<div dir="ltr">
<h1>Israel says 6,000 bombs dropped on Gaza as war with Hamas nears a week</h1><p class="gmail-article__subhead gmail-css-1wt8oh6"><em>Air
strikes pound Gaza for a sixth day as death toll and fears of a
humanitarian disaster in the besieged Palestinian enclave mount.</em></p><div class="gmail-responsive-image"><img src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/AP23285420215439-1697118167.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80" alt="Palestinians sit outside their house following Israeli airstrikes in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip" width="410" height="273" style="margin-right: 25px;"></div>Palestinians sit outside their house after Israeli air strikes hit Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza [Hatem Ali/AP Photo]<div class="gmail-article-info-block gmail-css-ti04u9"><div class="gmail-article-b-l" style="border-color:rgb(250,144,0)"><div class="gmail-article-dates" style="border-color:rgb(250,144,0)"><div class="gmail-date-simple gmail-css-1yjq2zp"><span class="gmail-screen-reader-text">Published On 12 Oct 2023</span></div><div class="gmail-date-simple gmail-css-1yjq2zp"><font size="1"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/israel-says-6000-bombs-dropped-on-gaza-as-war-with-hamas-nears-a-week">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/israel-says-6000-bombs-dropped-on-gaza-as-war-with-hamas-nears-a-week</a></font><span aria-hidden="true"></span></div></div></div><div class="gmail-social-share-buttons"><a class="gmail-social-share-button" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Share on Facebook" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Faje.io%2Fsb7u00"></a></div></div><a class="gmail-social-share-button" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Share on Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Israel%20says%206%2C000%20bombs%20dropped%20on%20Gaza%20as%20war%20with%20Hamas%20nears%20a%20week&source=sharethiscom&related=sharethis&via=AJEnglish&url=https%3A%2F%2Faje.io%2Fsb7u00"></a><div class="gmail-article-info-block gmail-css-ti04u9"><div class="gmail-social-share-buttons"></div></div><div class="gmail-wysiwyg gmail-wysiwyg--all-content gmail-css-ibbk12"><p>Israeli
air strikes are pounding the Gaza Strip for a sixth consecutive day as
fears of a humanitarian disaster in the besieged Palestinian enclave
mount.</p>
<p>Israel on Thursday said it has <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/11/israel-hamas-war-live-gaza-faces-growing-humanitarian-catastrophe">dropped 6,000 bombs</a> weighing 4,000 tonnes on Gaza in the past six days, killing more than 1,400 people.</p>
<p>Officials in Gaza said the dead included 447 children, 248 women and
10 healthcare workers. More than 150 people were killed on Thursday
alone.</p>
<p>Entire neighbourhoods in Gaza – home to 2.3 million people, half of
them children – have been destroyed by the incessant bombing, forcing
338,000 Palestinians to flee their homes and take shelter.</p>
<p>The death toll in the occupied West Bank has also surged to 31 while
more than 600 people have been injured, according to the Palestinian
Ministry of Health.</p>
<img class="gmail-size-arc-image-770 gmail-wp-image-2404802" src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Interactive_Live-tracker_Gaza_October12_2023_1410GMT_Casualty-tracker-October-12-1697120862.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C770&quality=80" alt="Interactive_Live tracker_Gaza_October12_2023_1410GMT_Casualty tracker_UPDATED" width="410" height="410" style="margin-right: 25px;">(Al Jazeera)
<p>On the Israeli side, at least 1,300 people have been killed since the
armed Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel and took at
least 100 people captive on Saturday.</p>
<p>Israel has imposed a complete siege of Gaza, cutting access to food,
water, medicines and fuel, as its forces prepare for a possible ground
assault.</p>
<p>Here is a recap of the latest developments:</p>
<h2 id="gmail-gazans-rendered-homeless-by-bombing">Gazans rendered homeless by bombing</h2>
<p>The United Nations humanitarian office said Israeli bombardment of
Gaza has levelled more than 1,000 homes since Saturday while another 560
housing units have been severely damaged and rendered uninhabitable.</p>
<p>More than 12,600 homes have sustained damage due to Israeli air
strikes, said the agency, called the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).</p></div><p>It said the reduction in water supplies due to Israel tightening its
siege on the strip has resulted in dire water shortages for more than
650,000 people.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sewage systems have been destroyed, OCHA added, sending fetid wastewater into the streets and posing a health hazard.</p>
<p>Israeli air strikes have made cemeteries in Gaza dangerous to reach
so mourning families are burying their dead in informal graveyards dug
in empty lots, reports said.</p>
<h2 id="gmail-hospitals-risk-turning-into-morgues">Hospitals ‘risk turning into morgues’</h2>
<p>Human rights groups said Gaza’s health system, already stretched to
its limits by a 16-year blockade, is on the verge of complete collapse.
