al jazeera

Number of Palestinians killed in Gaza rises to 232

    The number of Palestinians killed has reached 232; 1,697 have been wounded
    There are dozens of patients in critical condition
    There will be serious health repercussions due to the power cuts
    The state of readiness remains limited due to the Israeli siege and the large shortages of medicines and other supplies.

Israel ‘will act in any way necessary’ to protect citizens, ambassador tells UNSC

• Hamas says fired 150 rockets at Tel Aviv

      The latest barrage of rockets came at 8pm local (17:00 GMT). The military wing of Hamas has said the rockets are a response to Israel’s attack on a high-rise building in the heart of Gaza City.
      A spokesperson for Israel’s national emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, said it was searching areas with reports of injuries, including in Yavne, Givatayim, Bat Yam, Beit Dagan, Tel Aviv and Rishon Letzion.
      Videos on social media showed a barrage of rockets over Tel Aviv. It was not immediately clear how many had been intercepted.

• Israeli death toll rises to 200: Authorities

      At least 200 Israelis have been killed in the Hamas military operation in southern Israel, according to the latest figures provided by Israeli authorities.
  
  
  

• Netanyahu invites opposition leaders to form emergency govt: Likud

      Netanyahu has invited opposition leaders Lapid and Gantz to form a unity government, according to his Likud party.
      Lapid had previously sought joining Netanyahu to show unity. Gantz has reportedly told Netanyahu he is considering the offer.
  
  
  
  

• Gaza hospital reeling from Israeli power halt

      Mohamed Abu Silmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, has said that Israel cutting off power to the Gaza Strip leaves hospitals and medical facilities in a tight spot as they struggle to treat the flow of casualties from Israel’s ongoing air assault.
  Al-Shifa Hospital is the largest in the besieged enclave, and is receiving the highest number of casualties.
      “We are doing what we can with whatever we have, but we are facing a real threat, especially that power has been cut, and generators here consume 48,000 litres of fuel per day. We cannot afford to continue operating this way,” Abu Silmiya told Al Jazeera.
      He said that 200 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,600 injured, the majority of whom are in critical condition and require ICU treatment, and others who need surgery.
      “The Strip has been under tight siege for 17 years. The medical sector has been paying the heaviest price to this siege. We have shortages of medical supplies and equipment, namely those badly needed in the emergency rooms and intensive care units,” Abu Silmiya said.
      “The numbers are huge, which cannot be handled by the already-suffering sector. Even before today’s events, we have been warning that medical supplies are in sharp shortage, especially for cancer and dialysis. Patients with chronic diseases are dying due to the absence of medicine,” Abu Silmiya told Al Jazeera.
      He added that many cannot be treated in the occupied West Bank or abroad because they are being denied access by Israel and because authorities are preventing medical supplies from entering Gaza.
  

• The human cost of Israeli assaults on Gaza

  
  
  

  
  

  Palestinians set up groups, committees to ward off settler attacks

  Amir Daoud, from the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission, has said that neighbourhood watch-like groups are being set up in more than 50 locations across the West Bank to repel expected settler attacks.
  “The groups are being set up north and east of Ramallah, north and south of Nablus, and in Massafer Yata in Hebron, which are the areas that are most commonly attacked by Israeli settlers,” Daoud said.
  “Protected by the Israeli army, the settlers are rampaging across the West Bank. The only way to protect ourselves is by communal unity and supporting the families of the villages that are subject to settler attacks,” he added.
  Ayman Nobani
  
  

• Israeli occupation responsible for death toll: Israeli politician

  Member of the Hadash Party and the Israeli Knesset Ofer Cassif says while the killing of civilians on both sides was condemnable, it was Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, and the actions of the Netanyahu-led government, that was responsible for the deaths of Israelis and Palestinians.
  “It [deaths] is unbearable. But what we are saying is the only way to prevent such crimes on both sides is to end the occupation,” he said.
  “As long as the occupation goes, such terrible crimes will continue … and this government wants that,” he said.
  Cassif also criticised the US government, saying that if it had pressed Israel to move towards a peaceful political solution and to end the occupation, events such as today’s would not have happened.
  
  
  

• Energy minister says electricity supply to Gaza halted

  Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz says he had ordered the state-run electricity company to halt supply to the blockaded enclave.
  “I have signed an order instructing [Israel] Electric Company to stop the electricity supply to Gaza,” he said in a statement.
  While there is an operational power station in Gaza, it relies heavily on power from Israel and has faced years of regular outages.
  
  
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