The Gaza Strip has been under constant attack since fighting began on Sunday (Picture: AFP)
Israel’s defence minister has ordered ‘complete siege’ on Gaza where civilians are already paying a high price for the attacks from Hamas militants.
Authorities will further cut electricity and block the entry of any food and fuel, two days after terrorists launched unprecedented incursion over land and air from the Strip.
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Israel formally declared war on Sunday, indicating to greater fighting ahead, and a possible ground assault into the region.
To further bring Gazans on their knees, defence minister Yoav Gallant introduced another level of the blockade, describing this as part of a battle against ‘beastly people’.
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‘There is no electricity, there is no food, there is no water, there is no fuel,’ he said.
Meanwhile, chief military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, told reporters Israel has ‘control’ of its border communities.
He said there had been some isolated incidents early today, but that ‘at this stage, there is no fighting in the communities’.
He added that ‘there might still be terrorists in the region’.
A Palestinian man carries a wounded child at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City (Picture: EPA)
Palestinians inspect the damage in the surrounding of the destroyed National Bank building (Picture: EPA)
Palestinians evacuate the area following an Israeli airstrike on the Sousi mosque in Gaza City (Picture: AFP)
Earlier, the military said fighting was taking place in ‘seven or eight’ places inside Israeli territory.
According to local TV, Israel has also recruited 300,000 reservists since Saturday – the country’s highest mobilisation ever.
As of late Sunday, Israeli airstrikes had destroyed 159 homes across the territory and severely damaged 1,210 others, the U.N. said.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said a school sheltering more than 225 people took a direct hit, but it did not say where the fire came from.
In the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike early today killed some 19 people, including women and children, said Talat Barhoum, a doctor at the local Al-Najjar Hospital.
Barhoum said aircraft hit the home of the Abu Hilal family, and that one of those killed was Rafaat Abu Hilal, a leader of a local armed group.
Over the weekend, another airstrike on a home in Rafah killed 19 members of the Abu Quta family, including women and children, survivors said.
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