Israeli shelling of Gaza, rocket fire into Israel continues as war enters 13th day
Rafah, Gaza, Oct 19 (EFE).- Israeli airstrikes continued to pound the Gaza Strip on Thursday, with shells hitting a bakery and a 14-storey building which was reduced to rubble, Palestinian sources said.
Israel bombed the vicinity of several bakeries in the enclave, “when dozens of citizens were congregating and lining up to buy bread, causing dozens of deaths and hundreds of wounded”, Gazan officials said.
Another airstrike on a house in the center of the southern city of Khan Younis left 13 dead and numerous wounded, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, which added that fighter planes attacked four residential towers in the town of Al Zahra, in central Gaza.
The Israeli army said the bombs targeted hundreds of military posts and Hamas facilities.
Militants in the enclave were also continuing to launch rockets into Israeli territory, as the war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that governs the Gaza Strip, entered its 13th day.
Air raid alarms sounded in Israeli communities near Gaza or in the central city of Tel Aviv, and the al Qasam brigades – Hamas’s armed wing – also fired rockets towards the town of Ashkelon.
Gazan health officials say at least 3,785 people have been killed and more than 12,493 injured in Gaza, which has been placed under a total siege by Israel since Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
Over 1,400 people have died in Israel since the war between Israel and Palestinian militias in the Strip, which is already the bloodiest in the region in decades.
One in four houses has been damaged or destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, according to the United Nations, as the Palestinian enclave suffers from severe shortages of food and essential supplies.
The air strikes have damaged over 98,000 houses, 25 % of the total in Gaza, since Oct 7, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, adding that the estimate was conservative due to difficulties accessing the worst affected areas, particularly in Gaza City.
The situation is dire, with health facilities and schools also coming under attack, resulting in hundreds of casualties, the UN has warned.
In the West Bank, Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 64 people and wounded 1,284.
The Israeli military orders for Gazans to move to the southern part of the strip have displaced over a million people.
According to the UN, Gaza has endured eight days without electricity, and running water is only available in Khan Younis.
The UN World Food Program reported that Gaza has only two weeks’ worth of food supplies, much of which is difficult to access due to the hostilities.EFE
amb-jma/ks
