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Israel Vows to Obliterate Hamas
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Sunday, October 8 2023, accused Palestinian Islamist group Hamas of war crimes, vowing that it was time to “obliterate Hamas terror infrastructure,” as the U.N. Security Council met to discuss the conflict.
In a dramatic assault launched from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza on Saturday, Hamas militants stormed into Israeli towns, killing more than 600 people and escaping with dozens of hostages, in the deadliest day for Israel since the 1973 war.
“These are war crimes, blatant documented war crimes,” said Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan ahead of the closed-door meeting of the 15-member Security Council meeting.
“The era of reasoning with these savages is over,” he told reporters. “Now is the time to obliterate Hamas terror infrastructure, to completely erase it, so that such horrors are never committed again.”
Israel pounded Gaza on Sunday, killing hundreds of people in retaliation. Erdan appealed for the international community to fully support Israel and condemn the actions of Hamas.
Home to some 2 million people, the Gaza Strip has been run by Hamas since 2007. Its economy has long been choked by a blockade imposed by Israel with Egypt’s help.
“Israel keeps saying: The blockade and repeated assaults on Gaza are to destroy Hamas military capabilities and ensure security…. Its blockade and assaults accomplished neither,” Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters ahead of the Security Council meeting.
US Senator Cory Booker Shelters in Bomb Shelter During Hamas Attack in Israel
US Senator Cory Booker was in Israel on Saturday, October 8th, when Hamas militants launched a surprise attack against the country. Booker, who was in Jerusalem for a planned summit, was forced to seek refuge in a bomb shelter with many other Americans, including children and families.
In a video posted to social media after leaving Israel, Booker described the scene in the bomb shelter as “frightening,” saying that there was a “sense of fear and worry” among those sheltering there.
“We are grateful that Senator Booker and our colleagues were able to safely depart Israel earlier today,” said Booker’s spokesperson, Maya Krishna-Rogers.
On Sunday, the US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, warned of reports that several Americans may have been taken hostage or killed in the attacks. She also expressed concern for the safety of US citizens throughout the region.
We are working very actively to verify those reports,” Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement. “We urge all parties to take immediate steps to protect civilians and de-escalate the situation.”
The attacks by Hamas militants have been condemned by the United States and other countries, and have raised concerns about a wider escalation of violence in the region.
British PM Vows to “Stop at Nothing” to Keep Jewish Community Safe
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Monday, October 9, 2023 condemned Hamas for the attack on Israel, calling the group “terrorists” and saying that he stands “with Israel.”
Sunak, who spoke at a synagogue in London on Monday evening, said that the people who support Hamas are “fully responsible” for the attack. He added that there is “no question of balance” and that he will “stop at nothing” to keep the Jewish community in the UK safe.
US Sends Military Aircraft to Israel With Munitions
The US Defense official Monday October 9, 2023 gave an update on the developing situation in Israel, saying that the Hamas attack was “Isis-level savagery” and that the US is confident that it can support both Ukraine and Israel with weapons.
The US has deployed the USS Gerald R Ford strike group to the eastern Mediterranean and is sending aircraft to Israel with munitions, but the official did not specify the type of weaponry.
When asked if the US is concerned that Israel will kill Palestinian civilians with American weapons, the official said that Washington holds Israel to the same standard as all partners – which is to avoid civilian casualties.
Poland Launches Evacuation Of Citizens From Israel As Conflict Escalates
Poland’s Ministry of Defence Monday started evacuating Polish citizens from Israel, with the first plane carrying 120 people landing in Warsaw on Monday morning. The evacuation is being carried out by 200 Polish soldiers.
“The first people evacuated from Israel are already in Poland,” Polish defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak tweeted. “I would like to thank [our] soldiers for carrying out the operation efficiently. You are the best.”
Two more planes are expected to arrive later in the day, evacuating the remaining 200 Polish citizens waiting to leave Israel.
Rockets Fired From Lebanon into Israel, Raising Fears of Wider War
Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza on Tuesday, 10 October 2023, leveling entire neighborhoods and filling morgues with Palestinian dead, as Israel retaliated for Hamas attacks that have sparked some of the worst bloodshed in the conflict’s 75-year history.
