Israeli air force continued to bomb different parts of Gaza throughout the night on Wednesday, October 11 and into the morning of October 12, killing scores of Palestinian civilians and leveling dozens of residential buildings.
The total number of Palestinians killed in the six days of Israeli offensive inside Gaza has crossed 1,448 with more than 447 children according to the Defense of Children Palestine. Nearly 6,900 Palestinians have been injured in Israeli attacks so far according to Palestinian ministry of health.
Over 31 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem by Israeli Occupation Forces or settlers operating under their security cover.
According to the UN, the total number of Palestinians displaced in Israel’s indiscriminate bombings in Gaza has crossed 340,000 on Thursday, October 12. Most of the displaced have taken shelter in schools run by the UNRWA or the Palestinian Authority (PA) and churches.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) claimed that in just one day on Wednesday, Israeli bombings inside Gaza displaced more than 75,000 Palestinians.
OCHA also expressed concerns about the persistent attacks on civilian infrastructure by Israelis. The attack has left the sanitation facilities crippled which can cause severe health hazards in the densely populated Palestinian territory in the coming days.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres repeated his appeals to allow the passage of basic food, fuel and medicine to Gaza.
Medical infrastructure and emergency aid workers targeted by Israel in Gaza
Israel has shut the borders and blocked the supply of all essential goods to the region since Monday leaving millions in Gaza without medicines and fuel. It has refused to provide any assurance of security for the movement of aid provided by several countries in the region through the Rafah border as well.
Israel still refuses to entertain repeated appeals to open the border with Gaza for humanitarian supplies, despite various groups calling it a form of collective punishment, and hence a war crime.
Israel’s energy minister Israel Katz also reiterated his country’s position on Wednesday threatening that no food or medicine will be allowed inside Gaza until all Israeli hostages are released.
According to Palestinian resistance fighters they have taken more than 100 Israelis as hostages during the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. In the meanwhile, Palestinian fighters want to exchange the hostages in return for Palestinians kept inside Israeli prisons.
The only power plant in the besieged territory stopped functioning on Wednesday afternoon due to a lack of fuel. This puts at risk all the emergency services including the hospitals which are full of wounded patients due to indiscriminate Israeli bombings in the last six days.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, hospitals in Gaza will turn into graveyards without electricity as it stops most of the life saving equipment from functioning.
Four workers with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were also killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Wednesday. In a statement, the PRCS condemned the “intentional targeting” of its medical teams by Israeli forces “despite prior coordination”, demanding accountability and justice for this war crime.
UNRWA also claimed that at least 11 of its staff were killed by the Israeli bombardment inside Gaza.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were at least 51 recorded attacks on health workers or facilities by the Israelis inside the besieged Palestinian territory since Saturday.
According to the Israel, the total number of Israelis killed in the attacks launched by the Palestinian resistance forces have crossed 1,300.
The world stands with Palestine
As the Israeli occupation continues its horrific bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, with full sanction and support from western imperialist powers, protests and demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinian people continue to be held.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Tunis on Thursday to show their support for Palestine in a protest action organized by the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT). A massive rally was also held in the city of Taizz in Yemen.
Meanwhile, activists in the city of Cambridge in the US blockaded the offices of Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems on Thursday. Elbit supplies 85% of the Israeli occupation’s drone fleet and 85% of it’s land based military equipment.
“Elbit Systems will not conduct business as usual in our city, while profiting from the ongoing mass murder of Palestinian people”, the activists declared in a statement.
In a statement issued on October 11, the Union of Teachers and Employees of Birzeit University in the Occupied West Bank said, “2023 will be recorded historically as the year that Palestinians stood boldly in the face of colonial fascism and screamed in defense of their homes, humanity, and life.”
“Our history will tell the story of these acts not only as a record of colonial brutality, but also as a record of our boldfaced determination to live and resist it..”
