2023-10-09 05:00:00
Bodies of Hams militiamen killed by Israeli soldiers to recover the police station in the town of Sderot. ATEF SAFADI | EFE
More than a thousand deaths between the two sides in just two days of armed conflict. The high number of Israeli victims in just over a day is unprecedented in the history of the country
09 oct 2023 . Updated at 05:00 a.m.
The two days of open war between Hams and Israel have already taken their toll. more than a thousand livesin a spiral of violence that threatens to expand throughout the Middle East with the incorporation of the Lebanese pro-Iran militia into the conflict. Hezbollah, the express support of the president of Iran to the legitimate Palestinian defense and the attack against of Israeli tourists in Alexandria at the hands of an Egyptian policeman. Israel’s revenge for the unprecedented offensive launched on Saturday by Islamist militias is served.
Prime Minister Benjamn Netanyahu warned Gaza residents to march now because Israel will turn into rubble all the places where Hams hide. Being a long and difficult war to continue relentlessly until the objectives are achieved, he said. Military positions are already studying the possibility of launching a ground invasion over the Gaza Strip.
The US announces the sending of a naval group, weapons and ammunition to help the Israeli people
The surprise and unprecedented offensive of the Palestinian militiamen leaves more than 700 dead Israelis —among them Americans, British, French and Ukrainians, the majority with dual nationality— and 2,243 injured in hospitals, 365 of them in serious condition. The balance rose after the discovery of more than 200 bodies in Israeli towns near Gaza liberated by troops from the militia occupation.
It’s our 9/11
The high death toll in just over a day is unprecedented in the history of Israel. It’s just comparable to the bloody first Arab-Israeli war of 1948, after the founding of the State. It is our 9/11, said the international spokesman for the Israeli Army, Richard Hecht, comparing the trauma of the Islamist assault with what the attack on the Twin Towers by Al Qaeda was for the United States.
The Israeli Security Council, headed by Netanyahu, officially activated the state of war throughout the territory and an emergency order for civilians can arm themselves. This Sunday, the troops regained control of 29 places, although the fighting with Islamists infiltrated in eight communities close to the Gaza border. In the midst of so much death, in the Kfar Aza kibbutz the soldiers found a surviving baby, without knowing the fate of her parents. Another 24 towns in the border area were being evacuated and their residents sent to other places in the country.
On the Palestinian side, the death toll rises to 413, among them 78 minors, and 2,300 injured, according to data from the Gaza Ministry of Health. The Army spokesman said, however, that his troops killed 400 terrorists in Gaza and hundreds more in Israeli territory.
Throughout the early hours of Sunday, the Israeli Defense Forces severely beat a dozen high value targets on the Strip, among them the Hamas Intelligence headquarters in search of its top official, as well as buildings where Islamist leaders reside, civil infrastructure, the Palestinian National Islamic Bank, an Islamic Jihad weapons warehouse and a mosque. Israel has decreed a military closure in the Strip, so entering the area is strictly prohibited. The next step was to cut off supplies of electricity, fuel and goods.
Border with Lebanon
Tension escalated on the northern border after Hezbolla launched several attacks with mortar shells and missiles against three Israeli positions, in the first action from Lebanon after the outbreak of war. The armed incident forced Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to order the start of the evacuation protocol of the populations in the north of the country, on the border with Lebanon, in the face of a possible outbreak of hostilities after the crossfire of bombings between Israel and Hezbol in the Sheeba Farms and the hills of Kfar Shuba.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Finul), in which Spanish troops participatereinforced surveillance on the line that separates the two countries. We are in contact with the authorities on both sides of the Blue Line, at all levels, to contain the situation and avoid a more serious escalation, assured UNIFIL, a mission of more than 10,000 troops that is currently headed by a Spanish general, Aroldo Lzaro.
That of Hezbol was not the only support that the militias received. The president of Iran, Ebrahim Rais, applauded Hamas’ offensive after a telephone conversation with its leader, Ismail Haniya. Rais accused Israel of endangering regional security by its oppression of Palestine and called for umma Islamic (community) support the Palestinian nation honestly.
King Abdul of Jordan called for intensified diplomatic efforts to avoid an escalation of Palestinian-Israeli violence with dangerous repercussions.
More than a hundred Israelis have been captured and taken to Gaza
The Government of Israel confirmed that more than a hundred Israelis, including women and children, have been captured by Hamas and taken to the Gaza Strip. A few hours before this official figure was given, spokesmen for the militias assured that the number of captives is much higher and that throughout this Sunday they would give their own estimates. But in fact, and according to security sources at Wall Street Journal, Not even the militias themselves are sure of how many people they have in their power. given that several Palestinian civilians participated in the kidnappings on their own without consulting the leadership of either Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Amid shocking images of terrified soldiers and civilians – some bloodied, others hooded and with their hands tied – being taken to an unknown destination, the fate of the captives has become one of Israel’s priorities. Netanyahu appointed Brigadier General Gal Hirsch as in charge of the kidnapped and missing people and all Government ministries will be subject to his instructions.
To the indignation of the families of the disappeared due to the lack of information of their loved ones, is joined by the images that spread on social networks about the acts of barbarism at the hands of the Islamists.
Displayed like a trophy
It is the case of Shani Nicole Louk, a 30-year-old German tourist who was captured while attending a peace music festival at a kibbutz in southern Israel. Hams militiamen displayed as a war trophy his half-naked body face down in a van. The video went viral and reached her relatives, who this Sunday identified Shani by her tattoos and the dreadlocks in her hair. Her family clings to the possibility that she was perhaps still alive in the truck, although unconscious, since the death of the young woman who also has Israeli nationality has not yet been confirmed.
The Islamists arrived paraglided to the festival site and started shooting against the attendees who began to flee in terror. More than two hundred bodies were collected in that place.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, told the newspaper Time that there are dozens of Americans among the hostages. Eleven Nepalese who were studying at an agricultural school in the Alumim kibbutz also remain missing.
Filed under: Israel Middle East Gaza Palestine
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