Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 900 Palestinians and destroyed entire neighborhoods in the besieged city.
At least 4,600 others were also injured following five nights of intense bombardment by Israel’s military, according to an international news media reports.
Residents of the Gaza Strip scrambled to find safety Wednesday, as Israeli warplanes hammered neighborhood after neighborhood in the tiny coastal enclave, retaliating for the deadly weekend attack by Hamas militants.
The Rimal neighborhood in Gaza – home to universities, media organizations and the offices of aid organizations – was turned into fields of rubble as Israel continued to bomb the area and several other parts of the city.
As Gazans crowded into UN schools and a shrinking number of safe neighborhoods, humanitarian groups pleaded for the creation of corridors to get aid into Gaza, warning that hospitals overwhelmed with wounded people were running out of supplies.
The UN warned that Gazans will have no escape from Israeli bombardment if the raids on Gaza continue.
Israel has stopped entry of food, fuel and medicine into Gaza, and the sole remaining access from Egypt shut down Tuesday after airstrikes hit near the border crossing.
Israel appears determined to crush Hamas’ hold on Gaza, following an unprecedented attack in which militants gunned down civilians in their homes, on streets and at a mass outdoor music festival, while taking several people into captivity. At least 1,200 Israelis died in Hamas’ operation.
Israel has claimed that Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza are holding about 150 hostages.
A looming question is whether Israel will launch a ground assault into Gaza — a 40-kilometer-long (25-mile) strip of land wedged among Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea that is home to 2.3 million people.
Israel steps up offensive
Israel stepped up its offensive on Tuesday, expanding the mobilization of reservists to 360,000. Israel’s military said it had regained effective control over areas Hamas attacked in its south and of the Gaza border.
New exchanges of fire over Israel’s northern borders with militants in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday pointed to the risk of an expanded regional conflict.
In a new tactic, Israel is warning civilians to evacuate neighborhood after neighborhood, and then inflicting devastation, in what could be a prelude to a ground offensive.
On Tuesday, the military told residents of the nearby al-Daraj neighborhood to evacuate. New explosions then immediately hit it and other areas, continuing into the night.
Fighter jets returned multiple times to another neighborhood, al-Furqan, striking 450 targets in 24 hours, the Israeli military said.
One blast hit Gaza City’s seaport, setting fishing boats aflame.
“There is no safe place in Gaza right now. You see decent people being killed every day,” Gaza journalist Hasan Jabar said after three Palestinian journalists were killed in the Rimal bombardment. “I am genuinely afraid for my life.”
Rescue officials in Gaza said “large numbers” of people were still trapped under the remnants of leveled buildings, with rescue equipment and ambulances unable to reach the area.
Palestinian Civil Defense forces pulled Abdullah Musleh out of his basement together with 30 others after their apartment building was flattened.
“I sell toys, not missiles,’’ the 46-year-old said, weeping. “I want to leave Gaza. Why do I have to stay here? I lost my home and my job.”
