Jerusalem-Israel yesterday ordered the “complete siege” of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, on the third day of the Palestinian Islamist group’s unprecedented offensive.
After this unprecedented attack, compared by Israel to the attacks in the United States of September 11, 2001, the Israeli army announced yesterday that it “controls” localities in the south where there were Hamas infiltrators, but admitted that “there could still be terrorists in the area.” ”according to a military spokesperson.
More than 700 Israelis have lost their lives in the attack and 2,150 were wounded, according to a new report published by the army. Hamas militants killed up to 250 people participating in a music festival near the Palestinian enclave, according to the Zaka NGO, which helped recover the bodies.
On the Palestinian side, 560 people were killed by Israeli bombings and 2,900 were injured, according to the latest figures from local authorities. Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers were deployed near the Gaza Strip, an impoverished territory of 2.3 million people, controlled by Hamas since 2007. The army said yesterday that it had bombed 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad positions in the evening.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” of the enclave. “We are imposing a total siege on Gaza (…) no electricity, no food, no water, no gas, everything closed,” Gallant said in a video. “We are fighting animals and we act accordingly,” he added.
Population
Inside the small territory, more than 123,000 people have been forced to leave their homes, indicated the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“What Hamas will experience will be difficult and terrible (…) we are going to change the Middle East,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who asked the population to prepare for a “long and difficult” war.
The Israeli army also concentrates its efforts on saving citizens kidnapped by Hamas, more than a hundred according to the government, something that has never happened in the country’s history.
According to the Islamist movement, four captured “prisoners” died in Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip. Several citizens of other countries, some with dual Israeli nationality, were killed in the offensive, including 12 Thais, 10 Nepalis and at least nine Americans.
Four Argentines remained missing, while the Government continued to receive requests for possible evacuations. There are also at least three Brazilians missing and one hospitalized.
Spain, Mexico, Germany and other countries also reported that some of their citizens had been affected in the offensive, without providing further details.
Hamas yesterday ruled out negotiating a prisoner exchange with Israel.
“The military operation continues…therefore, there is currently no possibility of negotiation on the issue of prisoners or anything else,” said Hossam Badran, a member of the group’s political office in Doha. Yesterday, “several armed suspects” who had infiltrated from neighboring Lebanon were killed by the Israeli army, which bombed the area.
“It is by far the worst day in the history of Israel,” declared a spokesman for the Israeli army, for whom the attack, in which a thousand combatants participated, could be “both a 9/11 and a Pearl Harbor.”
The offensive was condemned by numerous Western countries and the United States began sending military aid to Israel on Sunday and directing its aircraft carrier “USS Gerald Ford” to the Mediterranean.
China yesterday condemned any action that harms civilians and called for a ceasefire. Also Russia and the Arab League, which rejects violence “from both sides.”
AFP Agency
Source: Ambito
