Human waste spills on to Gaza's blacked-out streets as crisis looms

A firefighter inspects the rubble of a destroyed residential building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Sunday. Picture: AP Photo/Adel Hana

A week of relentless Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip has destroyed power lines, smashed water pipes beneath roads and left human waste spilling out of the ground.

With 188 Palestinians having been killed, and families trapped under rubble, fears are mounting of a deepening humanitarian crisis in the enclave, where 2 million people live under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade in place for 14 years.