Israel pummels Gaza as Putin warns conflict could spread beyond Middle East

Israel continued its brutal bombardment of the Gaza Strip as it prepared for a ground invasion it says is aimed at annihilating the Palestinian resistance group Hamas as Russia warned the conflict could spread beyond the Middle East.

The Palestinian death toll from the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 rose to 7,028, the Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Thursday.

The ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qedra said during a press conference: "The death toll from the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has reached 7,028, including 2,913 children, 1,709 women, and 397 elderly individuals. In addition, 18,484 citizens have been injured since Oct. 7.”

He said the Israeli forces committed 43 massacres in the past 24 hours, killing 481 people, the majority of whom were displaced to the south of the Gaza Strip, an area that Israel claims to be safe.

“The Israeli occupation intentionally committed 731 massacres against families. We have received 1,650 reports of missing individuals, including 940 children who are still under the rubble,” he continued.

The spokesperson said the Israeli forces deliberately targeted 57 healthcare facilities, rendering 12 hospitals and 32 primary care centres out of service, adding that 101 medics were killed in attacks.

In besieged Gaza humanitarian supplies were critically low, as world powers failed to agree on a lull to Israeli aerial attacks to deliver aid, and residents buried the dead in mass graves as the civilian toll mounted.

In an indication Israel was widening assaults into Gaza that began at the weekend, the military said ground forces attacked multiple targets in the Hamas-ruled enclave on Thursday before withdrawing, in what Army Radio described as the biggest incursion of the current war.

US President Joe Biden, in remarks looking beyond the war, said on Wednesday that the future should include Israeli and Palestinian states side by side.

"Israelis and Palestinians equally deserve to live side by side in safety, dignity and in peace," Biden said at a joint press conference in Washington with visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Biden said he believed one reason Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct 7 was to prevent normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the conflict could spread beyond the Middle East and said it was wrong that innocent women, children and old people in Gaza were being punished.

"Our task today, our main task, is to stop the bloodshed and violence," said Putin in a meeting with Russian religious leaders of different faiths, according to a Kremlin transcript.

Israeli soldiers drive in a tank by Israel's border with Gaza in southern Israel, October 10, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS

"Otherwise, further escalation of the crisis is fraught with grave and extremely dangerous and destructive consequences. And not only for the Middle East region. It could spill over far beyond the borders of the Middle East."

Reflecting concerns the Gaza war may spread, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had agreed to delay invading Gaza until US air defence systems can be placed in the region, as early as this week, to protect American forces.

Asked about the report, US officials told Reuters that Washington has raised its concerns with Israel that Iran and other groups could escalate the conflict by attacking US troops in the Middle East. An Israeli incursion into Gaza could be a trigger for Iranian proxies, they said.

Gaza's war has already sparked conflict beyond the Palestinian territories. Israeli warplanes struck Syrian army infrastructure on Wednesday in response to rockets fired from Syria, an ally of Iran. Israel has also targeted Syria's Aleppo airport and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Aid proposals fail in UNSC votes

At the United Nations, Russia and China vetoed a US-drafted Security Council resolution calling for pauses in hostilities to allow food, water and medicine to be delivered to Palestinian civilians. The United Arab Emirates also voted no, while 10 members voted in favour and two abstained.

Russia made a rival proposal that advocated a wider ceasefire, but failed to win the minimum number of votes. Israel has resisted both, arguing that Hamas would only take advantage and create new threats to Gaza civilians.

As the death toll mounts in Gaza, Palestinians are burying the unidentified dead in mass graves, with a number instead of a name, residents say. Some families are using bracelets in the hope of finding their loved ones should they be killed.

Biden said on Wednesday he had "no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using" for the death toll, but he did not say why he was skeptical.

In the US, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it was "deeply disturbed" by Biden's comments on the Gaza figures, and called on the president to apologise.

Invasion preparations

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement that Israel was "preparing for a ground invasion. I will not elaborate on when, how or how many."

Israeli tanks and troops are massed on the border with Gaza awaiting orders. Israel has called up 360,000 reservists.

International pressure is growing to delay any invasion of Gaza.