At least 687 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli shelling in Gaza, including 140 children, the Palestinian health ministry has said in its latest update.
Israeli forces killed another 15 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the fighting started on Saturday, the ministry added.
Israel said its aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip is one of the largest it has conducted on the besieged territory.
Israel’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure said that they have immediately cut all water and food supplies from Israel to Gaza where about 2.3 million people live in one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
The move comes after an earlier announcement of a “total blockade” on Gaza by the defence ministry after Hamas carried out the biggest attack on the country in decades.
“We are putting a complete siege on Gaza … No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed,” Gallant said in a video statement.
On Sunday, all electricity and fuel was cut off to the besieged Strip.
The rights group Human Rights Watch has slammed as “abhorrent” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s call for the imposition of a total siege on Gaza – including cutting off food, fuel and electricity.
“Depriving the population in occupied territory of food and electricity is collective punishment, which is a war crime, as is using starvation as a weapon of war,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at HRW, said in a statement.
“The International Criminal Court should take note of this call to commit a war crime.”
Meanwhile, Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades threatens to execute one Israeli captive for every further unannounced Israeli attack on civilians in Gaza.
The Israeli death toll has now reached at least 900 people, according to Israeli reports.
Israel’s foreign minister Eli Cohen also said that more than 100 people have been taken captive by Hamas.
