Israel relentlessly pounded the Gaza strip for the reason that wee hours of Monday as preventing raged with Hamas across the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Military stated preventing with Hamas Palestinian militants was ongoing in seven to eight places across the Gaza Strip inside Israel.
“We’re still fighting. There are between seven to eight open places around Gaza (where) we have still warriors fighting terrorists,” navy spokesman Richard Hecht advised media.
“We thought by yesterday (Sunday) we would have full control. I hope we will by the end of the day,” Hecht stated.
The loss of life toll from the Israel-Hamas conflict surged over 1,100 on Monday.
The Israeli military stated it hit greater than 500 targets within the blockaded and impoverished Gaza Strip in in a single day clashes. It got here two days after Hamas launched a barrage of rockets and despatched a wave of fighters who gunned down civilians and took a minimum of 100 hostages in an huge assault that took Israel unexpectedly.
On Sunday, the Israeli authorities formally declared conflict on the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israel to organize for a “long and difficult” battle.
Greater than 700 Israelis have been killed since Hamas launched its large-scale assault, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) stated on Monday. One other 1,200 folks have been wounded, many critically.
In retaliation, Israeli air strikes have hammered the impoverished and blockaded Gaza Strip, an enclave of two.3 million folks, with officers there reporting a minimum of 413 Palestinian deaths.
“Overnight IDF fighter jets, helicopters, aircraft and artillery struck over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip,” the navy stated in an announcement.
Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus estimated round 1,000 Palestinian militants had participated in Hamas’s assault on Saturday, which he known as “by far the worst day in Israeli history”.
“Never before have so many Israelis been killed by one single thing, let alone enemy activity in one day,” he stated.
He likened it to “a 9/11 and a Pearl Harbour wrapped into one”.
Conricus stated round 100,000 reserve troops have been deployed to the south as the military battles to expel Hamas fighters from Israeli territory.
A “very large amount” of Israeli civilians and troopers have been being held inside Gaza, he stated.
‘Situation is unbearable’
Netanyahu — who leads a hard-right coalition authorities — has vowed to show Hamas hideouts “to rubble” and urged Palestinians there to flee.
Israeli assaults have levelled a number of Gaza residential towers and destroyed a mosque in Gaza’s Khan Yunis, in addition to hitting the central financial institution.
Greater than 20,000 folks in Gaza have been displaced on account of preventing, the United Nations Aid and Works Company for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) stated.
“The situation is unbearable psychologically and economically,” stated Amal al-Sarsawi, 37, as she took shelter in a classroom together with her terrified youngsters.
Western capitals have condemned the assault by Hamas, which the US and EU take into account a terrorist group.
Oil costs soared greater than 4 p.c Monday, sparking issues about potential provide shocks from the crude-rich area.
Israel’s foes have praised the assault, together with Iran whose President Ebrahim Raisi voiced assist when he spoke with the leaders of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group.
Professional-Palestinian demonstrations came about in the USA, Iraq, Pakistan and different international locations, whereas Germany and France have been amongst nations stepping up safety round Jewish temples and faculties.
Within the Egyptian metropolis of Alexandria a police officer opened hearth “at random” on Israeli vacationers Sunday, killing two of them and their Egyptian information earlier than he was arrested.
‘We will not give up’
Dubbing its assault “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, Hamas known as on “resistance fighters in the West Bank” and “Arab and Islamic nations” to hitch the battle.
Its assault comes half a century after the 1973 invasion by Egyptian and Syrian forces, a battle identified in Israel because the Yom Kippur Struggle, and has sparked bitter recriminations for what was broadly seen as an intelligence failure.
“There was a very bad failure here,” stated Sderot resident Yaakov Shoshani, 70. “The Yom Kippur War was small compared to it, and I was a soldier in the Yom Kippur War.”
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has predicted “victory” and vowed to press forward with “the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons”.
An Israeli survivor of the assault on Sderot, Yitzhak, 67, stated he now anticipated the military to “conquer Gaza house by house, clean the area there properly, and not leave Gaza until they get the very last rocket out of the ground.”
With inputs from AFP