Israel’s rival political parties have formed an emergency unity government and “war cabinet” as the military prepares to ramp up a punishing bombardment of Gaza.
Rockets have been pounding Gaza into rubble, and the situation for Palestinians became even more dire as the enclave’s only power plant ran out of fuel early on Thursday (AEDT).
It has left two million people in the densely populated strip of land without any electricity unless they have generators and fuel to power them.
The UN has pleaded for food, fuel and water to be allowed into Gaza as Israel vowed to enforce a blockade.
So far Israeli reprisal strikes have killed 1100 people and wounded 5339, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
Some 535 residential buildings have been destroyed leaving around 250,000 homeless, Hamas officials said.
Footage of the devastation in Gaza shows neighbourhoods such as an area known as The Sands turned into dust.
‘The Sands’ neighbourhood in Gaza has been obliterated. Photo: CNN screenshot
Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and centrist opposition leader Benny Gantz announced the emergency government would focus only on the conflict.
Separately, Netanyahu released a graphic photo of an Israeli child’s bedroom, which he said proved Hamas was “worse than ISIS”.
The image shows a small toddler-sized bed with crumpled sheets that are heavily stained with blood – evidence of a horror attack. Elsewhere in the room are a child’s toy truck and toy boxes.
Netanyahu captioned the gruesome picture: ‘Hamas is worse than ISIS’ but did not provide more details.
The picture was shared on social media on the same day Israeli soldiers uncovered horrors in rural villages where it was claimed children had been beheaded in their homes, and women and the elderly killed.
Israel’s death toll rose to 1200 with over 2700 wounded, its military said, from Hamas militants’ hours-long rampage after breaching the fence enclosing Gaza on Saturday.
Israel has vowed swift punishment for the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in its 75-year history, which left corpses strewn around a music festival and a kibbutz community.
The military said dozens of its fighter jets struck more than 200 targets in a neighbourhood of Gaza City overnight that it said had been used by Hamas to launch its attacks.
Israel has put Gaza under “total siege” to stop food and fuel reaching the enclave of 2.3 million people, many poor and dependent on aid.
Hamas media said on Wednesday (local time) electricity went out after the only power station stopped working.
An injured girl is brought to hospital in Gaza City as Israel’s attacks continue on its fifth day. Photo: Getty
With Palestinian rescue workers overwhelmed, others in the crowded coastal strip joined the search for bodies in rubble.
The Israeli military said its troops had killed at least 1000 Palestinian gunmen who infiltrated from Gaza and the Chief of the General Staff met commanders to discuss their next steps.
Scores of Israelis and others from abroad were taken to Gaza as hostages, some of whom were paraded through streets. Both sides have said many women and children were among the dead and wounded.
Israeli security forces have killed at least 27 Palestinians during clashes in the occupied West Bank since Saturday, as Palestinian factions called on people in the Palestinian territory to rise up following Hamas’ strike from Gaza.
In another sign of the crisis widening, Israeli shelling hit southern Lebanese towns after a rocket attack by the powerful Hezbollah in the fourth consecutive day of violence there.
A ground offensive into Gaza carries risks for Israel, notably to the hostages held in the narrow, widely urbanised enclave. Hamas has threatened to execute a captive for each home hit without warning.
Israel withdrew settlers and troops from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation. An Israeli blockade since Hamas seized power in the enclave in 2007 has created conditions which Palestinians say are intolerable.
Washington said it was talking with Israel and Egypt about safe passage for civilians from Gaza, with food in short supply.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, an official in the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, said the international community must intervene urgently to avert “a major humanitarian catastrophe”.
