Gaza conflict explodes into official war as Israelis strike back against Hamas militants
The Israeli army has revealed it’s “still fighting” on multiple fronts, as the death toll has surged. Warning: Graphic
Fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas Palestinian militants has taken place in up to eight locations around the Gaza Strip inside Israel, the Israeli army said.
“We’re still fighting. There are between seven to eight open places around Gaza (where) we have still warriors fighting terrorists,” military spokesman Richard Hecht said.
“We thought by yesterday we would have full control. I hope we will by the end of the day.”
During the night Israel carried out more than 500 air and artillery strikes targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups in the coastal enclave.
It comes after reports Iran was involved in planning Hamas’s attack on Israel, according to senior members of Hamas and Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise Saturday’s air, land and sea incursions, according to the sources, cited by The Australian.
In an interview with CNN aired on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship.”
The Australian, however, cites a European official and an adviser to the Syrian government giving the same account as the Hamas and Hezbollah members.
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The Israeli government has officially declared war on Hamas, setting the stage for a merciless response to Saturday’s incursion by the Islamist militant group.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official decision by the Israeli cabinet, in accordance with Article 40 of Israel’s Basic Law, is the local equivalent to a declaration of war by the United States Congress.
It comes as the bloody conflict’s death toll surged beyond 1100, killing more than 700 people on the Israeli side, Israel Defense Forces said. Another 2150 Israelis had been wounded in the attack.
Gaza officials reported at least 413 deaths in the impoverished and blockaded enclave of 2.3 million people, which was hammered by Israeli air strikes on 800 targets ahead of what many feared may be a looming ground invasion.
Meanwhile US President Joe Biden ordered navy ships and warplanes closer to Israel – a move Hamas said amounts to “aggression” against Palestinians.
The Pentagon ordered a US Navy carrier strike group to head to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The USS Gerald R. Ford, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was sailing with the Italian Navy earlier this week, according to the ship’s social media, putting it near Israel.
The carrier will be accompanied by US Navy warship guided missile destroyers and guided missile cruisers.
The US is also taking steps to increase its presence of fighter jets in the region, including F-35, F-15, F-16 and A-10 squadrons.
“The President directed additional support for Israel in the face of this unprecedented terrorist assault by Hamas,” the White House said in a statement.
Israel’s military said it was still fighting Hamas gunmen on Israeli territory more than 30 hours after the first surge of militants across the border in the largest invasion in 50 years.
At least 13 family members, including four toddlers, were killed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to a relative and journalist Hassan Eslayeh.
The air strike also killed four more people and injured 25 others, according to Eslayeh.
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PARLIAMENT HOUSE TO TURN BLUE, WHITE FOR
The façade of Australian Parliament House will be illuminated this evening in blue and white, the colours of the Israeli flag, a statement from the Parliament of Australia revealed.
“This is in line with the other significant buildings and monuments across the country,” it read.
ISRAEL’S NATIONAL CARRIER STILL FLYING INTO TEL AVIV
Israeli flag carrier EI Al has confirmed it is still flying into Ben Gurion Tel Aviv airport for now, though some flights operated by foreign partners had been cancelled.
El Al said it was operating “in accordance with the instructions of the Israeli security forces”, with all flights now departing only from Terminal Three at Ben Gurion.
Like most other airlines, it said clients could change their tickets without charge.
All flights from terminal 3Commercial air links with Israel’s second international airport at Eilat, a tourist destination on the Red Sea, is also still open.
American Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, Emirates and Ryanair are among those pulling flights to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.
AMERICANS AMONG THE DEAD
A number of Americans were killed in the surprise attacks on Israel, a US official has confirmed, without giving further details.
“We can confirm the deaths of several US citizens,” a spokesperson for the US National Security Council said.|
“We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected.”
260 BODIES FOUND AT ISRAEL FESTIVAL SITE
At least 260 bodies have been found at the site of a music festival near the Gaza Strip that was the target of Hamas.
The militants opened fire on partygoers attending the outdoor Supernova Festival at Kibbutz Re’im.
Emergency workers described the gruesome scene as a “massacre”.
“There are at least 200 bodies of Israelis in the area I was in. It was a massacre.
I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. It was a planned ambush. As people came out of the emergency exits, squads of terrorists were waiting for them there and just started picking them off.,” Yaniv, a rescue worker told public broadcaster Kan News.
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UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERS CONDEMN HAMAS
Numerous members of the UN Security Council denounced Hamas over its massive assault on Israel during an emergency session - but the United States regretted the lack of unanimity.
