The complete blockade of Gaza will be brutal: the big question is what comes next

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from hawks to destroy Hamas, but there are others calling for cooler heads to prevail, writes Kim Sengupta

A fireball erupts during Israeli bombardment of Gaza City (AFP via Getty)

The total blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel, with food, electricity and water cut off, can only be a short-term measure because of the sheer humanitarian suffering this will inflict on the people in the territory.

Aid organisations, diplomats and Israeli security officials recognise that such harsh punitive measures cannot be kept for long without a terrible toll being taken, even by the standards of wars in Gaza.

The siege is taking place while Gaza is experiencing ferocious, pounding air strikes. The health ministry in the territory has said around 680 people have been killed and 3,700 injured by Israeli warplanes and missiles since Saturday. The combined stress of bombs and blockade may, it is feared, lead to a catastrophic collapse of infrastructure.