Gaza's power authority said on Wednesday, October 11, that its sole power plant will run out of fuel within hours, leaving the territory without electricity after Israel cut off supplies. Israel said it would cut off all electricity to the territory after Hamas' bloody rampage over the weekend. All of Gaza's crossings are closed, making it impossible to bring in fuel for the power plant or the generators on which residents and hospitals have long relied. The power authority said Wednesday that the plant would shut down in the afternoon.
Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip scrambled to find safety on Wednesday, as Israel hammered neighborhood after neighborhood in the tiny coastal enclave – home to 2.3 million Palestinians – in retaliation for Saturday's deadly mass incursion by Hamas militants and vowed an even more punishing escalation.
Israel has vowed an unprecedented offensive against the Islamic militant group Hamas after its fighters broke through the border fence and stormed into the country's south, gunning down hundreds of civilians in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival. They dragged an estimated 150 people – soldiers, men, women, children and the elderly – into captivity in Gaza. The war, which has already claimed at least 2,100 lives on both sides, is expected to escalate.