Israel attacks Gaza after UN asks for more aid

Israel stepped up its assault on Gaza on Saturday, with Hamas officials reporting heavy shelling in several cities, hours after world powers demanded permission for more aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.

The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry said 18 people were killed in an attack on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, and other targets were also attacked up and down the strip.

The Israeli military announced late Friday that it had destroyed “strategic” tunnel facilities and “Hamas headquarters” and eliminated terrorists in an operation in Gaza City. Israeli forces are locked in street battles with Hamas militants in Gaza City.

The health ministry in the Gaza Strip, which has been ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas since 2007, said more than 400 people had been killed in 48 hours by Israeli shelling.

The violence came after the UN Security Council approved a resolution calling for “immediate, safe and unimpeded” “massive” shipments of life-saving aid to Gaza.

The resolution passed after members fought for days over its language.

At Washington's insistence, the Security Council watered down some provisions and avoided calling for a cease-fire to end the 11-week war that began with Hamas' bloody attack on Israel on October 7.

It is still unclear what impact this vote will have on the ground.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said a ceasefire was still needed, arguing that aid could not be delivered adequately while bombs were falling.

“The way Israel conducts this offensive creates major obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid,” he said.

– Approaching famine –

Immediately after the U.N. vote, Israel vowed to continue air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip until Hamas is “eliminated” and hostages still held in the territory are released.

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said, “Israel will continue its war in Gaza,'' insisting that the war is legal and just.

However, pressure is mounting on Israeli authorities to recalibrate their attack on Gaza.

The war began on October 7, when Hamas militants breached Gaza's militarized border, killing about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. It started with

According to Israeli authorities, Palestinian armed groups have abducted about 250 people, of whom 129 remain in Gaza.

Vowing to annihilate Hamas, Israel launched relentless shelling and a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, killing 20,057 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.

With the Gaza Strip reduced to rubble, many Gazans are forced into crowded shelters and tents, struggling to find food, fuel, water and medicine.

The United Nations estimates that the fighting has displaced nearly 80 percent of Gaza's 2.4 million people.

Source: guardian.ng