Beyond Middle East: Israel Bombards Gaza As Putin Warns Conflict Could Spread

Israel bombarded the Gaza Strip as it prepared for a ground invasion, while Russia has warned the conflict could spread beyond the Middle East.

In besieged Gaza humanitarian supplies were critically low, as world powers failed to agree on a lull to the fighting to deliver aid, and residents buried the dead in mass graves as the civilian toll mounted.

In an indication Israel was widening assaults into Gaza that began at the weekend, the military said ground forces attacked multiple targets in the Hamas-ruled enclave on Thursday before withdrawing, in what Army Radio described as the biggest incursion of the current war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the conflict could spread beyond the Middle East and said it was wrong that innocent women, children and old people in Gaza were being punished for other people’s crimes.

“Our task today, our main task, is to stop the bloodshed and violence,” said Putin in a meeting with Russian religious leaders of different faiths, according to a Kremlin transcript.

“Otherwise, further escalation of the crisis is fraught with grave and extremely dangerous and destructive consequences. And not only for the Middle East region. It could spill over far beyond the borders of the Middle East.”

Gaza’s war has already sparked conflict beyond the Palestinian territories. Israeli warplanes struck Syrian Army infrastructure on Wednesday in response to rockets fired from Syria, an ally of Iran.

Israel has also targeted Syria’s Aleppo airport and Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

As the death toll mounts in Gaza, Palestinians are burying the unidentified dead in mass graves, with a number instead of a name, residents say.

Some families are using bracelets in the hope of finding their loved ones should they be killed.

Israeli strikes have killed over 6,500 people, the Health Ministry in  Gaza has said on Wednesday.

REUTERS