Hello and welcome to the details of ‘Worse than earthquake’: Gaza hammered as Israel widens war and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - A picture taken from near the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 28, 2023, shows smoke raising during an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli air strikes destroyed hundreds of buildings in the Gaza Strip overnight, the civil defence service in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory said on October 28. — AFP pic
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES, Oct 28 — After air strikes and artillery fire rained down for hours overnight, much of the Gaza Strip has become an indistinguishable wasteland of rubble, with residents likening the devastation to that of a natural disaster.
The intense bombardments “changed the landscape”, Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defence told AFP of the damage.
“Hundreds of buildings and houses were completely destroyed and thousands of other homes were damaged,” he added.
The destruction followed an announcement from the Israeli military that its forces had expanded operations in Gaza, following three weeks of intense bombardments in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel.
Advertisement
More than 7,700 people have since been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, including some 3,500 children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
They came after Hamas fighters crossed the heavily fortified border to southern Israel, killing some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
The Islamist group has also taken some 229 people to the Gaza Strip as captives, according to the army.
Advertisement
Just hours before Israel intensified its bombardment last night, army spokesman Daniel Hagari accused Hamas fighters of waging war on Israel from Gaza’s hospitals and using civilians as “human shields”.
In Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City, widespread damage was visible.
“What happened in Shati is worse than an earthquake,” camp resident Alaa Mahdi, 51, told AFP.
“There was bombing from everywhere, the navy, artillery and the planes,” he continued.
“Who are they striking, the resistance? No, the poor people.”
Mahdi said the internet and communications blackout in the Gaza Strip since yesterday evening had been imposed so that Israel “would commit a massacre without anyone hearing about it”.
The blackout triggered condemnation from a range of rights groups.
“This information blackout risks providing cover for mass atrocities and contributing to impunity for human rights violations,” said Human Rights Watch in a statement.
A young boy stands atop a donkey-pulled cart carrying a water container, in the midst of destruction, following Israeli strikes in Gaza City on October 28, 2023. — AFP pic
‘Is Anybody There?’
“Last night, the ground in Gaza shook,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declared today. “We attacked above the ground and below the ground. We attacked terror operatives of all ranks in every location.”
Amid the onslaught, taxi driver Jamal Abu Shaqfa, 50, left the Shati camp with his family in a bid to flee south.
“We are heading towards Khan Yunis because the indiscriminate bombings in Shati have spared no women, children or old people,” he said.
“The situation is very bad.”
Amid a humanitarian situation described by world organisations as “catastrophic”, a food rations distribution centre run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees was looted.
Dozens of Palestinians were seen coming out of the premises in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, one carrying a sack of flour on his shoulder, another bottles of oil under his arm.
“If we weren’t in need, we wouldn’t have gone in. The whole world is against us,” said one as he left the centre.
In a street in the camp, dozens of residents picked through the debris of a residential tower that along with several houses nearby was razed by the bombing.
“Is anybody there? We are here to save you,” shouted Abdelmajid Abu Hassira, as he waded through the wreckage searching for survivors.
Kamal Abou Fattoum, 47, who fled south from Gaza City last week, returned on Saturday morning to find his house reduced to debris.
“I saw destruction worse than that caused by the earthquake in Turkey,” he said, referring to the devastating natural disaster in February that killed more than 50,000 people in southeastern Turkey.
“People are under the rubble. Some are dead, others are still alive,” he added. — AFP
These were the details of the news ‘Worse than earthquake’: Gaza hammered as Israel widens war for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
