Gaza: 1000s break into aid houses for food

Deir Al-Balah (Gaza Strip): Thousands of people broke into aid warehouses in Gaza to take flour and basic hygiene products, a UN agency said Sunday, in a mark of growing desperation and the breakdown of public order three weeks into the war between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers.

Tanks and infantry pushed into Gaza over the weekend as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a “second stage” in the war, three weeks after Hamas launched a brutal incursion into Israel.

The widening ground offensive came as Israel also pounded the territory from air, land and sea.

The Israeli military said Sunday it had struck over 450 militant targets over the past 24 hours, including Hamas command centres and anti-tank missile launching positions.

Thomas White, of a UN agency said the warehouse break-ins were “a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war.'' 

Death toll among Palestinians crosses 8,000

Gaza's Health Ministry said the death toll among Palestinians has passed 8,000 — mostly women and minors.

It's a toll without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence, and one that is expected to climb even more rapidly as Israel presses its ground offensive.