Ahead of Gaza invasion, Israel intensifies strikes

The Israeli military maintained its pressure on Gaza City with heavy bombardments overnight, residents said, ahead of a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers on plans to seize the enclave’s largest city. Twenty-seven countries, including Britain, France and Germany, called on Israel to allow “immediate independent foreign media access” into the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.
“Journalists and media workers play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war,” the members of the Media Freedom Coalition said in a joint statement. The Gaza civil defence agency said at least 48 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the Palestinian territory, including several killed in an air strike in Gaza City ahead of a major offensive to capture the area.The military called up 60,000 reservists in a sign that the government was pressing ahead with the plan, despite international condemnation. However, one military official said that most reservists would not serve in combat and that the strategy to take Gaza City had not yet been finalised.
Calling up tens of thousands of reservists is also likely to take weeks, giving time for mediators to attempt to bridge gaps over a new temporary ceasefire proposal that Hamas has accepted. In a sign of growing despair at conditions in Gaza, residents staged a rare show of protest against the war on Thursday. Carrying banners reading “Save Gaza, enough” and “Gaza is dying by the killing, hunger and oppression”, hundreds of people rallied in Gaza City in a march organised by several civil unions.
“This is for a clear message: words are finished, and the time has come for action to stop the military operations, to stop the genocide against our people and to stop the massacres taking place daily,” said Palestinian journalist Tawfik Abu Jarad during the protest.
The Gaza health ministry said at least 70 people had been killed in Israeli fire in the enclave in the past 24 hours, including eight people in a house in Sabra suburb in Gaza City. SEE ALSO P4