Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said Monday that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian enclave since Israel launched its withering bombing campaign more than two weeks ago.
About a dozen trucks carrying desperately needed aid — the third convoy in three days — arrived inside Gaza from Egypt on Monday through Rafah, Gaza’s only crossing not controlled by Israel. The Israeli military said it had hit “over 320 military targets in the Gaza Strip” in the past 24 hours. In one such operation, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier was killed and three others wounded, the army said, adding that the tank operation had aimed “to dismantle terror infrastructure… and locate missing persons and bodies”.
US President Joe Biden brokered the passage of aid convoys with Egyptian and Israeli leaders in talks last week — but the United Nations estimates Gaza needs about 100 trucks of relief goods every day. Netanyahu warned on Sunday that if Hezbollah were to get more deeply involved, it would be “the mistake of its life”.