Israel’s War on Hamas Kills Over 20,000 in Gaza
By: AP
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s war to destroy Hamas has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, health officials in Gaza said Friday, as Israel expanded its offensive and ordered tens of thousands more people to leave their homes.
The deaths in Gaza amount to nearly 1% of the territory’s prewar population — the latest indication of the 11-week-old conflict’s staggering human toll. Israel’s aerial and ground offensive has displaced nearly 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and leveled wide swaths of the tiny coastal enclave.
More than half a million people in Gaza — a quarter of the population — are starving, according to a report Thursday from the United Nations and other agencies.
Israel declared war after Hamas militants stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages. Israel has vowed to keep up the fight until Hamas is destroyed and removed from power in Gaza and all the hostages are freed.
After many delays, the U.N. Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution Friday calling for immediately speeding up aid deliveries to desperate civilians in Gaza. The United States won the removal of a tougher call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities” between Israel and Hamas. It abstained in the vote, as did Russia, which wanted the stronger language. The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his longstanding call for a humanitarian cease-fire.
Israel, shielded by the United States, has resisted scaling back its offensive, even as civilian deaths and health crises mount, with the health sector on the verge of collapse, according to the World Health Organization.
Only nine of Gaza’s 36 health facilities are still partially functioning, according to the agency, which reported soaring rates of diseases in Gaza. Israel blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll, citing the group’s use of crowded residential areas for military purposes and its tunnels under urban areas.No food shortage in Gaza, insisting that sufficient aid gets through, but the extent of starvation has eclipsed the near-famines of recent years in other countries and the risk of famine increases each day, Thursday’s U.N. report said.
The air and ground campaign in Gaza has continued, with Israel reporting that it has killed thousands of Hamas militants without presenting any evidence. Starvation has become a pressing issue, with insufficient aid entering the territory and the health sector pushed into collapse.
It is a grave situation that needs international support for a humanitarian cease-fire.