US steps up call to protect civilians as Israeli strikes in Gaza intensify

Gap between Israel’s pledges and results, says Blinken in his strongest public criticism

WASHINGTON - Israel sharply intensified its strikes on the Gaza Strip, pounding the length of the Palestinian enclave and killing hundreds in a new, expanded phase of the war that the United States said contradicted Israeli promises to do more to protect civilians.

The Israeli military said on Dec 8 that it struck more than 450 targets in Gaza from the land, sea and air over the past 24 hours, the most since a truce collapsed last week and around double the daily figures typically reported since then.

With the vast majority of Gazans now displaced and unable to access any aid, hospitals overrun and food running out, the main United

Nations agency there said Gaza was "on the verge of a full-blown collapse".

Residents and the Israeli military reported intensified fighting both in the northern areas, where Israel previously said its troops had largely completed their tasks in November, as well as in the south.

Gaza's Health Ministry reported 350 people killed on Dec 7, bringing the death toll from Israel's twomonth campaign in Gaza to more than 17,170, with thousands more missing and presumed buried under rubble.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism of Israel's conduct of the war, said there was a gap between Israel's declared intentions to protect civilians and the casualties.

"As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south...

it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection," Mr Blinken said at a press conference following a meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in Washington on Dec 7.