Shocking satellite images reveal the widespread destruction among neighbourhoods in Gaza following Israeli bombings as the conflict continues for a 20th day.
The Maxar Technology images, released by Reuters on Thursday, show the neighbourhoods of Atatra, Al-Karama, and the city of Beit Hanoun before and after the blasts that followed the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on October 7.
Buildings and homes that were once dispersed between green spaces in the Hamas-run neighborhoods on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip have been obliterated.
Israeli airstrikes have devastated parts of the Gaza Strip, leaving neighborhoods in rubble and hospitals struggling to treat masses of injured people with a lack of fuel and medical supplies.
The UN’s humanitarian chief warned on Thursday evening that aid “is barely trickling” into Gaza and the world is “failing to meet the bare entitlements of a part of humanity”.
Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that “heavy bombardments on Gaza continue and are getting worse, even in areas supposed to be safer”.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Griffiths said “the rules of war are clear” that civilians must be protected and have the essentials to survive.
The Israel Defense Force said it has killed hundreds of Hamas militants in the blasts that have pounded the Gaza Strip since October 7.
The military says troops and tanks briefly entered northern Gaza overnight into Thursday, hitting several militant targets as a wider ground incursion loomed.
During the raid, the military said soldiers struck fighters, militant infrastructure and anti-tank missile launching positions. There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side.
Palestinians in Gaza said Israeli air strikes had pounded the territory again overnight on Wednesday and people living in central Gaza, near the Bureij refugee camp and east of Qarara village, reported intensive tank shelling all night.
A densely populated refugee camp in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis was also hit on Thursday, levelling more than eight homes belonging to an extended family and killing at least 15 people.
"Nowhere is safe" in Gaza amid Israel's bombing, the United Nations said on Thursday.
Lynn Hastings, UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement: "For people who can’t evacuate — because they have nowhere to go or are unable to move — advance warnings make no difference.
"When the evacuate routes are bombed, when people north as well as south are caught up in hostilities, when essentials for survival are lacking, and when there are no assurances for return, people are left with nothing but impossible choices," she added.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday that more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed so far. In the occupied West Bank, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed.The fighting has killed more than 1,400 people in Israel, according to Israeli officials, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas attack.
Israel's military has raised the number of remaining hostages in Gaza to 222 people, including foreigners believed captured by Hamas during the incursion. Four hostages have been released so far.
Around 50 of the hostages have been killed in air strikes in Gaza, the terror group has claimed. A spokesperson for Hamas's armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida made the claim on Thursday on Telegram. The Standard is unable to verify the claims.
