GAZA: Israel intensified its bombing of southern Gaza overnight, with officials in the enclave saying record numbers had been killed again, as violence flared elsewhere in the region.
One strike brought down several apartment buildings in Khan Younis. "This is something not normal, we have not heard something like this before," said Khader Abu Odah, one of many stunned residents waiting for an excavator to lift rubble so they could look for survivors.
Palestinian anger over the deaths has been increased as many of those who obeyed the order to move south are also being killed.
The United States and Russia are leading rival calls at the United Nations for a pause in fighting to allow aid into Gaza, where living conditions are harrowing.
Limited deliveries of food, medicine and water from Egypt restarted on Saturday through Rafah, the only crossing not controlled by Israel, which announced it had sealed off the coastal enclave for good after this month's attack.
Britain would discuss a humanitarian pause in the conflict in Gaza to facilitate aid shipments, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson said on Wednesday.
"Humanitarian pauses - which are temporary, which are limited in scope - can be an operational tool, and obviously that is something we could consider, and have been discussing," Sunak's spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the government did not agree with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the attacks by Palestinians earlier this month "did not happen in a vacuum," comments which have sparked an angry response from Israel.
Many of those killed were in the south, Gaza health officials said on Wednesday, where hundreds of thousands fled after Israel warned them it would attack the north.
At least 6,546 Palestinians, including 2,704 children, were killed and 17,439 wounded in Israeli strikes since Oct. 7, the health ministry in Gaza said on Wednesday.
In the past 24 hours, 756 Palestinians including 344 children were killed in Israeli strikes, the ministry said.
The ministry said "the massacres took place on the southern region of the Gaza strip."
Talking about the health system, the ministry said the attacks targeted and damaged 57 institutions, and that 73 medical staff were killed and 25 ambulances were now out of service.
A rocket was launched on Wednesday toward the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat, some 220 km from the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli military said there had been an impact in an outlying area. — Reuters
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