Israel claims Hammas forces killed 1,000 Israeli troops while Palestine says 560 Ganzans killed in Israeli bombings n Fighting rages at several locations inside Israel where fighters still holed up following a raid n Appeals for restraint come from around the world, though Western nations largely stand by Israel.
GAZA/ TEL AVIV - Israel yesterday imposed a ‘total blockade’ on the Gaza Strip with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stating that all supplies of electricity, water, food, fuel and other goods would be stopped as Israeli troops battled to clear out Hamas fighters from southern settlements.
The Israeli army further said it would soon go on the offensive after the biggest mobilisation in Israeli history.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened that “what Hamas will experience will be difficult and terrible … We are going to change the Middle East.”
“This is only the beginning,” he said. “We will defeat them with force, enormous force.”
Earlier, Netanyahu warned Gaza civilians to get away from all Hamas sites, which he vowed to turn “to rubble”.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would impose a “complete siege” on the long blockaded enclave and stressed what this meant for its 2.3 million people: “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas — it’s all closed.”
According to Israel’s foreign ministry, at least 1,000 Israelis, including civilian and security forces, have been killed by Hamas, while Palestine’s health ministry has put the tally of martyred Gazans at 560.
Meanwhile, Hamas’s Qassam Brigades had said they would start executing Israeli civilian hostages and broadcast the execution live if Israel dropped another bomb on civilian residential areas without any prior warning.
“Any targeting of innocent civilians without warning will be met regretfully by executing one of the captives in our custody, and we will be forced to broadcast this execution,” said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas’ Qassam Brigades told Al-Jazeera.
“We regret this decision but we hold the Zionist enemy [Israel] and their leadership the responsibility for this,” he said while talking to a TV channel.
On the other side, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant described the move as part of a battle against the Palestinian group as Israel’s troops were still battling on Monday to clear out Hamas gunmen more than two days after they burst across the fence from Gaza on a deadly rampage.
The Israeli army said it would soon go on the offensive after the biggest mobilisation in Israeli history.
Fighting raged at several locations inside Israel where the fighters were still holed up following a raid that shattered Israel’s reputation of invincibility.
The Israeli military said it struck hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip overnight and had sent four combat divisions south where it continued to battle Palestinian fighters two days after a bloody incursion.
The Palestinian health ministry said at least 493 people including scores of children have been killed by Israeli bombing and more than 2751 have been injured till now.
A military spokesperson said fighting was ongoing at seven or eight locations near Gaza two days after fighters from Hamas killed 700 Israelis and abducted dozens more in the deadliest raid into Israeli territory since Egypt and Syria’s attacks in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago. Hamas fighters also continued to cross into Israel from Gaza, the spokesman said.
Fighter jets, helicopters and artillery struck over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, with targets including Hamas and Islamic Jihad command centres and the residence of senior Hamas official Ruhi Mashtaa who allegedly helped direct the infiltration into Israel.
Medics in Gaza said at least seven Palestinians were killed in two Israeli air strikes on two houses. Israeli planes carried out dozens of air strikes, many in the northern town of Beit Hanoun. Israeli air strikes on Sunday hit housing blocks, tunnels, a mosque and homes of Hamas officials in Gaza. In southern Israel, Hamas fighters were still fighting Israeli security forces after their surprise assault with rocket barrages and bands of gunmen who overran army bases and invaded border towns.
“It’s taking more time than we expected to get things back into a defensive, security posture,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told a briefing with journalists.
Israel has drafted a record 300,000 reservists in its response to a multi-front Hamas attack from Gaza and is “going on the offensive,” the chief military spokesperson said on Monday.
“The price the Gaza Strip will pay will be a very heavy one that will change reality for generations,” said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in the town of Ofakim, which suffered casualties and had hostages taken.
Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said the country had called in around 100,000 soldiers. “Our job is to make sure that at the end of this war, Hamas will no longer have any military capabilities to threaten Israeli civilians with, and in addition to that we also need to make sure Hamas will not govern the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Oil prices were up more than $3 a barrel in Asian trade on Monday as the violence deepened political uncertainty across the Middle East and raised concerns about supplies from Iran. Iran is an ally of Hamas and while it congratulated Hamas on the attack, its mission to the United Nations said Tehran was not involved in the attacks.
Any sustained rally in oil prices would act as a tax on consumers and add to global inflationary pressures, which weighed on equities as S&P 500 futures shed 0.7% and Nasdaq futures lost 0.6%. Several international air carriers have suspended flight services with Tel Aviv in light of the Hamas attack, saying they are waiting for conditions to improve before resuming. Beyond blockaded Gaza, Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah exchanged artillery and rocket fire on Sunday, while in Egypt, two Israeli tourists were shot dead along with a guide. Appeals for restraint came from around the world, though Western nations largely stood by Israel. The Palestinian foreign ministry denounced what it called a “barbarous campaign of death and destruction” by Israel. “As an occupying power, Israel has no right or justification to target the defenceless civilian population in Gaza or elsewhere in Palestine,” it said on Sunday.