120 Palestinians martyred over 24 hours in Israeli unrelenting bombardment
GAZA/JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's defence minister has publicly presented for the first time proposals for the post-war administration of Gaza, where officials said Friday unrelenting bombardment has martyred 120 Palestinians over 24 hours.
Much of the Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble, while civilian deaths have soared and the UN has warned of a humanitarian crisis that has left hundreds of thousands displaced, facing famine and disease.
Bombing continued through the night in the southern areas of Khan Yunis and Rafah as well as parts of central Gaza, according to AFP correspondents.
The Israeli army said its forces had 'struck over 100 targets' across Gaza over the past 24 hours, including military positions, rocket launch sites and weapons depots. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said it had recorded 120 deaths also over the past 24 hours.
A fighter jet hit the central area of Bureij overnight, martyring "an armed terrorist cell", the army said, after what it described in a statement as an attempted attack on an Israeli tank. And 'a number' of Palestinian militants were martyred in clashes in Khan Yunis, a major city in southern Gaza that has become the focus of the fighting, the army said.
According to Gallant's proposed outline, the war will continue until Israel has dismantled Hamas's 'military and governing capabilities' and secured the return of hostages. After Israel achieves its objectives – for which the proposal sets no timeline -- Palestinian "civil committees" will begin assuming control of the territory's governance, it said.
"Hamas will not govern Gaza, (and) Israel will not govern Gaza's civilians," the plan said, while offering little concrete detail. "Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel."
Health 'collapse'
Israel's relentless bombardment and ground invasion have martyred at least 22,600 people, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Conditions for Gaza's civilians are precarious, with the United Nations estimating 1.9 million people are displaced. AFPTV footage showed entire families, seeking safety from the violence, arriving in the southern border city of Rafah in overloaded cars and on foot, pushing handcarts stacked with possessions.
"We fled Jabalia camp to Maan (in Khan Yunis) and now we are fleeing from Maan to Rafah," said one woman who declined to give her name. "(We have) no water, no electricity and no food."
A spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, told AFP that Rafah is overwhelmed by the influx. "The city is usually home to only 250,000 persons. And now, it's more than 1.3 million," said Adnan Abu Hasna. "We have recently noticed a major collapse in health conditions" and a "significant spread" of disease, he added.
Ahmad al-Sufi, head of the Rafah emergency committee said there was an urgent need for 50,000 tents to house the refugees. At Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis, one of Gaza's few medical facilities still operating, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said seven displaced people, including a five-day-old baby, were killed while sheltering in the compound.
