Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
12 October 2023 | 15:17 CAT

Image: Kashmir Observer

Thousands of residents in the besieged enclave of Gaza are fleeing for life amid intense bombardment by Israeli warplanes for the third day running, reports from the area said on Monday.

Scores of residential and commercial buildings have been reduced to rubble. Over 180,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are packed into U.N. shelters as Israeli warplanes pound the tiny territory of 2.3 million people after their Hamas militant rulers launched an unprecedented weekend attack on Israel.

Israeli airstrikes flattened mosques over the heads of worshipers. At least two hospitals and two centres run by the Palestine Red Crescent Society have been hit. So have two schools run by the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees.

Earlier, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported 436 deaths, including 91 children and 61 women, and 2,271 injuries, including 244 children and 151 women.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has reported that around 74,000 Palestinians have sought refuge in 64 schools and shelters operated by the agency in the Gaza Strip since Saturday.

Soon after, black smoke, orange flashes and sparks lit the Gaza sky from explosions. Israeli drones could be heard overhead. Gaza’s dead and wounded were carried into crumbling, overcrowded hospitals with severe medical supplies and equipment shortages.

Streets were deserted apart from ambulances racing to the scenes of air strikes. Israel cut the power, plunging the city into darkness.

A Gaza official said 13 towers and residential buildings had been destroyed, with 159 single residential units gone. Another 1,210 apartments were partially damaged in Israeli bombardment.