Israel continues to attack Gaza amid warnings of humanitarian disaster

As Israel updated the number of people killed in Saturday’s Hamas cross-border attack to more than 1,300, the air force stepped up sorties across Gaza in advance of an expected ground offensive in the coming days.

Officials from the United Nations World Food Programme warned that the situation in Gaza is already dire, with food and water quickly running out as a result of the Israeli siege, and electricity only obtainable via generators.

Health officials in Gaza report that 1,400 residents have already been killed in Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling, with many thousands more wounded, but the numbers have been rising by the hour. Hospitals across the Gaza Strip are already well over capacity and residents are trying to enter medical compounds, believing they will be relatively safe there from Israeli strikes.

Fabrizio Carboni, regional director the International Committee of the Red Cross, said: “Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues. The human misery caused by this escalation is abhorrent, and I implore the sides to reduce the suffering of civilians.”

Israeli energy minister Israel Katz said there would be no exceptions to the siege without freedom for the Israeli hostages who were taken in Saturday’s attack.

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“No electrical switch will be lifted, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home. Humanitarian for humanitarian. And nobody should preach us morals,” Mr Katz posted on social media platform X.

Egypt, which has a single border crossing with Gaza, said it was trying to allow aid in.

Drone footage from Gaza City shows destruction and debris amid continued air strikes by Israeli forces. Video: Reuters

After meeting with prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, visiting US secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke about deadliest attack on civilians in Israeli history, when hundreds of gunmen crossed the from Gaza on Saturday. He described “a litany of brutality and inhumanity . . . babies slaughtered, bodies desecrated, young people burned alive, women raped, parents executed in front of their children, children in front of their parents.” He asked: “How are we even to understand this, to digest this?”

He reiterated comments by US president Joe Biden on Tuesday, saying: “You may be strong enough, on your own, to defend yourselves, but as long as America exists, you will never ever have to. We will always be there by your side.”

He also urged restraint, saying: “We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard, even when it’s difficult. That’s why it’s so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians.”

People gather around a bomb crater left by an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis in Gaza on Wednesday. Photograph: Yousef Masoud/The New York Times

Israel’s top general‚ Herzi Halevi, said Israel will track down Yahiya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, as well as the entire leadership of the militant group. The home of one of Mr Sinwar’s brothers was targeted in an air strike on Thursday night in Khan Yunis in the south of Gaza.

Speaking close to the border where most of 360,000 Israeli army reservists have been deployed, Gen Halevi admitted the security forces were caught by surprise on Saturday.

“The responsibility for Israel’s security was placed on our shoulders and we failed,” he said. “But now it’s time to fight the war.”

It is clear that the political and military and intelligence echelons will have serious questions to answer once the fighting is over, but the Israeli leadership is trying to foster unity in advance of the impending ground operation.

The Knesset parliament on Thursday night endorsed the formation of a national unity government, under which the centrist opposition party, the National Unity party, headed by Benny Gantz, will join the government.

Mr Gantz, together with party lawmaker Gadi Eisenkot, both former top generals, will join Mr Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant in the new war cabinet.

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Mr Netanyahu said “our national unity is sending a huge message, externally and internally. We stand before this conflict together in internal fraternity and with mutual concern”.

British prime minister Rishi Sunak has ordered the deployment of two Royal Navy ships, helicopters and surveillance aircraft to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel and reinforce regional stability, following the example of Washington which has ordered the deployment of two warships. Scores of US aircraft are also heading military bases around the Middle East.

The deployment aims to deter Iran from ordering the powerful Shia Hizbullah militia in south Lebanon to open a second front and turning the crisis into a much wider regional conflict.