Full-blown humanitarian crisis, warns Red Cross

Gaza is now in a “full-blown” humanitarian crisis, a senior international Red Cross official said Tuesday as Israeli ground forces edged closer to major population centres.

International Committee of the Red Cross head of operations Pierre Kraehenbuehl said the situation for Palestinian civilians is “extreme and traumatic as a result of 10 days of uninterrupted fighting."

He said ICRC staff in Gaza told the neutral body that the previous night was “the most frightening of all to date” on account of the ground offensive Israel has launched in the Palestinian territory.  Kraehenbuehl said the number of civilians killed or injured is increasing. He said power supplies could collapse leaving 500,000 people at risk of disease.

The Geneva-based agency had no information that Palestinian civilians were being used as human shields -- as alleged by Israel, which says Hamas is firing rockets from populated areas and storing weapons in homes and mosques.