Israeli troops fought to regain control of the desert around the Gaza Strip and evacuate people from the embattled border area, as the death toll from the war with Hamas surged above 1,100 by Monday, the third day of clashes.
Hamas launched a surprise assault from Gaza over the weekend, firing a barrage of rockets and sending a wave of fighters who gunned down civilians and took over 100 hostages.
More than 700 Israelis have been killed since Hamas launched its large-scale attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday. Another 1,200 people have been wounded, many critically.
In retaliation, Israeli air strikes hammered an estimated 800 targets in the impoverished and blockaded Gaza Strip, an enclave of 2.3 million people, with officials there reporting at least 413 Palestinian deaths.
IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus estimated around 1,000 Palestinian fighters had participated in Hamas’s assault on Saturday, which he called “by far the worst day in Israeli history”.
“This could be a 9/11 and a Pearl Harbour wrapped into one.”
Around 100,000 reserve troops have been deployed to the south as the IDF battles to expel Hamas fighters from Israeli territory, he said, adding that a “very large amount” of Israeli civilians and soldiers were being held inside Gaza.
Israeli officials have vowed to remove Hamas from governance of besieged Gaza enclave.
US support for Israel
US President Joe Biden ordered “additional support for Israel in the face of this unprecedented terrorist assault by Hamas”.
At least four US citizens were killed in the attack, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement after a briefing, adding that the toll was likely to rise.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington “will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions”.
Austin directed the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and group of warships to the eastern Mediterranean and said that Washington was augmenting fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.
Hamas has said the US aid amounts to “aggression” against Palestinians.
Abducted to Gaza
Israel was stunned when Hamas launched its multi-pronged offensive on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, with at least 3,000 rockets raining down as fighters infiltrated towns and kibbutz communities and stormed an outdoor rave where many revellers were shot dead.
Panicked Israelis hiding in their homes told reporters that militants were going door to door and shooting civilians or dragging them away.
At least 100 citizens were captured by Hamas and abducted into Gaza, with images circulating on social media of bloodied hostages.
Israel also came under attack from the north when Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched guided missiles and artillery shells Sunday “in solidarity” with the unprecedented Hamas offensive, without causing any casualties.
Israel responded with artillery strikes across the UN-patrolled border.
“We recommend Hezbollah not to come into this,” said army spokesman Richard Hecht. “If they come, we are ready.”
Netanyahu — who leads a hard-right coalition government but has received pledges of support from political opponents — has vowed to turn Hamas hideouts “to rubble” and urged Palestinians there to flee.
Israeli attacks since then have levelled several Gaza residential towers and destroyed a mosque in Gaza’s Khan Yunis, as well as hitting the central bank.
More than 20,000 people in the Palestinian territory have been displaced due to fighting, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said.
From a classroom shelter in Gaza City, 37-year-old Amal Al-Sarsawi told AFP she had been awake all night comforting her terrified children.
Global impact
Western capitals have condemned the attack by Hamas, which Washington and Brussels consider a terrorist group.
The conflict has had global impact, with several other countries reporting nationals killed, abducted or missing, among them Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Nepal, Thailand, Ukraine and the United States.
Oil prices soared more than four percent Monday, sparking concerns about possible supply shocks from the crude-rich region.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi voiced support when he spoke with the leaders of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place in the United States, Iraq, Pakistan and other countries, while Germany and France were among nations stepping up security around Jewish temples and schools.
‘We will not give up’
Dubbing its attack “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, Hamas called on “resistance fighters in the West Bank” and “Arab and Islamic nations” to join the battle.
Its attack comes half a century after the 1973 invasion by Egyptian and Syrian forces, a conflict known in Israel as the Yom Kippur War, and has sparked bitter recriminations for what was widely seen as an intelligence failure.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has predicted “victory” and vowed to press ahead with “the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons”.
An Israeli survivor of the attack on Sderot, Yitzhak, 67, said he now expected the army to “conquer Gaza house by house, clean the area there properly, and not leave Gaza until they get the very last rocket out of the ground.”
Many Gaza residents voiced defiance.
“We will not give up, and we are here to stay,” said Mohammed Saq Allah, 23. “This is our land, and we will not abandon our land.”
