Israelis, Palestinians, and the United States — a day after the Gaza Strip opened fire on civilians and military in the Middle East
The Israeli military said Sunday that it is still battling Hamas militants in several Israeli communities a day after they broke through and flew over the Gaza border to launch an unprecedented wave of attacks.
Israeli media report that more than 300 Israeli civilians, including women and children, and soldiers were killed in the surprise attack with more than 1,800 injured.
There have been strikes against Lebanon in the north of Israel, raising alarm. Hezbollah claimed to have fired mortars into Israel and that Israel had retaliated by striking a site in Lebanon. Hezbollah’s involvement in the Middle East could lead to a conflict between Israel, Gaza and Lebanon.
Palestinian militant launched a large-scale surprise attack from the blockaded Gaza Strip on civilian and military targets in Israel on Saturday. They infiltrated using paragliders, an amphibious operation on the Mediterranean Sea, and on land, Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters.
As Netanyahu spoke, Israel continued its retaliatory missile strikes on the Gaza Strip to bombard Hamas targets. Israel’s military called up reserve soldiers and was about to make a land invasion.
Netanyahu told people who are in areas where Hamas is operating in the Gaza Strip to leave. Gaza has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt for 16 years.
The brutality could spread. An Egyptian policeman opened fire on Israeli tourists Sunday in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least two Israelis and one Egyptian, local media reported.
There are calls for a stop to the violence. The Saudi Foreign Ministry calls for an end to the conflict.
The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia spoke with the Secretary of State. A Saudi Statement says that the Kingdom rejects targeting civilians, and that all sides should respect international humanitarian law.
In Iran hardliners have been angry for months over reports of Saudi Arabia establishing ties with Israel. Iran’s Foreign Ministry referred to Israeli visits to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque as a “de Secration” and said the attack was the work of resistance groups.
The U.S. supports Israel. President Biden said he spoke with Netanyahu Saturday morning, telling him the U.S. is “ready to offer all appropriate means of support” to Israel.
The Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other high-level US officials communicate with their counterparts in Israel and regional allies.
The Fourth Day of the Gaza Strip War: Israeli Attacks on the Zionist Regime, Israeli Forces, and the Security of the Palestinian People
The Israeli military said Tuesday it had largely regained control of areas in the south that had been attacked by militants from Hamas. The announcement came on the fourth day of war with Hamas and amid an Israeli siege and heavy bombing of The Gaza Strip.
The military said it had found “hundreds and hundreds” of bodies of Hamas militants who died fighting inside Israel – an indication of the size of their attack. It said there were no longer infiltrators coming over the Gaza border – something in question still Monday. There could still be some holdouts on Israeli territory.
In his first televised comments since the war started, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali vows to ” kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime.”
The UN says that nearly 190,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, with the majority of them seeking shelter in UN-run schools. The UN agency that helps Palestine refugees told X that 14 distribution centers had to be closed. The closures have cut off food aid to half a million people, the agency said.
The bloodshed began on the Jewish Simchat Torah holiday, and a day after the 50th anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War, when Israel came under attack by Arab countries.
In an address late Monday, Netanyahu said they had begun striking Hamas. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.”
The military wing of Hamas, Ezzedin Al-Qassam brigades, said that every time an Israeli attack kills civilians, the group would “execute a civilian hostage” and would release audio and images. Some 150 people, including men, women, children, and soldiers, were taken hostage by Hamas after Saturday’s incursion into Israel.
Leaders of the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy released a joint statement on Monday condemning Hamas and “its appalling acts of terrorism.”
The leaders acknowledged the legitimate ambitions of the Palestinian people and supported equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
“But do not make any mistakes,” the group said. “Hamas does not represent those aspirations, and it offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed.”
Source: Israel regaining control of towns near Gaza as it works to secure border
A Mother’s Story about the Hamas War: The Ethiopian War on Gaza, Palestine, and the Palestinians in the Middle East
Some Americans may be among those being held captive by Hamas, after President Biden confirmed at least 11 Americans have been killed.
He said that he had told his team to work with their Israeli counterparts on every part of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and sending experts from across the US government to help with hostage recovery efforts.
Biden urged Americans who want to leave to follow the guidance of local authorities, because commercial flights are still available.
Argentina’s Minister of Foreign Affairs said 250 of its citizens signed up for a registry to evacuate from Tel Aviv, while two of them went missing. 180 tourists fromColombia were assisted in Israel by the Columbian consulate in Tel Aviv.
The U.S. is offering Israel air defense and also pressing to get the country’s weapons as soon as possible, officials tell NPR.
The Gerald Ford Strike Group includes an aircraft carrier, a guided missile cruiser, and guided missile destroyers, but no timetable was given by the Department of Defense.
Abbas said that this is putting too much pressure on health professionals. “Unless these borders are opened at once — for the fuel to run the generators and for medications, medical supplies to come at once together — there will be a collapse of the health system.”
Although they disagreed on how Israel should handle the campaign against Hamas, Zeigen and Shnaider were both waiting for the same thing – news from the Israeli government that they were in talks to free their loved ones. The radio version of this story was edited by Adam Bearne and Jan Johnson and produced by David West. The digital version was edited by Treye Green.
“She would drive sick Palestinians from Gaza to Israeli hospitals. So apart from being a wonderful mother and grandmother, that was her essence,” he added.
She was very involved in a group called Women Wage Peace. Since 2015, she also volunteered with an organization called The Road to Recovery,” noted Zeigen.
“If she’s being held there, I think it’s a situation that has to be resolved,” he said. I’m confident that the groups in Gaza won’t hurt her. Because of her status as an elderly woman and their religious ethics.”
Shnaider didn’t have time to think about the innocent people in Gaza being caught up in Israel’s bombing campaign.
“It took me almost two days just to wake up. To understand that it’s not a dream. It’s not a nightmare. “I think it’s something that really happened,” Shnaider said.
The first intifada of the West Bank: a suicide attack on a Palestinian refugee in the village Kibbutz Nir Oz
Frantically searching social media for any pictures or videos from the village, that’s when he found the video of Bibes and her children, 4-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir.
When he heard that Hamas fighters had crossed into Israel from Gaza, he tried to reach Bibes and her husband, Yarden Bibes, who live near the border in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
During the first intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israel that began in 1987, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian refugee residing in Gaza founded the group.
The U.S. State Department has designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1997. The European Union and other countries consider it a terrorist organization.
The group has carried out many suicide attacks on Israelis and vowed to end Israel’s existence.
Hamas won 2006 parliamentary elections elections and in 2007 violently seized control of the Gaza Strip from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority, dominated by rival Fatah movement, administers semi-autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Yehia Sinwar, in Gaza, and Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in exile, are Hamas’ current leaders. The group’s leadership was realigned with Iran and Hezbollah. Many of the group’s leaders have relocated to the area.
In recent years, Israel has made peace deals with Arab countries without having to make concessions in its conflict with the Palestinians. A deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia is being worked on by the U.S.
The UN considers the construction of settlements in the West Bank to be illegal and Israeli officials deny that there is an Israeli army in the West Bank.
Its leaders say hundreds of its 40,000 fighters took part in the assault. Israel says the group has 30,000 fighters, and some of them have a range of more than 200 miles.