Israel hit the Gaza Strip with hundreds of airstrikes on Monday and the Islamist group Hamas reported that since the beginning of the conflict that broke out following an offensive by its commandos on Israeli territory, More than 5,000 people have been killed in this besieged Palestinian area.

The Israeli army has intensified its bombing of the Gaza Strip since Sunday ahead of a possible ground operation. in response to Hamas’ unprecedented attack on October 7. Israel vowed to “destroy” Hamas after the deadly attack that killed 1,400, the worst attack on civilians since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

At least 5,087 people killed in retaliatory bombings in the Gaza Strip, including 2,055 childrenThe authorities of the Islamist movement that has ruled this Palestinian enclave since 2007 reported this on Monday.

What is Hamas?, the group that took power in the Gaza Strip since 2007

The international community fears that the war between Israel and Hamas will escalate and spread to other countries in the Middle East. at a time when firefights are also taking place between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militiamen on the Lebanese border. Humanitarian aid has been arriving in small doses since Saturday in the Gaza Strip, where 2.4 million Palestinians live in an overcrowded environment, and the UN considers it insufficient.

This Monday, a third convoy of dozens of trucks carrying aid entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt, under a “total siege” since Israel has cut off supplies of water, food, electricity and fuel. On Sunday, US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed that there would be a “continuous flow” of aid to Gaza.

Calls to donate blood in Gaza

On October 15, Israel asked civilians in the northern Gaza Strip to move south to protect themselves from shelling. According to the UN, at least 1.4 million Palestinians have been displaced and the humanitarian situation is ‘catastrophic’.

In the town of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, several children from the same family who were killed in a bombing were buried on Monday. In Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, Mohamed Abu Sabalah said he returned home after morning prayers and “fifteen minutes later there was a bombardment.”

Israel will intensify its bombing of the Gaza Strip

“We couldn’t see anything because of the dense smoke,” he said. “Thank God we are safe and sound.”

According to the Hamas Health Ministry, 15,273 people have been injured in the incessant shelling by the Israeli army and authorities have appealed “for civilians to come and donate blood immediately.”

“Permission to Kill”

The Israeli army has stationed tens of thousands of soldiers around the Gaza Strip. But any ground operation is defined by the kidnapping of more than 200 people taken hostage by Hamas militants and taken to Gaza on October 7. The presence of these hostages in Gaza could hamper Israel’s ground operation in this overcrowded enclave, full of traps and tunnels.

Rockets launched from Gaza struck the city of Ashkelon and its surroundings on Monday and the Israeli army said it had neutralized two drones. Israel has asked people to evacuate southern areas bordering Gaza, but some are refusing to leave.

Israel unveils plans for ‘three-phase war’ in Gaza to ‘destroy’ Hamas

Orit Cohen, a 29-year-old man from the town of Sderot, said he traveled to look for his mother, who “refused to leave until now.” ‘But the army is bombing exactly on the other side. I was scared for her and I came to get her out,” he said.

Hostilities on the Israel-Lebanon border are also increasing, with recurring firefights between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian group affiliated with Hamas. Residents on both sides of the border were evacuated and the UN says there are more than 19,000 displaced people in Lebanon.

Netanyahu warned the Lebanese group Hezbollah on Sunday that it would make “the mistake of his life” if it decided to go to war with Israel.

In the West Bank, another occupied Palestinian territory, 95 people have been killed by Israeli attacks since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry, which administers the area. The prime minister of these areas, Mohamed Shtayyeh, denounced that Israel’s invasion plans imply “more crimes, atrocities, forced displacement and deaths.”

“We condemn positions that imply permission to kill and that allow (Israeli) political cover to commit massacres,” he stated. (JO)