“There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all,” senior US diplomat Robert Wood told reporters after the closed-door session.
“You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything,” said Wood, in a clear allusion to Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since its invasion of Ukraine.
Diplomats said the Security Council did not consider any joint statement, let alone a binding resolution, with members led by Russia hoping for a broader focus than condemning Hamas.
“My message was to stop the fighting immediately and to go to a ceasefire and to meaningful negotiations, which was told for decades” by the Security Council, said Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations. “This is partly the result of unresolved issues,” he said.
China, generally Russia’s ally at the Security Council, said it would support a joint statement.
“It’s abnormal that the Security Council doesn’t say anything,” Ambassador Zhang Jun said, who earlier promised Chinese support for a condemnation of “all attacks against civilians.”
FEARS OF ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS IN AUSTRALIA
Anthony Albanese would not say whether Australia would send military aid to Israel as it has not been requested by Israel.
The prime minister said that Hamas’s attack was “the definition of terror” and that “there was no foreshadowing” to the strike among the intelligence community.
Mr Albanese said he had “real concerns” of anti-Semitism in Australia.
“Racism is always (present). Whether anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, or other forms of racism it is always a bad thing,” he told Sky News.
“We’ll do what we can to combat it, but also to provide support for vulnerable communities.”
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MORE FOREIGNERS AMONG THE DEAD, MISSING
Israel’s ambassador to Britain said another British national “is in Gaza.”
She did not identify the man or confirm if he was kidnapped, but the mother of Jake Marlowe, 26, said he had been providing security at the rave.
A British man who had been serving in Israel’s army was among those killed in the Hamas attack, his family said.
Two Ukrainian women who had been living in Israel were also killed, Ukraine said.
One French citizen was killed in the violence, Reuters reported citing a French foreign ministry spokesperson.
Thailand has said two of its citizens were killed, while Cambodia reported the death of a Cambodian student.
Ten citizens of Nepal were among those killed in the Hamas assault on Israel, the Himalayan republic’s embassy in Tel Aviv said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN the US had received reports of missing and dead Americans, and the administration is “working overtime” to verify the information as well as to confirm whether or not any American nationals are among the hostages.
Mexican foreign secretary Alicia Bárcena announced that two Mexican citizens, a man and a woman, had been taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza on Saturday.
ISRAEL FORCES TO EVACUATE GAZA RESIDENTS
Israel’s army said it is aiming to evacuate all its residents around Gaza.
Spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters that fighting was still on to “rescue hostages” held by militants.
“There are tens of thousands of combat soldiers in the area. We’ll reach each and every community till we kill every terrorist in Israel.”
The Israeli army said it was sending in reinforcements against Hamas militants who were still on Israeli territory.
“The enemy is still on the ground” in Israel, Hagari told journalists at a news conference on Sunday.
“We are reinforcing our forces, especially near the Gaza Strip,” he said, adding the army had struck 800 Hamas targets in the coastal enclave.
The city of Sderot on the Gaza Strip’s northeast border was the target of 1000 rocket strikes, according to Hamas while fighting moved into Lebanon and the Israeli military confirmed it was striking an area with artillery where shots were fired into Israel.
Israel’s Defence Forces (IDF) are fighting to remove Hamas from inside its territory, as it races against time to declare it has restored “sovereignty and order”.
The IDF’s top priority is to clear Hamas out so it can then lock down its border and hit the terrorists in a way it never has before.
ISRAEL WAR GLOBAL FALLOUT SPREADS
The fallout from the brutal war between Israel and Hamas militants is spreading to other countries around the world.
London police confirmed they had boosted patrols across parts of the city following the Hamas attacks on Israel.
“We are aware of a number of incidents … in relation to the ongoing conflict in Israel and the border with Gaza,” the Metropolitan Police said on social media.
“The Met has increased policing patrols across parts of London in order to provide a visible presence and reassurance to our communities.”
Police in Germany and France also said they had reinforced security around synagogues and Jewish schools and monuments, with some supporters of the Palestinians taking to the streets of Berlin to celebrate the attack.
“We are aware that the ongoing conflict may lead to protests over the coming days. We will ensure that an appropriate policing plan is in place,” the Met said.
In Egypt, two Israeli tourists and one Egyptian were killed on Sunday day by a police officer, local media reported.
The policeman fired “at random” using “his personal weapon” at an Israeli tour group visiting Alexandria, the state-affiliated private television Extra News said, quoting a security source.