The enclave’s only power plant was forced to shut down on Wednesday
after it ran out of fuel.</p>
<p>The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Gaza’s hospitals <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/gaza-hospitals-risk-turning-into-morgues-rights-groups-call-for-action">“risk turning into morgues”</a>
as severely wounded civilians, including infants, are rushed inside its
crowded wards, where beds and medical supplies are running out.</p>
<p>“As Gaza loses power, hospitals lose power, putting newborns in
incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk,” said Fabrizio
Carboni, the ICRC’s regional director.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:22px">OCHA said all 13 hospitals in the
territory are only partially operational due to severe shortages of fuel
and crucial medical supplies.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Israel on Thursday said there would be no humanitarian exceptions to
its siege of Gaza until all its hostages are freed by Hamas.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:22px">“Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No
electrical switch will be lifted, no water hydrant will be opened and no
fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home,”
Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said in a social media post.</span></p>
<h2 id="egypt-says-facilitating-aid-flights-to-gaza">Egypt says facilitating aid flights to Gaza</h2>
<p>Egypt on Thursday said it was directing international aid flights for
Gaza to an airport in northern Sinai although Israeli bombardments
along the border have so far hampered the delivery of the relief.</p>
<p>The Rafah border crossing between the Sinai and Gaza remained open,
the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that Egypt asked
Israel to avoid targeting the Palestinian side of the crossing after
strikes prevented normal operations there.</p>
<p>Israel’s bombing and total siege on Gaza has caused alarm in Egypt,
which shares a border with the south of the narrow coastal enclave.</p>
<p>El Arish airport in northern Sinai, about 45km (28 miles) from the
Gaza border, was prepared to receive aid deliveries from Qatar and
Jordan, but these would not leave the airport until humanitarian
corridors had been established, Egyptian security sources told the
Reuters news agency.</p>
<img class="gmail-size-arc-image-770 gmail-wp-image-2404396" src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/33Y42TY-highres-1697113662.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80" alt="Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on October 12, 2023 as raging battles between Israel and the Hamas movement continue for the sixth consecutive day. - Thousands of people, both Israeli and Palestinians have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip, entered southern Israel in a surprise attack leading Israel to declare war on Hamas in Gaza on October 8. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)" width="410" height="273" style="margin-right: 25px;">Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City [Mahmud Hams/AFP]
<h2 id="gmail-us-secretary-of-state-in-israel">US secretary of state in Israel</h2>
<p>United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Thursday as President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/us-top-diplomat-blinken-visits-israel-urges-protection-of-gaza-civilians">send a message</a> of unequivocal support to its ally Israel and deter regional forces hostile to it from joining the fight alongside Hamas.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:22px">Blinken addressed reporters in Tel
Aviv, saying the death toll for US citizens killed in the attacks by
Hamas has risen to at least 25, </span><a style="font-size:22px" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/11/us-death-toll-in-israel-hamas-war-rises-to-22-officials">up from 22</a><span style="font-size:22px"> on Wednesday.</span></p>
<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Thank you, America, for standing with Israel today, tomorrow and always.”</p>
<div class="gmail-wysiwyg gmail-wysiwyg--all-content gmail-css-ibbk12">
<p>Also on Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he
expected Israel’s military to “do the right thing” as it prepares for a
ground assault on Gaza. He said the US has placed no conditions on
military assistance to Israel.</p>
<p>Rights groups worry that, facing little outside pressure, Israel’s
assault on Gaza could move forward with little regard for civilian
casualties or adherence to international law.</p>
<h2 id="gmail-palestinians-killed-by-settlers-in-west-bank">Palestinians killed by settlers in West Bank</h2>
<p>While the world’s focus has been fixed on events in Gaza and Israel,
tensions in the occupied West Bank are also at a boiling point with an <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2023/10/11/palestinians-in-occupied-west-bank-are-under-israeli-lockdown">Israeli lockdown in place</a> and Israeli settlers killing several Palestinians in a series of attacks over the past week.</p>
<p>On Thursday, a Palestinian father and his son were <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/palestinian-man-son-attending-funeral-procession-in-west-bank-shot-dead">shot dead</a>
by Israeli settlers and soldiers taking part in a funeral procession
held for four Palestinians killed in a settler attack the day before.</p>
<p>Also on Thursday, two Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces in a
shooting near a police station in occupied East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Israeli police said they opened fire at a group of Palestinians after one man allegedly shot at the police station.</p>
</div><div class="gmail-article-source">Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies</div>
</div>