Swathes of Gaza reduced to rubble
FIRST the lights went out, then the mobile phone signal and internet went down. And then the bombs fell, relentlessly, for hours.
Cut off from the outside world, Gaza endured one of the worst nights of bombardment in history, with its inhabitants left in a state of ‘panic, fear and chaos’ as Israel swore bloody revenge on Hamas.
Amid a near-total communications blackout, ambulances were said to be unable to reach the dead and injured. Paramedics drove towards explosions in the hope of reaching casualties.
Israel’s stated target was Hamas terrorists who slaughtered 1,400 Israelis three weeks ago in a barbaric attack. But shocking images emerged yesterday of the Palestinian territory reduced in many parts to nothing but rubble in Israel’s aerial blitz.
Israel did begin to allow humanitarian aid convoys to access southern Gaza while pounding the north with missiles, artillery and tank shells.
Desperate UN calls for a ceasefire were ignored as the death toll shot past 7,700, including more than 3,000 children, according to the Hamasrun health ministry.
‘It is a state of panic, fear and chaos; very chaotic scenes in the street. People don’t know what to do in these circumstances,’ said BBC correspondent Rushdi Abualouf, speaking from the southern city of Khan Younis on a satellite phone.
‘The bombs were everywhere, the building was shaking,’ said Hind al-Khudary, a journalist in central Gaza. ‘We can’t reach anyone or contact anyone. I do not know where my family is.’
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which runs shelters and schools for nearly half of all displaced Gaza residents, said it had lost contact with most of its staff and co-ordinating aid efforts was now ‘extremely challenging’.
Head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the blackout had made it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured.
Melanie Ward, chief executive of charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she had not been able to reach humanitarian workers in Gaza, since Friday.
She said: ‘We are desperately worried for all of our colleagues.’
Hamas health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said the communications blackout had ‘paralysed’ the health network. ‘Some civilians were using their
‘We are at a tipping point. Humanity must prevail’
bare hands to pull injured people from the rubble and loading them into personal cars or donkey carts to rush them to the hospital.’
Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Programme, said she was ‘extremely worried’ about aid workers and civilians in Gaza.
‘We are at a tipping point. Humanity must prevail,’ she said.
UN secretary-general António Guterres wrote on X/Twitter: ‘I repeat my call for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East, the unconditional release of all hostages, and the delivery of life-saving supplies at the scale needed.’