Israel’s Defense Minister Yoac Gallant said the country has ordered a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, as its military continues to launch air strikes on the Palestinian territory.
“We are putting a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed,” Gallant said in a video message, referring to the enclave that is overcrowded with 2.3 million people.
Israel continued to pound the Gaza Strip with a new wave of rockets from the early hours of Monday morning, with clashes and shelling reported in the West Bank, Al Arabiya said.
Al Arabiya and Al Hadath sources reported that military planes bombed two mosques in Gaza on Monday morning.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it had hit more than 1,00 targets in Gaza and its tanks and drones were stationed across the strip’s openings in the border fence to prevent anyone from entering areas under their control.
Nearly 500 people, including children and women, have been killed in Gaza and thousands of others have been injured in Israel’s attacks.
A humanitarian corridor to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip following Israeli strikes must be opened urgently, a source from the Palestinian Red Crescent told Al Arabiya.
The United Nations said the number of displaced Gazans has risen to more than 123,000 as a result of the fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas since the attack on Saturday.
As of late Sunday, retaliatory Israeli airstrikes had destroyed 159 housing units across Gaza and severely damaged 1,210 others, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said a school sheltering hundreds of families was also hit.
Several Israeli news outlets, citing rescue service officials, said at least 700 people have been killed in Israel, including 44 soldiers.