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Israel says no break to Gaza siege unless hostages are freed
- Israeli military awaits go-ahead for Gaza ground offensive following weekend attack by Hamas insurgents
- Israel has put the Palestinian enclave under total siege and launched a powerful bombing campaign
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Israel said on Thursday there would be no humanitarian break to its siege of the Gaza Strip until all its hostages were freed, after the Red Cross pleaded for fuel to be allowed in to prevent overwhelmed hospitals from “turning into morgues”.
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Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that rules the Gaza Strip in retribution for the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, when hundreds of gunmen poured across the barrier fence and rampaged through Israeli towns on Saturday.
State broadcaster Kan said on Thursday the Israeli death toll had risen to more than 1,300. Most were civilians gunned down in their homes or on the streets, with scores of hostages taken to Gaza.
The scale of the killings has emerged in recent days after Israeli forces reclaimed control of towns, finding homes strewn with bodies, including women who were raped and killed and children who were shot and burned.
Israel has responded so far by putting the enclave, home to 2.3 million people, under total siege and launching by far the most powerful bombing campaign in the 75-year history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, destroying whole neighbourhoods.
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Gaza’s health ministry said Thursday that 1,417 people had been killed and 6,268 wounded in the strikes. The sole electric power station has been switched off and hospitals are running out of fuel for emergency generators.
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