is worsening among Gazans, with the UN World Food Program saying half of Gaza’s population is starving.
The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said on Tuesday limited aid distributions were taking place in the Rafah district, but “in the rest of the Gaza Strip, aid distribution has largely stopped over the past few days, due to the intensity of hostilities and restrictions of movement along the main roads.”
Aid flows were also restricted by a shortage of trucks in Gaza, a continuing lack of fuel, communications blackouts, and growing numbers of staff unable to travel to the Rafah crossing with Egypt because of the intensity of hostilities, it said.
Israel’s retaliatory assault has killed 18,205 people and wounded nearly 50,000, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The 193-member General Assembly is likely to pass a draft resolution on Tuesday that mirrors the language of the one blocked by the US in the 15-member Security Council last week.