A fourth person was wounded and the policeman was “immediately arrested”, the source said.
DAWN BREAKS TO REVEAL EXTENT OF DEVASTATION
As the second day of intense fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants dawned, the extent of the devastation was laid bare.
Emergency workers scrambled to put out fires, search wrecked buildings and homes for more victims, with the threat of more bombings and attacks an almost certainty.
Residents walked around their neighbourhoods trying to salvage what they could.
HOSTAGES TAKEN, DANCE FESTIVAL HORROR
A young tattoo artist has been identified as the woman whose body was paraded through the streets in the back of a pickup truck by Hamas terrorists after they attacked the outdoor rave party.
Shani Louk, 22, was among the hundreds of victims in Israel when Hamas targeted the dance party near Kibbutz Urim and other Israeli communities.
The mother of the German-Israeli woman made a desperate appeal for help in finding her, saying she had identified her daughter in a video in the car of Palestinian militants following their attack on Israel.
Louk was with friends at a rave party close to the border with Gaza when it was targeted by Hamas.
“We have been sent a video in which we can clearly see our daughter, unconscious, in the car of Palestinians driving through the Gaza Strip,” the mother, Ricarda Louk, said in a video message in German.
“I’m asking you to help us if you have any information,” she added in the message, which was picked up by German media.
The mother said she had recognised her daughter in video circulating on social media, due to her tattoos and her long black dreadlocks, with blond tips.
The mother, originally from Germany, has lived in Israel for three decades.
The video shows an unconscious young woman, half naked and lying face down in the back of a pick-up truck.
Armed men are seated around her. One of them pulls her hair, while another beside the vehicle spits on her head.
The woman’s parents had been told by their daughter’s bank that her credit card had been used in Gaza.
Her mother told German media that she hoped her daughter was still alive.
Another woman, Israeli Noa Argamani, was identified on social media after she was seen being abducted by Palestinian militants.
Noa was partying in the south of Israel in a peace music festival when Hams terrorists kidnapped her and dragged her from Israel into Gaza.
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) October 7, 2023
Noa is held hostage by Hamas.
She could be your daughter, sister, friend.#BringBackOurFamilypic.twitter.com/gi2AStVdTQ
Yoni Asher, a resident of Sharon region, told CNN he saw his wife in a video online that shows a group of people loaded on the back of a truck with Hamas militants who were chanting “Allahu Akbar,” (God is Great).
Israelis are also sharing photos of friends and family who have reportedly been kidnapped by Hamas.
According to credible reports, most of the hostages in Gaza are women and children — the men they have killed. There are also reports that the terrorists went house to house raping women in Sderot and are raping the Israeli women in Gaza.
— Brooke Goldstein (@GoldsteinBrooke) October 7, 2023
pic.twitter.com/7HmGM6OrdL
ISRAELI FORCES TAKE BACK POLICE STATION
Israel’s southern district police forces and the IDF secured control of Sderot police station. “Starting in the morning, the southern district police forces and IDF soldiers are working to neutralise terrorists who infiltrated the Sderot station,” the police spokesperson said.
“A short time ago, full control was achieved.”
Bodies were strewn on the streets of the Israeli town of Sderot near Gaza and inside cars, the windscreens shattered by a hail of bullets.
“I saw many bodies, of terrorists and civilians,” one man told AFP, standing beside covered corpses on a road near Gevim Kibbutz in southern Israel.
AUSSIES CAUGHT UP IN ISRAEL WAR
Actor Hugh Sheridan, was staying in a hotel in Israel with friends when the bombing started.
He told of his shock in a series of Instagram posts, while taking shelter in the hotel stairwell.
“A few hours ago everyone was living life completely normal in Israel,” he wrote.
“It was a big Jewish holiday yesterday, one week after new year. I met a family who had 150 fly in for their wedding tomorrow. We were at a bbq (sic) yesterday with young people who at this very minute are on their way to Gaza to fight.
“A few hours later, this country is at war. Their lives have completely changed in an instant. It’s unbelievable how quickly and brutal the attack has been. With no warning. My heart breaks. I’m in the stairwell so safe for now. X love you all.”
Hours later, Sheridan and his friends were on a flight out of Tel Aviv, bound for Athens.
An Australian expat living with her family in Yehud, about 20km outside Tel Aviv, has also taken to social media while sheltering with her husband and three children in a bunker.
“My heart is breaking, trying to follow the news, reading story after story of family members searching for loved ones they have lost contact with throughout the day,” Emily Gian wrote.
