Israel orders complete siege on Gaza and compares Hamas festival attack to 9/11
Israel is imposing a “complete siege” on Gaza, the country’s defence ministry declared this morning, in response to the shock attack launched by Hamas gunmen on Saturday, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is describing as “Israel’s “9/11”.
At least 700 Israelis, including 44 soldiers, have been killed, with at least a further 2,3000 wounded, according to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). In Gaza, which has been pummelled by Israeli airstrikes since Saturday, at least 413 Palestinians have been killed and at least 2,300 people wounded since Saturday, according the Palestinian health ministry.
More than 260 bodies have been recovered from a music festival in Southern Israel, close to Gaza, after Hamas gunmen stormed the site and opened fire on festival-goers on Saturday. Footage shows individuals running for their lives across open fields as gunshots fire in the background.
Speaking this morning, Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, spokesperson for the IDF, described the terror attack as “by far the worst day in Israeli history”, adding, “never before have so many Israelis been killed by one single thing on one day.”
For Israel, “this could be a 9/11 and a Pearl Harbor wrapped into one”, said Conricus.
In response to the attack, Israel’s military confirmed it has drafted 300,000 reservists in 48 hours. Never before in the country’s history has it mobilised so many reservists so quickly.
An unconfirmed number of festival-goers have also been taken hostage. Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group claim to have captured over 130 individuals from inside Israel. The captives, currently being held inside Gaza, are comprised of soldiers but also civilians, including children, and are mostly, but not exclusively, of Israeli nationality.
The IDF estimates that upwards of 1,000 members of Hamas – which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UK, US and EU – entered Israeli territory on Saturday.
Israel’s forces said today they are still fighting Hamas in seven to eight places in Southern Israel while Haaretz reports that the the military is looking for holes in a border fence where Hamas operatives might be crossing.
Airstrikes have rained down on the Gaza Strip over the weekend, with the Israeli military claiming it has struck more than 1,000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets, including the residence of senior Hamas official Ruhi Mashtaa, who allegedly helped direct the infiltration into Israel. Many of the airstrikes have targeted the town of Beit Hanoun, in the north-east, which the IDF says was being used as a staging ground for Hamas attacks.
Nearly 74,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in Gaza amid the ongoing aerial bombardment. Civilian fatalities include nineteen members of one family who were killed when an airstrike hit their home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The role of Iran in the brutal escalation of violence is coming under scrutiny. Tehran is strongly denying any direct involvement in the planning of the Hamas attacks despite Israeli president Isaac Herzog labelling Iran the architect.
The Wall Street Journal is citing sources who claim that the main overseas branch of the Iranian military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, attended bi-weekly Hamas planning meetings in Beirut since August, two of which were even attended by the Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
However, Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, says Washington has no direct knowledge of Iranian involvement.
Joe Biden, the US president, has told Netanyahu that “additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces is now on its way to Israel with more to follow over the coming days”.
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