Israel launched massive attacks on the Gaza Strip, blasting the entire Palestinian territory and killing hundreds of people in what Washington claimed was a new and enlarged phase of the conflict that broke Israeli agreements to safeguard civilians more.
The Israeli military announced on Friday that it had attacked over 450 targets in Gaza from the air, sea, and land in the last 24 hours—the highest number since a ceasefire broke last week and nearly twice as many as has been regularly reported before then.
With the vast majority of Gazans now displaced and unable to access any aid, hospitals overrun and food running out, the main U.N. agency there said society was “on the verge of a full-blown collapse”.
Residents and the Israeli military both reported intensified fighting in both northern areas, where Israel had previously said its troops had largely completed their tasks last month, and in the south where they launched a new assault this week.
Gaza’s health ministry reported 350 people killed on Thursday, bringing the death toll from Israel’s two-month campaign in Gaza to more than 17,170, with thousands more missing and presumed buried under rubble. More strikes were reported on Friday morning in Khan Younis in the south, the Nuseirat camp in the centre and Gaza City in the north.
“As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south… it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a press conference in Washington on Thursday.
