As the Israel-Palestine conflict entered its third day, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip has been ordered, in the wake to counter Hamas, a Palestinian resistance militant group.
In a statement released on X (formerly Twitter), Gallant stated “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, and no fuel, everything is closed.
“We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” he further added following an assessment at the IDF Southern Command in the Beersheba area.
The reports of the blockade surfaced on Saturday, October 6, after Hamas launched 5000 rockets at Israel.
The “complete siege” has hit the availability of essentials in Gaza. The energy authority in the Gaza Strip has warned of a potential humanitarian catastrophe due to a fuel shortage and halted electricity supply from Israel.
Fuel reserves in the Palestinian enclave are only enough to run its sole power station until Tuesday, and “if the current situation continues, Gaza will be forced to turn off the station, which threatens the occurrence of a certain humanitarian catastrophe”, Xinhua news agency quoted the authority.
Following a ‘surprise attack’ launched by Hamas on Israel on Saturday, October 7, Israel formally declared war and authorized major military actions against Hamas in retaliation for the unexpected strike the previous day.
The Israeli military has stepped up its shelling of the Gaza Strip in an effort to crush fighters who are still present in southern communities.
On both sides, there have been thousands of injuries and over 1193 fatalities so far.
The Israeli army on Monday targeted camps of Palestinians and highly populated areas pushing the death toll to over 500 with over 2000 injured. The situation will get more tense with the blockage as electricity to hospitals is being cut.
123,538 displaced in Gaza
A total of 123,538 people have been internally displaced in Gaza in the three days since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out in the coastal enclave on October 7, according to the UN.
In a statement, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, “More than 17,500 families, comprising over 123,538 people, have been internally displaced in Gaza, mostly due to fear, protection concerns and the destruction of their homes.”
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