1200 Israelis, 1100 Palestinians, 22 Americans, 17 Britons; Platforms Africa chronicles death tolls and major events in the war between Palestine (Hamas) and Israel in the last seven days
Death Toll Rising
The US has confirmed the deaths of at least 22 American citizens, a state department spokesperson said. They said. We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected. The number is up from 14 on Tuesday.
17 Britons missing and feared dead in Hamas attacks. Seventeen British nationals, including children, are feared dead or missing in Israel after attacks by Hamas. The atrocities have so far claimed at least 2,100 lives.
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The Palestinian death toll since Saturday stands at 1,100, including 326 children, and there are 5,339 injured. At least 30 people were killed and hundreds wounded as Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with hundreds of airstrikes overnight, a Hamas government official said. More than 260,000 people have fled their homes in the Gaza Strip as heavy Israeli bombardments from the air, land and sea continued, the UN said.
The Israeli death toll stands at 1,200. More than 2,700 are wounded. The jump in the death toll (up by 200) is “not because there is ongoing fighting,” an IDF spokesperson said, but because “now as the time has gone by we are discovering bodies of dead Israelis in the various communities that Hamas infiltrated and where they conducted their massacres”.
An Attack Foretold
The chairman of the powerful US House foreign affairs committee has said Israel received a warning from Egypt of potential violence three days before Hamas caught Israeli forces off-guard in a large-scale attack.
Talk for Truce
Turkey is carrying out negotiations aimed at securing the release of Israeli civilians held by Hamas, according to reports. Talks were being carried out by Turkish officials after instructions from the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to a senior Turkish official.
As Gaza’s sole power station ran out of fuel amid a tightening siege, hundreds of terrified people sought shelter in the entrance of the enclave’s largest hospital, huddling together as bombardments rained down. “The hospital is completely full and things have started to run low. And this is only day four,” said Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a surgeon at Gaza City’s main hospital, Al-Shifa.
Biden Talking Tough
Biden said the Hamas attack on Israel was the ‘deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust’. The US president was speaking at a round table of Jewish leaders in Washington on Wednesday. He said Saturday’s attack was “sheer evil” and a “campaign of pure cruelty against the Jewish people”.
Biden warned Iran to ‘be careful’. During his speech to a group of Jewish community leaders in Washington, adding that the US is sending more military assistance to help Israel fight Hamas militants. Biden’s remarks marked the first time he connected the US deployment of a carrier fleet near to Israel to concerns Iran might seek to become involved, Reuters reported.
Biden also said the US was “working on every aspect” of the hostage crisis in Israel, but that “the idea that I’m going to stand here before you and tell you what I’m doing is bizarre”.
Pains, Casualties
More than 338,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said, as heavy Israeli bombardments continue to hit the Palestinian enclave.
The Israel Defence Forces hit hundreds of targets in Gaza overnight, including 80 in the neighbourhood of Beit Hanon and over 450 targets in the Al-Furqan neighbourhood in the last 24 hours, and 70 more were hit in the neighbourhood of al-Daraj. The targets included banks and places the IDF says were used by Hamas to directed attacks against Israel. Israel’s military aim is to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities, a spokesperson said.
Lebanon’s national news agency said two rockets had been fired from southern Lebanese territory towards Israeli territory. The Israeli military said an anti-tank missile was launched towards the town of Arav Al-Amsha, which lies close to the “blue line” that demarcates northern Israeli territory from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah said it was responsible for firing precision missiles on Israel.
UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, runs for cover over alarm of Hamas rocket
The UK’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, was seen running for cover when sirens went off warning of incoming Hamas rocket fire during a visit to the town of Ofakim, in southern Israel.
Flights Suspended
British Airways has suspended flights to and from Israel due to safety concerns. A BA flight turned back to London after nearly reaching Tel Aviv.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, told soldiers: “We will come from the ground,” in another clear sign that a ground offensive into Gaza is imminent. Speaking on Tuesday to soldiers near the Gaza fence, Gallant said, “Hamas wanted a change and it will get one. What was in Gaza will no longer be. We started the offensive from the air, later on we will also come from the ground.”
Israel forms war cabinet
Israel’s new war cabinet vowed to ‘wipe Hamas off the face of the earth’. Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation alongside the opposition party leader, Benny Gantz, after the pair agreed to form an emergency government to direct war against Hamas. The cabinet consists of Netanyahu, Gantz, and Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant. During the fighting with Hamas, the emergency government will not take up any unrelated policy or laws, Netanyahu and Gantz said in a joint statement.
Aid Corridor’s plan
The US has discussed brokering an aid corridor for civilians in Gaza as Israel’s air force continued to pound the territory. The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Tuesday that talks on safe passage for civilians in Gaza were being held with Israel and Egypt.
UN Life Saving Appeal
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has called for essential “life-saving” supplies of fuel, food and water to be allowed into Gaza. Guterres, in remarks to the press on Wednesday, said he will never forget the images of the “supercharged cycle of violence and horror”. He said he was in continuous contact with leaders in the region, and warned against any “spillover” of the conflict. “I appeal to all parties – and those who have an influence over those parties – to avoid any further escalation,” he said. Guterres called for the immediate release of all Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and urged that international humanitarian law to be upheld and civilians to “be protected at all times”.
Platforms Africa
This chronology is sourced from reports from Reuters, Guardian, Daily Mail
