A UN Agency Reports Attack by Thousands on International Aid Warehouses in Gaza

A UN agency announced on Sunday that thousands attacked aid warehouses in Gaza to take food and 'essential survival items,' indicating a peak of desperation and a breakdown of public order three weeks after the war began between Israel and the Hamas militants controlling Gaza. According to the Associated Press, Israeli tanks and infantry launched a ground assault on Gaza over the weekend, coinciding with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement of the 'second phase' of the war, three weeks after Hamas's brutal attack on Israel. The extensive ground invasion occurred as Israel attacked Gaza from air, land, and sea. The bombardment, described by Gaza residents as the most intense of this phase of the war, destroyed most communications in the area late Friday, largely cutting off 2.3 million people in Gaza from the world. According to local telecommunications companies, the internet access advocacy group 'NetBlocks' and available confirmations, communications for many people in Gaza were restored early Sunday. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees provides primary services to hundreds of thousands in Gaza. Its schools across the territory have turned into shelters filled with Palestinians displaced by the war. According to the agency, Israel has only allowed a trickle of aid from Egypt, part of which was stored in one of the warehouses that had been broken into. The Israeli army's renewed request for the evacuation of northern Gaza; the Israeli army: 'We will do whatever is necessary'; a meeting between Hamas representatives and Baqeri Kani in Moscow; Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza; the UAE's concerns about the worsening humanitarian crisis; disconnection of humanitarian organizations from Gaza; the World Health Organization's call for an immediate ceasefire; Netanyahu: 'We will destroy the enemy above and below ground.'