(Sderot) Upset by the deadliest attack on its territory since its creation, Israel officially declared war on Sunday on Hamas after the unprecedented offensive launched the day before by the Palestinian Islamist movement from Gaza, whose death toll rose to more than 1,100 deaths in total.
WHAT THERE IS TO KNOW
- Hamas launched a surprise military offensive on Saturday, firing thousands of rockets towards Israel;
- The Israeli army responded with airstrikes on the Gaza Strip;
- The death toll stands at more than 700 deaths on the Israeli side and 413 on the Palestinian side;
- Israeli forces hunt down hundreds of Palestinian fighters infiltrated into Israel;
- Hamas holds more than 100 prisoners, according to the Israeli government;
- “We are at war and we will win it,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu;
- “We are on the verge of a great victory,” declared Ismaïl Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas.
Seeking to regain control after this large-scale attack – land, air, sea – in the middle of Shabbat, the weekly Jewish rest, Israeli forces continued on Sunday to track down Hamas members in southern Israel and continued their airstrikes against targets in Gaza, where more buildings were destroyed.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a “long” war, which has left more than 1,100 dead in total in less than 48 hours, according to new official reports.
More than 700 Israelis have been killed since the start of the attack and 2,150 have been injured, the Israeli army announced in a new report published Monday morning.
“The enemy is still on the ground” in Israel, “we are reinforcing our forces especially near Gaza and are clearing the area”, declared Sunday evening the spokesperson for the Israeli army, promising to track down “terrorists wherever they will be “.
Take Back Control
In the Gaza Strip under Hamas control since 2007, 413 Palestinians including 78 children and 41 women were killed and 2,300 injured, local authorities announced on Sunday.
The Israeli army has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers to regain full control of the desert regions near the Gaza Strip, rescue the Israeli hostages who are still there and evacuate all the inhabitants of the region here until Monday morning. Hamas has taken “more than 100 prisoners,” the Government Press Office (GPO) said on Sunday.
PHOTO RONEN ZVULUN, REUTERS
Members of Israeli security forces took up positions on a road near Sderot, southern Israel, following a massive infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip on October 8.
“Civilians and soldiers are in the hands of the enemy, it is war time,” said Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi.
“Several” Americans were killed in the Hamas offensive, according to an American official, as were ten Nepalese as well as nationals of other countries, including a French woman. The Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported “the death of a Canadian and the disappearance of two others”.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for “unity in the people, in Parliament and in an emergency government.”
Mr Netanyahu warned that “the war would be long and difficult”.
PHOTO RONEN ZVULUN, REUTERS
Trails of rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel are visible in the sky from Sderot on October 8.
A 37-year-old Israeli woman said she was horrified to see several members of her family kidnapped in videos from Gaza, including her cousin and her children, aged nine months and three years. “This is the only confirmation we have,” Yifat Zailer said by telephone, his voice breaking.
” September 11th ”
Israel was further attacked on its northern border with Lebanon. Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and Iran, fired shells into a contested area of the border, prompting an Israeli drone strike on a Hezbollah target.
PHOTO HUSSEIN MALLA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The fence of an Israeli military position on an occupied hillside in the village of Kfarchouba, southeast Lebanon, was damaged after being targeted by Hezbollah rockets on October 8.
In Egypt, two Israeli tourists were killed by a police officer who shot at them in Alexandria, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian armed group, claimed to have captured “many soldiers”. “What happened is unprecedented in Israel,” admitted Mr. Netanyahu.
“Israel was taken by surprise by this unprecedented attack,” said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Initiative for Middle East Security: “I have heard many comparisons to 9/11. [2001 aux États-Unis]and many Israelis have difficulty understanding how this could have happened.”
PHOTO FATIMA SHBAIR, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palestinians clear debris from the rubble of a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 8.
A former Israeli soldier said the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, which remains a national trauma in Israel, was “small matter” compared to Saturday’s Hamas raid, adding that it was a “very serious failure “. The Hamas offensive was launched 50 years and one day after this war which took Israel completely by surprise and left 2,600 dead on the Israeli side in three weeks of fighting.
Faced with the Israeli counter-offensive, “we fear the destruction and the end of civil society in the Gaza Strip,” said Chadi al-Assi, a 29-year-old Gaza resident.
” Self-defense ”
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military branch of Hamas, announced that they had launched this operation and fired more than 5,000 rockets towards Israel to “put an end to the crimes of the occupation”. Israel has occupied the West Bank, a Palestinian territory, and the eastern part of Jerusalem since 1967, and has imposed a blockade on Gaza since 2007.
Israel has suspended deliveries of electricity, food and goods to the Palestinian territory.
Israel’s Education Ministry announced the closure of schools until at least Tuesday.
The Hamas attack was condemned by the West. On Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Israel had “the right to defend itself” against “barbaric” attacks by Hamas. The United States began sending military aid to Israel on Sunday with new munitions, and moving its carrier strike group closer to the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford in the Mediterranean.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak assured his Israeli counterpart of the UK’s “unwavering support”, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Israel and Hamas to “support peace” and spare civilians .
France “is also active to prevent the conflict from degenerating, via a conflagration in the West Bank, Lebanon, or in the region,” declared the spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
For its part, “Iran supports the self-defense of the Palestinian nation,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi declared on Sunday.
Several members of the UN Security Council condemned the Hamas offensive on Sunday even if the United States regretted the lack of unanimity during this emergency meeting.
Athens reported working to repatriate “149 Greek tourists” stranded in Israel while Brazil plans to mobilize at least six planes to repatriate its nationals wishing to leave the region.