2023-10-10 06:42:01
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli planes bombed central Gaza City, home to Hamas’ government centers, into the early hours of Tuesday following Israel’s prime minister vowed revenge once morest the Islamist insurgent group that “will resonate.” for generations.”
The four-day war has claimed at least 1,600 lives as Israel saw shootings in its own streets for the first time in decades and Gaza neighborhoods were reduced to rubble. Hamas has also escalated the conflict and vowed to kill captured Israelis if Israeli strikes target civilians without warning.
The Israeli military said it found the bodies of regarding 1,500 Hamas insurgents on Israeli soil as it regained control of the country’s south and “restored full control” of the border. It was not immediately clear whether the figure overlaps with deaths previously reported by Palestinian authorities.
Israel said Hamas and other Gaza insurgent groups are holding more than 150 soldiers and civilians captured on Israeli soil following an attack that caught the country’s military and intelligence apparatus completely off guard.
After the call-up of 300,000 Israeli reservists in a massive mobilization, one of the main questions is whether he will launch a ground assault on the small Mediterranean coastal enclave. The last operation of this type was in 2014.
Thousands of Israelis were evacuated from more than a dozen towns near Gaza and tanks and drones were mobilized to guard gaps in the border fence once morest further incursions. In Gaza, tens of thousands of people fled their homes as attacks devastated buildings.
These measures, along with Israel’s formal declaration of war on Sunday, indicate that Israel is increasingly shifting to the offensive once morest Hamas, threatening further destruction in the densely populated and impoverished Gaza Strip.
“We have only just begun to attack Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech on national television. “What we do to our enemies in the coming days will resonate with them for generations.”
The Israeli military said it hit hundreds of Hamas targets overnight in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, where the insurgent group’s ministers and government buildings are located.
The enormous devastation in Rimal indicated what the new Israeli tactic in Gaza might be: warning civilians to evacuate certain areas and then launching airstrikes of unprecedented intensity.
Intense shelling began in areas of Gaza bordering Israel over the weekend and then focused on Gaza City. If these operations continue, Gazan civilians will have fewer areas to shelter in as there are fewer and fewer habitable neighborhoods.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht suggested that Palestinians should try to exit through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, but the army later said the crossing was closed.
Asked whether Israel considered Hamas’s civilian government headquarters, such as parliament and ministries, legitimate targets, Hecht indicated that “if there is a gunman firing projectiles from there, it becomes a military target.”
In response to the Israeli air offensive, Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Obeida announced Monday night that the group will kill a captive Israeli civilian every time civilians in their homes in Gaza are attacked “without warning.” .”
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen warned Hamas that it must not harm any hostages, and that “this war crime will not be forgiven.” Netanyahu appointed the former military commander to manage the hostage and missing persons crisis.
According to the army, more than 900 people have died in Israel. In Gaza and the West Bank there were 704 deaths, according to authorities, and Israel claims that among them are hundreds of Hamas fighters. There are thousands of wounded on both sides.
Israel and Hamas have fought repeated conflicts in recent years, often sparked by tensions over a holy site in Jerusalem. This time, the context is more explosive. Both sides talk regarding violently breaking the stalemate that has left the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process for years.
___
Adwan reported from Rafah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press journalists Isabel DeBre and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem; Wafaa Shurafa in Gaza; Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; Bassem Mroue and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Lebanon; Samy Magdy in Cairo and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
1696921760
#Israel #attacks #central #Gaza #City #mobilizes #reservists #4th #day #war
