Israel readies for ground invasion of Gaza
Israel is galvanising support for a ground invasion of Gaza in response to terror attacks by Hamas, as the terrorist group today launched rocket attacks against the Israeli port of Ashkelon.
There were also reports of the massacre of 40 babies by Hamas terrorists in the town of Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, a town recently recovered by the Israeli military. The reports are unconfirmed but an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldier spoke of the alleged atroctiy to a reporter from i24 News, an American broadcaster. An Israeli major general – Itai Veruv – has repeated the claim.
At least 900 Israeli soldiers and civilians have been killed since the terrorist group broke through Gaza’s heavily fortified border into Israel on Saturday, in what is the worst outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence since Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.
The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen reports on the ground that an Israeli ground offensive into Gaza now looks certain, with tanks, artillery and civilian reservists – 300,000 of which were drafted over the weekend – amassing at the border with Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told journalists today that he wants to “exact a price that will be remembered by Hamas and its international allies for decades”.
The Prime Minister may see a ground assault as his best political as well as military option, given his government’s embarrassing failure to anticipate Saturday’s onslaught.
Israel has belatedly secured its territory though Hamas continues to launch rockets from its bases within Gaza. Civilians in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon were today given just hours to evacuate before missiles rained down.
In Gaza the health ministry has confirmed at least 830 civilian dead and a further 4,250 wounded as a result of retaliatory airstrikes by Israel. Journalists in Gaza say heat and electricity units have been destroyed and that hospitals, overburdened with the dead and wounded, have less than two days of supplies left.
Israel claims it is only targeting military sites and giving civilians ample warning.
In an effort to halt the conflict, Egypt has called for Israel to provide safe passage for Palestinian civilians, Reuters reports. The Egyptian government is facing pressure to close its border with Gaza as thousands of Palestinian refugees seek an escape. The Rafah Crossing is tightly controlled by the Egyptian government and remains the only land border open to Gaza.
A peaceful resolution looks a long way off, though negotiations have begun to return some of the 150 hostages held captive by Hamas in return for Palestinian prisoners. The Times has reported that some Hamas leaders want to release hostages to undermine international support for Israel’s planned counteroffensive.
Further violence can be expected in the coming days. Dennis Ross, former Middle East Envoy under Bill Clinton, told Engelsberg Ideas that the Israeli counter-offensive will likely be unprecedented in scale. ‘This crossed all lines, and one can expect that the Israeli reaction is going to cross lines as well,” he said.
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