Israel Pounds Gaza as Red Cross Warns of ‘intolerable’ Suffering

Israel intensified its attacks on Gaza today, calling for civilians to flee south where it vowed aid would increase.

This is as the Red Cross warned of “intolerable” suffering.

The United Nations warned that thousands more civilians could die in Gaza as Israel declared the war had entered a “second stage”, stepping up its ground operations inside the Hamas-run territory.

Israel unleashed a massive bombing campaign after Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 230 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Since then, relentless Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed more than 8,000 people, half of them children, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the territory said.

Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, voiced shock on Saturday at the “intolerable level of human suffering”, urging all sides to de-escalate the conflict.

Thousands of buildings have been flattened in the overcrowded territory of 2.4 million people, with more than half the population displaced as Israel imposed a near-total siege.

Israel’s Home Front Command earlier warned residents in the southern cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon of incoming missile and rocket attacks.