OVER 180,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were packed into United Nations shelters today as Israeli warplanes pounded the tiny territory that is home to 2.3 million people.

Israel’s authorities have sealed off crossings along the country’s border with the coastal enclave and closed checkpoints, blocking movement between cities and towns. 

In addition to the bombardment of residential buildings, schools and mosques, clashes between rock-throwing Palestinians and heavily armed Israeli forces in the territory have continued.

For Palestinians, there is no real escape from Gaza, which has been in the stranglehold of a brutal Israeli blockade for the past 16 years.

Even UN facilities that are supposed to be safe zones risk becoming engulfed in the fighting. 

The world body said that one of its shelters had suffered a direct hit in an air strike on Sunday and five other schools being used as shelters were damaged the following day. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Also on Monday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza, saying that authorities would cut off electricity supplies and block the entry of food and fuel.

But UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that “the imposition of sieges that endanger the lives of civilians and deprive them of goods essential for their survival is prohibited by international humanitarian law.”

Mark Seddon, who was a speechwriter for former UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon, said: “This would be the equivalent of the British state ordering a complete siege of Northern Ireland during the Troubles, cutting electricity, food, water and humanitarian supplies and demolishing Belfast building by building.”

Progressive International co-ordinator Pawel Wargan said: “Coming from Poland, I cannot help but recall the images of Warsaw after the Germans took their revenge against the Jews for having dared to break out of the ghetto where they were being starved into extinction.”

At a briefing today, Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht suggested that Palestinians should try to leave through the Gaza border crossing with Egypt, although most observers say that this is virtually impossible. 

Nonetheless, the desperate plight of the Palestinians has not stopped the United States from providing Israel with more weaponry.

Washington has already begun delivering munitions and military equipment to its long-standing ally, the White House said on Monday.

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of female-led peace group Code Pink, said US military support is set to increase, with Democrats in Congress “preparing a legislative package that lumps Israel aid in with massive Ukraine funding.”