Power goes out in Gaza, as Israel tightens siege and bombs the Palestinian territory

An Israeli army self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on Wednesday.TEL AVIV and SDEROT, Israel — Israel carried out heavy bombardments across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday for the fifth day as more than 2 million Palestinians lost electricity after Israel put the territory under full siege, following an infiltration by Hamas militants into Israel in one of the deadliest attacks ever on the country.

This round of bloodshed began with a surprise attack by Palestinian fighters from Gaza into Israel during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. On Saturday, militants infiltrated Israel's border using paragliders, motorbikes and boats, and fired thousands of rockets toward the country from Gaza.The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the weekend has now surpassed 1,000, according to officials in Gaza, with more than half those killed women and children.

Hamas is expected to try to use the hostages in bargaining to free some of the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, but the group insists it will not negotiate while Gaza is under attack. In the southern towns and cities of Israel near Gaza's border, many residents have been evacuated but some have chosen to stay behind.In addition to the more than 1,000 Palestinians killed, over 5,000 people have been wounded by Israeli bombs since Saturday, officials in Gaza said. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Wednesday it is rationing services due to the electricity crisis.

"We're talking about sick children, chronic diseases patients, elderly people, pregnant women who have may have no access to any medical supply or aid or service in the next few hours or days," Mhanna said.traveling to Israel

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Israel's 'complete siege' of Gaza will punish Palestinian civiliansZeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for MSNBC Daily. Previously, he worked at Vox, HuffPost and Politico, and he has also been published in, among other places, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, and The Intercept. You can sign up for his free politics newsletter here.
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