GAZA: Reports of hundreds of fatalities from the deadly Israeli bombing in southern Gaza over the weekend heightened deep concerns for civilians sheltering there, while UN humanitarian officials on Monday said that aid teams had only “extremely limited” movement and access to the north was “now entirely blocked”.

The latest update from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, confirmed rising casualties and devastation amid “heavy Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea”.

“From the afternoon of (Saturday) 2 December to the afternoon of (Sunday) 3 December, at least 316 people were killed and at least another 664 injured in Gaza,” OCHA’s situation update reported, adding that an Israeli soldier had been reportedly killed in the enclave at the weekend and another had succumbed to wounds sustained previously.

The Israeli attacks resumed following the breakdown of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel last Friday, 1 December, that had allowed for the release of dozens of the approximately 240 hostages taken from southern Israel during the group’s cross-border operations.

Echoing humanitarian officials’s concerns for civilians caught up in the violence, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, said that in Rafah city in the south people were being forced to flee against a backdrop of airstrikes. “People are pleading for advice on where to find safety,” Director of UNRWA Affairs Thomas White said. “We have nothing to tell them.”

Some 1.8 million Gazans now live in the south of Gaza after an order from the Israeli Defense Forces to residents to leave the north of the Strip in mid-October. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to Israel on Monday to “avoid further action that would exacerbate the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and to spare civilians from more suffering,” a UN spokesperson said.

“The Secretary-General reiterates the need for unimpeded and sustained humanitarian aid flow to meet the needs of the people throughout the Strip. For people ordered to evacuate, there is  A sharp rise in the Gaza death toll was witnessed as the Israeli military pushed ahead, expanding its ground offensive into the area to dismantle Hamas.

The US State Department has said steps taken by the Israeli government to address extremist settler violence in the West Bank are not sufficient, foreign media reports. A State Department spokesperson told reporters the United States thinks the Israeli government should prosecute Israeli settlers who engage in violent activities against Palestinians.

Palestinian telecoms company Paltel has said that telecommunication services are cut off in the Gaza strip after recent repairs, foreign media reports.

“We regret to announce the complete cessation of the communications and Internet services with the Gaza strip, as the main paths that were previously reconnected were disconnected again,” it said. The Gaza health ministry has updated the death toll from Israeli strikes, saying that the massive number of casualties has incapacitated the hospitals in the besieged enclaves.

The ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said that at least 15,899 Palestinians have been martyred in Israeli attacks since October 7. 70% of the the martyrs are women and children.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 05 2023

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