Palestinians scramble for safety as Israel pounds Gaza to punish Hamas

Israeli warplanes hammered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, reducing buildings to rubble and sending people scrambling to find safety in the tiny, sealed-off territory now suffering severe retaliation for the deadly weekend attack by Hamas militants.

Humanitarian groups pleaded for the creation of corridors to get aid into Gaza and warned that hospitals overwhelmed with wounded people were running out of supplies. Israel has stopped entry of food, fuel and medicines into Gaza, and the sole remaining access from Egypt shut down Tuesday after airstrikes hit near the border crossing.

Hamas carried out a surprise attack from its Gaza base on Saturday. Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza hold about 150 soldiers and civilians hostage, according to Israel.

Dozens of fighter jets struck more than 70 targets in the Daraja Tuffah area of the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Hamas has launched barrages of rockets targeting central Israel, including Tel Aviv. Many recreational sites and shops in Tel Aviv have remained closed since the conflict began.

The death toll from Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip rose to 950, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, while at least 1,200 people have died as a result of the Hamas attacks on Israel, public broadcaster Kan reported early Wednesday.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed to exact “mighty revenge” and approved a call-up of an additional 60,000 reservists, bringing the total number mobilized to a record 360,000, setting the stage for a possible ground offensive.

Palestine’s Ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot recently slammed the BBC and mainstream media’s misrepresentation of the conflict during an interview with the BBC.

Zomlot said that what Israelis had seen in the recent Hamas attack, the Palestinians had seen every day for the last 50 years. “You know, the situation in Gaza, you’ve just described it. This is the biggest open-air prison,” he told the BBC’s host.

China reiterated its condemnation against any acts harming civilians and called for an immediate ceasefire on Tuesday.

What underlies the repeated cycles of tensions between Palestine and Israel is the repeatedly delayed settlement of the Palestinian question, and the fundamental way out lies in the implementation of the two-state solution, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on the Middle East Issue Zhai Jun said.

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, urging “all countries to unequivocally condemn Hamas’s brutal atrocities.” The first American aircraft carrying ammunition arrived in Israel on Tuesday night to help the country in its ongoing conflict with Hamas, Israel’s military said.

Li Shaoxian, dean of China-Arab States Institute in Ningxia University, said the conflict is closely related to the long-term stagnation of the Middle East peace process.

“The fundamental background that led to this round of large-scale conflict is the increasingly difficult situation in Palestine. The conflict has also made the international community realize once again that it is basically impossible for Israel to achieve lasting peace if the international community ignores the rights of the Palestinians,” he added. 

(With input from agencies)