UNRWA, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees, said on Sunday that Israel’s deadly attacks on Gaza had resulted in an “unprecedented human catastrophe” as the death toll in Gaza rose to 2,670 and 9,600 were injured. Speaking to reporters, UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said: “When we look at the issue of water, we all know that water means life and Gaza is running out of water and Gaza is running out of life.”
Over 1,000 people were missing under the rubble of buildings in Gaza that were targeted by deadly Israeli airstrikes, the Palestinian Civil Defense said on Sunday. In a statement, the civil defense team said many others had been pulled alive from the rubble 24 hours after buildings were attacked.
Health authorities in Gaza have started storing bodies in ice cream trucks because transporting them to hospitals is too risky and there is no longer enough space in cemeteries. Videos posted online showed bodies wrapped in white sheets stacked in empty trucks.
Israeli officials said they would restore limited water supplies in the southern Gaza Strip, amid a major water crisis, following a call between US President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Fuel reserves in all Gaza hospitals are expected to last only about 24 hours, the United Nations Humanitarian Office (OCHA) said on Monday. “Shutting down emergency generators would endanger the lives of thousands of patients,” OCHA said on its website.
U.S. and Israeli officials are discussing the possibility of Biden visiting Israel soon at Netanyahu’s invitation, a source familiar with the matter told Portal on Sunday. A possible visit by Biden would be followed by similar visits by other senior US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Blinken is scheduled to return to Israel on Monday for a second round of talks with Netanyahu.
Biden told CBS he was “confident” that Israel would act under the rules of war in its conflict with Palestine, and beyond, the use of US troops is not necessary. In an interview with 60 Minutes, Biden said that while he believes Hamas must be completely eliminated, there must be a path for a Palestinian state. And he warned that the threat of terrorism in the United States had increased due to unrest in the Middle East.
More than 600,000 Gazans have so far moved to the southern part of the Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border town of al-Arish, ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive. International aid workers in Gaza described an unprecedented situation of “humanitarian collapse.”
The US has warned that the war between Israel and the militant group Hamas could escalate, as American warships headed to the area amid increasing clashes on the country’s northern border with Lebanon. “There is a risk of an escalation of this conflict, the opening of a second front in the north and of course Iranian involvement,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the deployment of a second aircraft carrier group late Saturday, calling it a sign of “our determination to deter any state or non-state actor who seeks to escalate this war.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the US would suffer “significant damage” if the war in Gaza escalates into a larger conflict, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday. “We conveyed our message to the Zionist regime through its allies that Iran cannot simply remain an observer if they do not stop their atrocities in Gaza,” Amir-Abdollahian told Iranian state media, according to the network.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on Hamas to release hostages without conditions and called on Israel to allow rapid and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza. “Each of these two goals is valid in its own right. They should not become bargaining chips and must be implemented because it is the right thing to do,” Guterres said. The Middle East is on the edge of an “abyss,” he said.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he spoke by phone with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday about the situation in Gaza. Maduro told Abbas that Venezuela would send 30 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza in the next few days, Portal reports.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the actions and policies of the Islamist group Hamas do not represent the Palestinian peoplesaid the official Wafa news agency, although it later removed direct references to Hamas from its report. In a phone call with Maduro, “the president reiterated his opposition to the killing of civilians on both sides and called for the release of civilians, prisoners and detainees on both sides,” the news agency added.
Amnesty International has reviewed six videos of an attack on Salah al-Din Street – a supposedly “safe” route for Palestinians heading to Gaza – that killed at least 70 people. She further condemned Israel’s forced evacuation of Palestinians from Gaza, saying: “Israel’s order to ‘evacuate’ is NOT compliant with [international humanitarian law] & must be repealed.”
France has warned Iran “against an escalation or expansion of the conflict” between Israel and Hamas, the French presidential office said on Sunday. During a telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, Macron warned of the conflict spilling over into Lebanon.
The heads of state and government of the 27 EU member states have issued a statement outlining their position on the situation in the Middle East. “The European Union strongly condemns Hamas and its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks throughout Israel and deeply regrets the loss of life,” the European Council said.
In a phone call with the Vatican, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it expected “the Vatican to pay more attention to the suffering of Israelis.” The country’s foreign minister also called for a clear condemnation by the Vatican of deadly terrorism against Israelis and reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself.