The death toll from the unprecedented multi-front assault of Hamas on Israel has passed 600 as Israeli forces attacked Palestinian militants still occupying many locations in the south of the country. Israel recently regained control of most of the locations penetrated by Hamas militants who invaded the country from Gaza by land, air and sea before inflicting an unprecedented number of casualties in one attack within Israel’s borders since the state was created 1948.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the Jewish state still encountered a “long and difficult” conflict with Hamas. According to Israeli officials, the Palestinian militant group was holding over 100 Israelis whom it had taken hostage during its recent assault. Israel reacted to Hamas’s attack — which Netanyahu said it left over 600 Israelis dead and over 2,000 wounded — with a great bombardment of Gaza.
The group also hit targets in Lebanon recently after the Iran-backed Hizbollah militant group shot mortars towards Israel. In a further effort to increase the pressure on Hamas, Israel stopped the supply of electricity, fuel and goods to Gaza. Israel and Egypt have limited Gaza to a crippling economic blockade since Hamas took charge in 2007.
Officials in Gaza revealed that 370 people had been killed by Israeli strikes on the territory and that 2,200 had been injured. An official in the enclave disclosed that its hospitals were operating at full capacity due to the number of casualties they had received since Saturday.
While talking to Financial Times, Medhat Abbas, a Director-General with Health Ministry said: “The main hospitals’ capacity in Gaza is 2,000 beds. The number of patients we have received since yesterday morning is now more than 2,000. The situation is very bad.”
Abbas said medical supplies, medication and laboratory materials were in short supply, and that ministry officials felt they would run out of stock in a few days. In a solidarity display with Gaza, Palestinians in West Bank launched a general strike.
While speaking after a recent meeting of the Israeli security cabinet, Netanyahu said Israeli forces had vandalized the “vast majority of the enemy forces that infiltrated our territory”, and that it had commenced the “offensive phase”, amid prediction that Israel could launch a ground war in Gaza.
He added: “This offensive phase will continue with neither limitations nor respite until the objectives are achieved.”
However, 36 hours after the attack started, a spokesperson for Israel’s military revealed its forces were still hunting down Hamas militants that remained in the country.
Hamas revealed its gunmen were still engaged in war in many areas in Israel and were being supported by rocket fire.
Some Israelis compared the attack to the September 11 2001 attacks against the US. “The only thing that I can recall from history for Americans that is comparable to this is something between Pearl Harbor and 9/11,” said Yaakov Nagal, former head of Israel’s National Security Council. “Some people in Israel are comparing it to the Yom Kippur war [In 1973]. But it’s not the same. It’s much, much worse . . . Yom Kippur involved soldiers. Now we are talking about citizens who can lose their faith in their country.”
While speaking to Netanyahu by phone recently, US President Joe Biden pledged “additional assistance” for the Israeli military, “with more to follow over the coming days”. They also talked about hostage taking by Hamas, which United States and Israeli officials said affected Americans.
US Defence Secretary, Lloyd Austin ordered US navy ships and military aircraft to move closer to Israel and is sending lethal assistance to aid Israel’s efforts to respond to Hamas’s attack, In a statement, he said: “The United States government will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions.”
