- Israel said it recaptured Gaza border areas from the Hamas group as the war’s death count passed 3,000.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israel’s military campaign following Saturday’s onslaught was only the start of a sustained war to destroy Hamas and “change the Middle East”.
- Fears of a regional conflagration have surged amid expectations of a looming Israeli ground incursion into Gaza.
- The death count in Israel has surged above 900 from the worst attack in the country’s 75-year history, while Gaza officials have reported 765 people killed so far.
Israel said it recaptured Gaza border areas from the Hamas group as the war’s death count passed 3,000 on Tuesday, the fourth day of fierce fighting since the group launched a surprise attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israel’s military campaign following Saturday’s onslaught was only the start of a sustained war to destroy Hamas and “change the Middle East”.
The death count in Israel has surged above 900 from the worst attack in the country’s 75-year history, while Gaza officials have reported 765 people killed so far.
Hamas gunmen killed more than 100 people in the kibbutz of Beeri alone, said a volunteer with the charity Zaka recovers bodies in accordance with Jewish law. “They shot everyone,” he told AFP. “They murdered in cold blood children, babies, old people, everyone.”
PM Netanyahu compared the large-scale slaughter of Israeli civilians to the atrocities committed by the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS when they controlled vast swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The Israeli army has called up 300,000 reservists for its “Swords of Iron” campaign and massed tanks and other heavy armour both near Gaza and on the northern border with Lebanon. The military said its forces had largely reclaimed the embattled south and the border around Gaza and dislodged holdout Hamas fighters from more than a dozen towns and kibbutzim.
“Around 1,500 bodies of Hamas (fighters) have been found in Israel around the Gaza Strip,” said army spokesman Richard Hecht, adding security forces had “more or less restored control over the border” with the enclave.
Key ally the United States stressed its full support for Israel, as did Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. The five Western powers and many other nations have reported citizens killed, abducted, or missing, also including Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Nepal, Panama, Paraguay, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Ukraine.
Hamas has held around 150 hostages since its ground incursion, among them children, elderly, and young people who were captured at a music festival where some 270 died. On Monday, Hamas warned it would start killing hostages every time Israel launches a strike on a civilian target in Gaza without warning.
Fear and chaos reigned among the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the crowded and impoverished coastal territory that has been hammered by thousands of Israeli bombs. Fireballs repeatedly lit up Gaza City before dawn Tuesday as explosions shook the ground and sirens wailed. In Gaza City, aerial footage shot by AFP showed the scale of the destruction, with entire building blocks reduced to rubble. Four Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza City, media unions and officials said.
Israel imposed a total siege on long-blockaded Gaza on Monday, cutting off the water supply, food, electricity, and other essential supplies. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by the siege announcement and warned Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation will now “only deteriorate exponentially”.
The United Nations said more than 187,500 people had been displaced inside the Gaza Strip, with most taking shelter in UN schools.
Washington has pledged to send munitions and military equipment to back Israel and deployed an aircraft carrier group to the eastern Mediterranean.
Israel faced the threat of a multi-front war after two days of clashes on the northern border with Lebanon with members from the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. Unrest has also surged in the occupied West Bank, where 15 Palestinians have been killed since Saturday.
Iran, which is openly committed to Israel’s destruction — has praised the surprise attack by Hamas but repeatedly denied playing any role in it.
Global powers and regional governments including Egypt, Turkey, and Gulf states have engaged in frantic diplomacy seeking to prevent any further escalation. Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas that the kingdom was working to ensure the conflict does not spread across the region, state media said.
(With inputs from agencies)
