On Monday morning, the army spoke of fighting in several places in the border area with the Gaza Strip. A few hours later, army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced that the army had regained “control of the places.” However, there could still be individual “terrorists” in southern Israeli areas near the Gaza Strip.
“We have completely evacuated 15 of the 24 towns that lie on the border,” said Hagari. The evacuations were expected to be completed “within the next 24 hours.” According to the spokesman, 300,000 Israeli reservists have now been mobilized.
The Hamas attack was the worst attack on Israel since the Yom Kippur War exactly 50 years ago. The Palestinian organization ruling the Gaza Strip began its major attack on Israel on Saturday morning. It fired thousands of rockets at Israel. According to army spokesman Jonathan Conricus, an estimated thousand Palestinian fighters entered Israeli territory and killed and abducted civilians and soldiers.
A particularly large number of people died in the attack on an outdoor music festival. Spokesman for the Israeli rescue service Zaka, Moti Bukjin, said on Monday that there were “around 200 to 250 bodies” at the festival site near the Gaza Strip alone. “They slaughtered people in cold blood in unimaginable ways,”
Army spokesman Conricus spoke of the Hamas attack as “by far the worst day in Israel’s history.” Never before have so many Israelis been killed in one fell swoop. It is a “September 11th and a Pearl Harbor in one.” Israel responded with attacks on targets in the Gaza Strip and declared a state of war on Sunday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared his country for a “long and difficult war”.
On Monday night, the Israeli army said it attacked more than 500 facilities belonging to Hamas and the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. According to Hamas, four “prisoners” held in the Gaza Strip were also killed in Israeli airstrikes on Sunday evening.
An air alarm was raised in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon about rocket attacks. Several explosions were then heard.
According to Defense Minister Gallant, Israel is now completely sealing off the Gaza Strip. Many observers also expect an Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
According to preliminary information, more than 700 people were killed on the Israeli side. Twelve Thais, ten Nepalese, nine US citizens and people from Great Britain, Canada, France, Ukraine and Cambodia were also among the fatalities. According to the Israeli army, the approximately one hundred hostages include “children, babies, old people and disabled people.” According to information from the Foreign Office, this apparently also includes people who have both Israeli and German citizenship.
There have been 560 deaths in the Gaza Strip so far, the Hamas Health Ministry announced on Monday. The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) spoke of more than 123,000 refugees in the Gaza Strip. There were also thousands of injuries on both sides.
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, some member states condemned the massive attack by Hamas. However, the reaction was not unanimous, as the US ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, complained, referring to states such as Russia. The UN Human Rights Council commemorated the victims with a minute’s silence. The EU foreign ministers want to discuss the situation in the Middle East at a special meeting on Tuesday.
The US government announced on Sunday that it would deliver ammunition to the Israeli army and increase its military presence in the conflict region in view of the “unprecedented terrorist attack by Hamas”. According to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its escort ships will be relocated to the eastern Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, Iran rejected the accusation of involvement in Hamas’ major attack. The Palestinians are not dependent on outside help because they have “the necessary capacities, strength and will” to defend themselves, said Foreign Office spokesman Nasser Kanani in Tehran. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi described the Hamas attack on Sunday as justified self-defense by the Palestinians.
