Over 5,000 civilians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said Monday more than 5,000 people have been killed in the battered Palestinian enclave since Israel launched its withering bombing campaign just over two weeks ago.Alarm has surged about the spiralling humanitarian crisis in Gaza following Israeli aggression.With the Israeli military saying it had conducted more than 300 new strikes within 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said the death toll had surged over 5,000, including more than 2,000 children.Thousands of buildings have been levelled and more than a million people displaced in the besieged territory that has been largely deprived of water, food and other basic supplies.Twenty trucks carrying desperately needed aid arrived in Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt Monday, the UN humanitarian agency said, the third convoy in as many days.Israel pounded hundreds of targets in Gaza from the air Monday as its soldiers fought Hamas fighters during raids into the besieged Palestinian strip.Gaza's health ministry said 436 people had been killed in bombardments over the past 24 hours, most in the south of the narrow, densely populated territory, next to which Israeli troops and tanks have massed for a possible ground invasion.With Gaza's 2.3mn people running short of basics, European leaders looked set to follow the United Nations and Arab nations in calling for a "humanitarian pause" in hostilities so aid could reach them.A US special envoy is negotiating with Israel, Egypt and the United Nations to create a "sustained delivery mechanism" to get aid into Gaza after aid convoys began crossing into the strip from Egypt, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.Israel cut the electricity supply to Gaza as part of the "total siege" it launched on October 9, seriously hindering communications between the Palestinian territory and the rest of the world."I'm recording this message, which could be the last, a voice message that I will send to my colleagues at Medical Aid for Palestinians, but I hope not," Mahmoud Shalabi, an executive at the British NGO said from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.The Israeli army has ordered the more than one million civilian inhabitants of northern Gaza to evacuate southwards to avoid the worst of its onslaught, although it With utter destruction around them, solemnity and despair often fill the messages Gazans post on social media to friends, colleagues, and the outside world."This is the kind of message I try to interrupt right away, when they tell me: 'If something happens to you, take care of yourself'," said Walid, a Gazan living in Paris, who declined to give his surname.Air strikes have destroyed two of the three main mobile and internet communication lines, according to the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA, leaving the remaining connection overwhelmed.Even where an internet connection is functioning, electricity to power it is in extremely short supply.Some Gazans use generators for power, but fuel for these is hard to come, while others opt for car batteries.