In punishment for the militants’ violent weekend incursion, Israel’s military imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip on Monday, preventing the entry of food, fuel, and supplies to its 2.3 million people while it pummeled the Hamas-ruled enclave with waves of airstrikes.
More than two days after Hamas began its surprise offensive from Gaza, Israel’s military announced that it had largely regained control of the southern towns where it had been battling Hamas fighters. Hamas entirely caught Israel’s lauded military and intelligence system off guard, culminating in intense clashes in the streets for the first time in decades.
Tanks and drones were deployed to protect border fence breaches and deter new infiltration. Thousands of Israelis were evacuated from more than a dozen villages near Gaza, and the military called up 300,000 reservists in a quick mobilization.
The efforts, combined with Israel’s formal declaration of war on Hamas on Sunday, indicated that Israel was gradually going to the offensive against Hamas, predicting further devastation in the densely populated, impoverished Gaza Strip.
On Sunday, Israeli strikes destroyed part of the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, which Israel claimed Hamas was utilizing as a staging area. On Monday, the Israeli military broadcast warnings to residents to evacuate Rimal, a residential and business sector in central Gaza City that houses The Associated Press and other international media outlets, indicating that major attacks were imminent.
The big question is whether it will undertake a ground attack into the tiny Mediterranean coastal territory, which in the past has resulted in increased casualties. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to destroy the extremist group’s “military and governing capabilities.”
While Israel bombed over 1,000 targets in Gaza, Palestinian terrorists continued to fire rockets, triggering air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. A column of smoke appeared to be seen near a terminal at Ben Gurion International Airport in a video released online. There was no immediate information on casualties or property damage as a result of the current bombardment.
Civilians have already paid dearly. According to Israeli media sites quoting rescue services, 700 people have been killed in Israel, including 73 soldiers – a shocking toll given the scope of the country’s recent conflicts. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 493 individuals were killed in the area, including 78 children and 41 women. Thousands of people have been injured on both sides.
Over 130 people were taken in Israel and carried into Gaza, according to Palestinian militant groups. On its Telegram channel, Hamas’ armed wing claimed that four of its members were killed in Israeli airstrikes. This was not independently confirmed.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a “complete siege” on Gaza, threatening to shut off electricity and restrict the entry of food and fuel.
Gallant said Israel was at war with “human animals,” using dehumanizing terminology that both sides use when tensions are high.
Since Hamas took power in 2007, Israel and Egypt have maintained varied degrees of blockade on Gaza. In recent years, Israel has given limited electricity and allowed the import of food, gasoline, and other consumer goods while severely restricting travel in and out of the country.
The Israeli seal will leave Gaza almost exclusively reliant on its border crossing into Egypt at Rafah, where transport capacity are lower than at other Israeli crossings.
An Egyptian military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said the Egyptian Red Crescent had sent more than two tons of medical supplies to Gaza, and efforts were underway to organize food and other deliveries, but the question of allowing in fuel had not yet been decided.
According to Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli bombardment is moving from district to district, destroying residences and buildings that Israel claims are used by Hamas. He claims that Israel intends to strike thousands of targets. He said that “hundreds” of Hamas fighters had been buried beneath the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel in the last 48 hours. His statements about the numbers, as well as his labeling of the dead as Hamas, could not be verified.
An Israeli bombardment on the southern Gaza city of Rafah early Monday killed 19 people, including women and children, according to Talat Barhoum, a doctor at the local Al-Najjar Hospital. According to Barhoum, an aircraft hit the Abu Hilal family’s home, killing Rafaat Abu Hilal, a commander of a local armed group. Homes in the area were damaged as a result of the strike.
Another bombing on a home in Rafah over the weekend killed 19 members of the Abu Quta family, including women and children, as well as five neighbors, according to a survivor, Nasser Abu Quta, who added that there were no militants in the family house.
According to the UN, some 123,000 Palestinians have evacuated their homes in Gaza, many following Israeli warnings of impending attack. UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, reported a school housing more than 225 people was directly impacted. It was not stated where the fire originated.
Meanwhile, Hagari declared that the military has “control” of its border communities in southern Israel after nearly 48 hours of fierce warfare. Despite a few isolated occurrences on Monday morning, “at this stage, there is no fighting in the communities.”
He stated that 15 of the 24 border settlements have been evacuated, with the remainder likely to be empty within the next day.
Earlier, Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua told The Associated Press by phone that the organization’s forces were still fighting outside Gaza and had seized more Israelis as recently as Monday morning.
He stated that the group’s goal is to free all Palestinian detainees held by Israel, which has previously agreed to imbalanced exchange arrangements in which it released huge numbers of prisoners in exchange for individual captives or even soldier remains.
Soldiers and civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, are among the hostages, who are predominantly Israelis but also include some citizens of other nations. According to Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram daily, Egyptian officials are attempting to broker the release of Palestinian women in Israeli prisons in return for Israeli women abducted by militants.
Mayyan Zin, a divorced mother of two, said she found out her girls had been kidnapped after a cousin shared her images from a Telegram group of them sitting on mattresses in captivity. She then saw online videos of a terrifying incident at her ex-husband’s home: gunmen speaking to him near his two tearful daughters, Dafna, 15, and Ella, eight. A different video shows the father being led into Gaza.
“Just return my daughters to their families.” “Everyone,” Zin said.
Since pushing out forces loyal to the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007, Hamas has administered Gaza unopposed, despite the blockade and four prior conflicts with Israel.
After breaching Israeli defenses with explosives before dawn Saturday, an estimated 1,000 Hamas terrorists went on a rampage for hours, killing murdered civilians and kidnapping individuals in cities, along highways, and at a desert techno music festival attended by thousands. According to the military, Palestinian militants have also launched around 4,400 rockets at Israel.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the incident, citing rising Palestinian suffering as a result of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, siege of Gaza, discriminatory policies in annexed east Jerusalem, and tensions surrounding a disputed Jerusalem holy site vital to Muslims and Jews.
The Palestinians desire their own state in the three regions conquered by Israel in the 1967 war, but real peace discussions have stalled for more than a decade, and Israel’s far-right government is hostile to Palestinian independence.
On Sunday, the United States sent an aircraft carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel and said that it will deploy additional military aid.
