Israel has declared a “total” siege on Gaza, including restrictions on food and fuel. As part of a “complete siege” on Hamas-occupied Gaza, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Monday that authorities will cut electricity and bar the entry of food and gasoline.
“There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly,” said Yoav.
Gallant explained the action as part of a campaign against “beastly people.”
Since Hamas gained power from opposing Palestinian groups in 2007, Israel and Egypt have placed varying levels of embargo on Gaza.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israel’s senior military spokesperson, told reporters on Monday that Israel now has “control” of its border villages following Saturday’s large invasion of Hamas fighters into its territory.
Meanwhile, Austria announced the suspension of aid to Palestinians in reaction to the tragic attack on Israel by the Islamist organisation Hamas.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg announced the suspension of roughly 19 million euros ($20 million) in help for a few projects.
“The extent of the terror is so horrific … that we cannot go back to business as usual.” As a result, we will halt all payments from Austrian development cooperation for the time being,” Schallenberg told ORF radio in comments verified by a spokeswoman, without specifying the amount of funding and projects affected.
Schallenberg made no distinction between Gaza, a Palestinian enclave managed by Hamas, and the much larger West Bank, which is governed by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah movement opposes Hamas.
Earlier, Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua told The Associated Press that the organization’s members were still fighting outside of Gaza and had seized additional Israelis as recently as Monday morning.
He stated that the group’s goal is to liberate all Palestinian detainees held by Israel, which has previously agreed to imbalanced exchange arrangements in which it released huge numbers of inmates in exchange for individual hostages or even army remains.
Glamour Adah
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