Israel yesterday knocked out Gaza’s only power plant and pounded dozens of other high-profile targets, while Egyptian mediators prepared a revised proposal for halting its war with resistance fighters in the enclave.
Israel’s Channel Two TV said progress was being made on such a deal in Cairo, where a Palestinian delegation is expected, although the station retracted an earlier report that a truce had already been provisionally agreed.
Health officials said at least 85 Palestinians died in some of heaviest bombardments from air, sea and land since Israel’s offensive began on July 8.
Local hospital officials put the total number of Palestinian dead in the conflict at 1,200, most of them civilians. On the Israeli side, 53 soldiers and three civilians have been killed.
UNRWA, the main UN relief agency in Gaza, said it was at “breaking point” with more than 200,000 Palestinians having taken shelter in its schools and buildings.
The Israeli assault intensified after the deaths of 10 soldiers in Palestinian cross-border attacks on Monday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning of a long conflict ahead.
In a bid to boost Palestinian morale, Hamas TV aired footage it said showed its fighters using a tunnel to reach an army watchtower on Monday. They are seen surprising an Israeli sentry, at which point they open fire and storm the watchtower compound to surround a fallen soldier.
Mohamed Deif, the leader of Hamas’s armed wing, said in a voiceover message in the broadcast that Palestinians would continue confronting Israel until its blockade on Gaza was lifted.
“The occupying entity will not enjoy security unless our people live in freedom and dignity,” Deif said. “There will be no ceasefire before the (Israeli) aggression is stopped and the blockade is lifted. We will not accept interim solutions.”
Egypt said it was revising an unconditional truce proposal that Israel had originally accepted but Hamas rejected, and that the new offer would be presented to a Palestinian delegation expected in Cairo last night. An Israeli official said Israel might send its own envoy to Cairo too.
The administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, saying it was also speaking for Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, voiced support yesterday for a 24-72 hour ceasefire.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri disputed that statement but confirmed there were “intensive, ongoing contacts” on a truce.
Outside pressure has been building on Netanyahu to rein in his forces.
Thick black smoke rose from blazing fuel tanks at the power station that supplies up to two-thirds of Gaza’s energy needs. Officials said the plant could be out of action for a year.
Electricity was cut to the city of Gaza and many other parts of the Hamas-dominated territory after what officials said was Israeli tank shelling of the tanks containing about 3mn litres of diesel fuel.
“The power plant is finished,” said its director, Mohamed al-Sharif.
Gaza City municipality said damage to the station could halt many of the area’s water pumps and it urged residents to ration water consumption.
Palestinians launched 54 rockets towards southern and central Israel, including the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem area, the military said, adding that five were shot down by Iron Dome interceptors while the rest fell wide, causing no damage.
The Israeli military said soldiers killed five gunmen who opened fire after emerging from a tunnel inside the Gaza Strip and that 110 targets were struck in the enclave yesterday. Residents said 20 houses were destroyed and two mosques hit.
Hospitals said tank shells and air strikes killed 12 people in north Gaza, including an UNRWA doctor and his brother.
Before dawn, Israeli aircraft fired a missile at the house of Hamas deputy leader Ismail Haniya, a former Palestinian prime minister, destroying the structure but causing no casualties, Gaza’s interior ministry said.
“My house is not dearer than any of the houses of our people,” Haniya was quoted as saying on a Hamas website. “The destruction of stones will not break our will and we will continue our resistance until we gain freedom.”
