Gaza plunges into darkness as humanitarian crisis deepen

Agencies | Gaza                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Gaza was pushed into a total blackout yesterday, the fifth day since the conflict with Israel began, with the only power station there running out of fuel as Israel has cut off energy supplies as well as food and water to the 365 square-kilometer piece of land that is home to over two million people.

Along with the lack of power, which is affecting the functioning of hospitals in the Palestinian exclave, the threat of a ground incursion drew closer to Gaza as the Israeli army was reported to have readied hundreds of thousands of its troops near the border.

The day began with a report citing Gaza’s government officials that said at least 30 persons had died as Israel pounded the area overnight. By noon, the health ministry of Gaza said the death toll in the conflict with Israel had risen to 1,055.

Palestinian Red Crescent reported in the afternoon that four paramedics have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza yesterday. A short while later, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan condoned the “shameful methods” used by the Israeli army in the densely-populated Gaza Strip.