100 children among dead; Netanyahu outlines five principles to conclude the offensive
Palestinians carry aid supplies collected from trucks that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday. Photo: Reuters
Israeli strikes across the besieged Gaza Strip yesterday killed at least 39 Palestinians as the death toll from Israeli-induced starvation since the offensive began rose to 217, including 100 children.
With severe shortages of supplies and patients' health often already weakened by malnutrition, a trauma specialist in the enclave said many patients have little chance of recovery.
"Patients come and doctors know if they have a certain level of injury, there's nothing we can do," he said. "And to face families, and to face patients in the last moments of their life, and not be able to do the things we are trained to do is devastating."
During a news conference in Jerusalem yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "New Gaza offensive plans aim to tackle two remaining Hamas strongholds."
Hamas still has "thousands of armed terrorists" in Gaza and their goal is to "destroy" the state of Israel, he said, adding that Gaza will be demilitarised.
Netanyahu also outlined the Israel's five principles to conclude the offensive: the disarmament of Hamas, return of all hostages, demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, Israel taking "overriding security control" in the Strip, establishment of an "alternative civil administration" that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.
The UN Security Council (UNSC) was set to hold an emergency session to discuss Israel's plan to capture and occupy Gaza City yesterday.
The countries that have called the UN session have issued a joint statement that condemns Israel's plan to seize Gaza City, saying that it risks "violating international humanitarian law" and will "only endanger the lives of all civilians in Gaza".
Meanwhile, Palestinian analyst Muhammad Shehada said all of the combined airdrops of aid into the Gaza Strip over the last week have totalled about the equivalent of 15 aid trucks, "which is less than 1 percent of what Gaza needs on a normal day for basic survival".
Aid agencies have been seeking the entry of at least 600 trucks daily to address the dire situation in Gaza, which has seen more than 200 people die of starvation, reports Al Jazeera online.
Shehada, a senior fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said: "complicit countries" are participating in parachuting aid into Gaza, "not to address the hunger, not to end it, but to sustain it [and] cover it up" with "headline-grabbing gestures".
Israel's offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable.
The Israeli military has warned that expanding the offensive could endanger the lives of hostages Hamas is still holding in Gaza, believed to number around 20, and draw its troops into protracted and deadly guerilla warfare.
Italy said Israel should heed its army's warnings. "The invasion of Gaza risks turning into a Vietnam for Israeli soldiers," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in an interview with daily Il Messaggero.
