Israel Hamas war live updates: Gaza to be ‘razed to the ground’ as IDF mass at border and Palestinian power plant shuts off

Electricity in Gaza went out on Wednesday after the sole power station in the blockaded Palestinian enclave stopped working, Hamas media reported.

Gaza is going to be razed to the ground, an Israeli defence official has vowed as they warned it will be reduced to “a city of tents”.

The security official told Channel 13 News no buildings will remain in the region, saying, “Gaza will eventually turn into a city of tents.”

“The system is about to collapse.” Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British surgeon told The Independent from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. “The electricity is off completely. We’re running on generators and the diesel will probably run out in a day or so.”

Equipment like ICU and anesthetic machines, ventilators, and drills for operations would all switch off in the event that this happens. Fridges used to store blood and medication would also be affected putting patients at risk.

He says that staff are “running out of everything” including basics such as gauze, antiseptics, antibiotics and blades.

“Unless there is humanitarian corridor opened the health system is going to fall completely.”

Staff at the hospital feel an increasing sense of dread as they fear the worst is yet to come.

Dr Abu-Sittah says there are 50 patients waiting to get to the operating room because more critically injured patients are coming in all the time – as power runs out injuries are more likely to become infected and harder to reconstruct leading to permanent damage.

Staff on the ground say they fear “the worst is yet to come.”

The United Nations human rights chief has said that Israel’s total siege of gaza, depriving civilans of goods essential for survival is “banned under international law”.

Israeli airstrikes are “deliberately targeting” ambulances and first responders, Palestinian hospital and aid officials have claimed.

At least four aid workers for the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) were killed earlier today, their charity organisation reported, after a strike hit their ambulance to the east of the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, a representative from Shifa hospital in Gaza City claimed Israeli authorities targeted first responders assisting civilians.

Nine UN aid workers have been killed in airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since fighting erupted on Saturday.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said on Wednesday that the nine UN staffers were killed at their homes across the territory.

“The protection of civilians is paramount, including in times of conflict,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications of the agency, known as UNRWA. “They should be protected in accordance with the laws of war.”

Air raid sirens have gone off in central Israel.

Children attending schools in Israel will switch to remote learning in light of the ongoing situation in Gaza, the ministry of education has announced.

The online studies “will focus first and foremost on emotional and social aspects, in order to strengthen resilience, and on educational content appropriate for the situation,” the ministry said in a statement.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has arrived in Israel in a sign of the UK’s “unwavering solidarity” following the Hamas attacks.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The Foreign Secretary has arrived in Israel today to demonstrate the UK’s unwavering solidarity with the Israeli people following Hamas’s terrorist attacks.

“He will be meeting survivors of the attacks and senior Israeli leaders to outline UK support for Israel’s right to defend itself.”

“It’s like a tsunami of wounded people,” says Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British surgeon who flew out from London yesterday to join humanitarian efforts in the Gaza strip.

Speaking from Al-Shifa, the largest medical hospital and complex in the region, he says he has seen “nothing like the absolute devastation” he has witnessed in the last 72 hours.

The news comes after the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the humanitarian situation would “deteriorate exponentially” following Israel’s declaration of a complete siege of the region which has been under an existing blockade for sixteen years.

The White House has slammed members of the so-called “Squad” of progressive Democrats for their “repugnant” and “disgraceful” comments about the recent attacks on Israel by Hamas terrorists.

In the White House press conference on Tuesday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked for President Joe Biden‘s response to the statements from some lawmakers calling for an immediate ceasefire and for his administration to stop funding Israel.

“So, I’ve seen some of those statements this weekend. And we’re gonna continue to be very clear,” Ms Jean-Pierre said.

“We believe they’re wrong. We believe they’re repugnant and we believe they’re disgraceful.”