Israel-Palestine conflict: Death toll crosses 3,600

Jerusalem: The war between Israel and the militant group Hamas raged for a fifth day on Wednesday, with the total death count on both sides mounting to more than 3,600.

The number of people who have died in Israel has crossed 1,200, while officials in Gaza have reported the deaths of 900 people so far.

The Israeli army also said that it had recovered the bodies of about 1,500 Hamas militants inside the country. Thousands have been wounded on both sides.

Israeli warplanes hammered neighbourhood after neighbourhood in the Gaza Strip, reducing buildings to rubble and sending people scrambling to find safety.

Humanitarian groups pleaded for the creation of corridors that would allow them to deliver aid, saying hospitals were overwhelmed with wounded people and running out of supplies.

Israel has stopped the entry of food, fuel, and medicines into Gaza in response to Hamas’ bloody incursion into Israel on Saturday. The sole remaining access from Egypt shut down on Tuesday after airstrikes hit near the border crossing. The war is expected to escalate. New exchanges of fire over Israeli’s northern borders with militants in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday pointed to the risk of an expanded regional conflict.

In Israel and beyond, the families of more than 150 people kidnapped by Hamas and other militant groups feared for the lives of their loved ones. The armed wing of Hamas has warned it will kill one of the hostages every time Israel’s military bombs civilian targets in Gaza without warning.

Israel forms unity govt

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a top opposition leader on Wednesday reached a deal to form a war-time unity government to oversee the operations against Palestinian militant group.