Israel pounds Gaza as Hamas vows to kill hostages

NT Bureau, Agencies

Tel Aviv, Gaza: Israel’s military said Tuesday that it had regained effective control over its south and the border with the Gaza Strip four days after Hamas fighters stormed into the country and brought gunbattles to its streets for the first time in decades.

The declaration came as the Israeli Defense Forces sought to make good on the government’s vow to hunt down the militants and to intensify an assault on densely populated Gaza, the Palestinian territory ruled by Hamas and home to 2 million people.

Oxfam is warning that a total siege on Gaza will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.

“The decision to implement a ‘total siege’ by the Israeli government will further deny Gazan civilians essentials like food, water and electricity,” said Mustafa Tmaizi, Oxfam’s acting country director.

The Israeli said more than 1,000 people have died in Israel since Saturday’s incursion. In Gaza and the West Bank, 830 people have been killed. In Israel, the families of more than 150 people kidnapped by Hamas and other militant groups feared for the lives of their loved ones.

The armed wing of Hamas has warned it will kill one of the hostages every time Israel’s military bombs civilian targets in Gaza without warning.

‘Why bomb schools?’ Gaza families have no safe space

Jamal Al Zinati is in a state of shock and disbelief, as reported by AlJazeera.

Jamal is sheltering in a classroom of a school run by UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East — after his entire neighbourhood was blown up by Israeli missiles.

Entire families find themselves homeless, their neighbourhoods flattened. Across the Gaza Strip, plumes of smoke haze the skyline.

“When we ran out the door, all we thought was Israel probably would just threaten us to leave to push fear in our hearts,” Jamal says.

“I did not believe they would air strike the whole area and leave it in black ruins.” That includes his home, a place he recalls as filled with happy memories that meant “everything” to his family.

“It’s where we lived happily, celebrated birthdays and built dreams.” “Now, it’s nothing but rubble,” he whispers, tears welling up in his eyes.

“We fled to a nearby school for safety, but we are crammed in here with hundreds of others. There’s no space, and our children cry themselves to sleep every night.”

Night of terror in Gaza Strip

• Residents of the Gaza Strip spent a third night in terror and darkness as Israel kept up its relentless bombardment of the coastal enclave
• The Israeli military said it regained “full control” of the Gaza fence and declared a full siege, cutting off water and power supplies
• It said it launched attacks on more than 200 locations in the Gaza Strip overnight
• After hours of intense bombardment by Israeli jets, Hamas said it would execute an Israeli captive for every civilian house bombed without warning