“In the meantime, this is where you will find us every time a red alert siren goes off.”
She said her family had hope the Israeli army would prevail.
“My 4.5 year old just told us ‘Our army is too strong. No one can break them because they can get anyone. Except for people on our team.’ Yep you are right, little man. We’ve got this,” she wrote.
But within minutes they were back in the bunker.
“Was just sitting outside with my husband, trying to catch my breath after an intense day inside with the kids,” she wrote.
“Asked him which direction hypothetically a rocket would come from. As he was pointing, the red alert sirens went off. Down to the shelter. Followed by many booms.
“It feels like this is the start of a very long night. And in the meantime, I cannot get the images out of my head of all of those horrific videos circulating of old ladies being paraded through Gaza, or that young Israeli woman being dragged in the back of the Jeep.”
Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Australian Government’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 (Australia) or +61 2 6261 3305 (if overseas).
AUSTRALIAN PM REACTS TO WAR
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the “abhorrent attack on Israel” and urged Hamas fighters to stop the “indiscriminate” assault.
As of Sunday morning, he said the government’s advice was that all Australians in the area were safe after a “very dark 24 hours”.
AIRLINES STOP FLIGHTS
Major airlines cancelled dozens of flights to Tel Aviv after the surprise large-scale attack against Israel.
American Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, Emirates, Ryanair and Aegean Airlines were among those pulling flights.
However airport authorities did not stop commercial air links with Eilat, Israel’s second international airport and tourist destination on the Red Sea.
HAMAS’ ALL-OUT BATTLE
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Gilal Erdan added: “This is our 9/11 … These animals will pay a heavy price.”
In the early hours of Sunday, after the assault began at dawn on Saturday, Israeli soldiers continued searching for fighters who had crossed from Gaza – some even by hang glider.
Saleh al-Arouri, another Hamas leader, claimed they had captured enough people to free all Palestinian prisoners in Israel, as he threatened to take even more hostages.
“We started an all-out battle … We will continue to fight until we are rewarded with victory, freedom and independence,” he told Al Jazeera.
In a recorded message, Hamas military commander Muhammed Deif said: “The people are regaining their revolution … We must set the earth on fire under the feet of the occupiers.”
Mr Netanyahu said that “Hamas wants to murder us all” as he vowed to “take mighty vengeance for this black day”, which came 50 years and a day after invading forces from Eygpt and Syria started the 19-day Yom Kippur War.
HOW THE ATTACK UNFOLDED
On the country’s darkest day in half a century, hundreds of Iran-backed Hamas fighters crossed the Gaza border and rampaged through at least 20 Israeli communities in a combined land, air and sea operation that caught Israel off guard.
Israel responded with heavy air strikes targeting Hamas compounds in Gaza, killing at least 234 Palestinians and injuring more than 1600, while reservists were called up for what was expected to be a full-scale ground operation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a protracted military campaign to turn Hamas’s hiding spots “into rubble”.
“What happened today has never been seen before in Israel and I will make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said in an address to the nation.
“This war will take time. It will be difficult … We will win this war, but the price is unbearable.”
Hamas fired more than 3500 rockets, striking deep into Israel including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, while ground forces penetrated at least four Israeli military bases and invaded towns and villages where fighters gunned down civilians and took hostages.
WORLD REACTS TO ATTACKS
China said Sunday it was “deeply concerned” by the weekend’s dramatic escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, urging all sides to show “calm”.
“China is deeply concerned about the current escalation of tension and violence between Palestine and Israel,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said.
Other countries around the world have condemned a wave of Palestinian attacks by land, sea and air.
They accused fighters from the Palestinian militant group Hamas of breaking into homes and “massacring civilians”.
A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed support for the attack, calling it a “proud operation”.
“We support this operation,” Yahya Rahim Safavi said, quoted by ISNA news agency.
Safavi expressed backing for the Palestinian militants “until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem”.
At a parliament session on Saturday, Iranian politicians chanted “Down with Israel”, “Down with America” and “Welcome Palestine”, according to a video published by the Tasnim news agency.
But Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said: “The Kingdom calls for an immediate halt to the escalation between the two sides, protection of civilians, and self-control”.
The UN’s human rights chief Volker Turk said: “I call for an immediate stop to the violence, and appeal to all sides and key countries in the region to de-escalate to avoid further bloodshed.” He said he was “deeply concerned at reports that Israeli civilians have been taken hostage”.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Gaza conflict explodes into official war as Israelis strike back against Hamas militants
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