Gaza City, November 5 (RHC)-- Israel carried out heavy bombardments across the Gaza Strip, targetting water storage tanks in its ongoing onslaught of genocide. It is being reported that more than 2 million Palestinians lost electricity after Israel put the territory under full siege, following an infiltration by Hamas militants into Israel in one of the deadliest attacks ever on the country.
Witnesses have described widespread destruction of entire neighborhoods in Gaza City from Israeli strikes overnight, as residents shared videos online showing children pulled wounded or dead from under the rubble.
It all comes as Israel and Gaza experience one of the most dramatic escalations in violence in recent memory, with concerns the chaos could spread to the occupied West Bank and different countries in the Middle East.
This round of bloodshed began with a surprise attack by Palestinian fighters from Gaza into Israel during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. On Saturday, militants infiltrated Israel's border using paragliders, motorbikes and boats and fired thousands of rockets toward the country from Gaza.
Israeli officials say more than 1,200 people in Israel were killed in the assault and that the militants returned to Gaza with hostages. The number of Palestinians in Gaza killed by Israeli forces since the weekend has now surpassed 1,000, according to officials in Gaza, with more than half those killed women and children.
At least 22 U.S. citizens died in the fighting in Israel, the U.S. State Department said. President Biden confirmed Tuesday that Americans are among the hostages held by Hamas, but did not say how many.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who moderated a classified briefing for lawmakers Wednesday, said "dozens" of Americans were taken captive. He said the U.S. is working with Israeli officials to rescue them, suggesting that U.S. special forces and hostage rescue teams may be involved.
Other countries, such as France and the United Kingdom, have also reported citizens killed or missing in the conflict.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said 11 of its employees were killed in the Gaza Strip.
Even as Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza mourned their dead in funerals, Hamas militants in Gaza continued to fire rockets toward Israel, as Israeli forces continued to bomb the Gaza Strip. Israel's Iron Dome defense system blocks most rocket attacks, but air raid sirens have been heard as far north as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as some rockets have broken through.
