Gaza City, October 12 (RHC)-- The death toll in Israel and Palestine has soared to over 2,700, with at least 1,200 Israelis and 1,000 Palestinians killed since Hamas’s incursion into southern Israel Saturday.

The majority of Palestinian deaths are in Gaza; at least 18 deaths were reported in the West Bank.

Israel is amassing some 300,000 reservists close to Gaza as it continues to pound the besieged enclave with airstrikes.  Officials warn Gaza is on the cusp of a humanitarian catastrophe as the territory’s power plant is running out of fuel.  The scale of atrocities committed against civilians continues to come to light. In Gaza, rescuers are still pulling bodies from the rubble as desperate residents seek refuge.

Mohammad Al Najjar, a rescue worker, told reporters: “They tried to escape death, only to find it.  The occupation planes followed them from the east to here.  They came to find shelter. They were taking refuge next to the stairs, where it could have been a safe place. They targeted them and killed them. … This is the blood of injured people. Some injured people were sleeping here.  This is their blood . Here, there was a mother and her children.  We removed the woman in the evening, and the children were martyred, and we just took them out from under the rubble.”