Gaza Crisis Escalates: Israel Cuts Off Essentials, Egypt Closes Exit, and 2 Million People Trapped

In response to the Hamas-led terror attacks over the weekend which killed over 900, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the 2 million people in the Gaza Strip to “leave now” as retaliatory military measures are taken against the terrorists. The problem is that they likely have nowhere to go.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Netanyahu has said that he plans to turn the Gaza Strip to ‘rubble’ and explained that the people there will pay an ‘unprecedented price.’

“All of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble,” said Netanyahu. “Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere.”

Israeli checkpoints between Israel and Gaza have all been closed.

The only other exit to the Gaza Strip, to Egypt, has also reportedly been closed.

The sole point of access to Egypt, the Rafah Crossing, has been repeatedly bombed by Israel since the weekend, and yesterday, Egypt announced that it was closing the sole crossing between Gaza and Egypt, according to The New Arab.

“The crossing will be closed indefinitely, for the situation has become quite dangerous after the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip has had an impact on the Egyptian side of the crossing,” a high-level official security source told The New Arab.

The Israeli military has warned Gaza residents to flee even though all the exit points appear to be closed.

The Gaza Strip has 2 million people who live in an area the size of Philadelphia. With 139 square miles along a rectangle about 25 miles long and 6 miles wide, the Gaza Strip has some of the highest population density in the world, about 15 times denser than Israel.

Almost all of the utilities are provided by Israeli-controlled entities. Water and Energy come from Israel. In response to the terror attacks, these services have been halted in response to what Israeli ministers call a ‘siege’ of Gaza. This siege includes the denial of food, energy, fuel, water, and medicine to Gaza.

An alleged 765 deaths in Gaza have come from the retaliatory Israeli airstrikes, with an estimated 4,000 plus wounded, according to Gaza Health Ministry.

14 Americans are said to be among the dead, with an unknown number held as hostages by Hamas.

The Gateway Pundit is also reporting that attacks may also be coming to Israel from Syria, threatening to further expand the conflict regionally.