On the other side of the barrier wall that surrounds the coastal strip, Israeli soldiers retrieved the last of Israel’s dead four days after Hamas gunmen stormed through villages, killing hundreds of people in the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israel’s history.
On the other side of the barrier wall that surrounds the coastal strip, Israeli soldiers retrieved the last of Israel’s dead four days after Hamas gunmen stormed through villages, killing hundreds of people in the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israel’s history.
Hamas militants holding Israeli soldiers and civilians hostage had threatened to execute a captive for each home in Gaza hit, but as night fell on Tuesday there was no indication they had done so.
However, Israel’s defence minister said its forces were preparing for a ground offensive.
And on Israel’s northern border, a barrage of rockets was fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel, prompting Israeli shelling in return, three security sources said. The exchange raised the possibility that the violence could escalate into a wider war.
Israeli Says It Has Secured Its Border With Gaza
Israeli forces Tuesday, October 10 2023 said they had secured their border with Gaza after Hamas militants broke through the barrier to launch a deadly attack that has killed more than 900 people.
No militants have crossed the border in the past day, but the Israeli army says it has recovered the bodies of 1,500 militants. Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have continued overnight, with the air force saying it has hit 200 targets.
More than 700 people had been killed by the strikes, according to Palestinian authorities.
The UN children’s agency UNICEF called for a humanitarian corridor in and out of Gaza, as Israel had cut supplies of fuel, electricity, and water.
Iran Leader Praises Hamas Attack on Israel
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Tuesday denied Iran’s involvement in the deadly attacks launched by Hamas on Saturday, but he praised those who carried out the attacks, saying that Iran “kisses the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime.” This statement is significant because Iran is known to fund Hamas and supply training and weapons to the militants.
The Supreme Leader’s statement is likely to further escalate tensions between Iran and #Israel, which have been on the rise in recent months. It also comes as the United States and Iran are engaged in indirect talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.
Egypt Warned Israel of Gaza Violence 3 Days Before Raid
Three days before a deadly cross-border raid by Hamas, Egypt warned Israel of the potential for violence, according to the chairman of a US congressional panel.
Michael McCaul, the head of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters of the alleged warning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the reports as “absolutely false”.
Israeli intelligence services are under scrutiny for their failure to prevent the attack, which was the deadliest by Palestinian militants in Israel’s 75-year history.
According to McCaul, Egypt had warned Israel three days prior that an event like this could happen. He added that he did not want to get into too much classified information, but that a warning was given.
Netanyahu has denied that Israel received a specific warning in advance of the deadly incursion.
Egypt, which controls who crosses its border with Gaza, often serves as a mediator between Israel and Hamas.
More than 1,500 militants stormed through the Gaza security barrier in a co-ordinated land, air and sea attack on Saturday.
The death toll in Israel from the Hamas attacks has reached 1,200. More than 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza.
Israel has been pounding Hamas targets in Gaza in response, while residents of the territory say they have no electricity after their only power station ran out of fuel.
Hamas has condemned US President Joe Biden’s remarks on Tuesday saying Israel had a duty to respond to the attacks, which he called an “act of sheer evil”.
The Palestinian group said Biden’s remarks were “inflammatory” and aimed to escalate tensions in the Gaza Strip.
In the wake of the Hamas attack, the US announced it was moving an aircraft carrier, ships and jets to the eastern Mediterranean, and that it would also give Israel additional equipment and ammunition.
Israel Orders A Million Palestinians to Move Out of Gaza
Israel said its infantry and tanks had carried out raids inside the Gaza Strip on Friday, its first announcement of a shift from an air war to ground operations to root out Hamas fighters a week after their deadly rampage in southern Israel.
Some Gaza residents were abandoning homes on Friday to escape from the path of an Israeli onslaught, after Israel ordered more than a million people to leave the northern half of the Gaza Strip within 24 hours. Hamas told them not to go.
Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said troops backed by tanks had mounted raids to attack Palestinian rocket crews and seek information on the location of hostages taken by Hamas.
Several thousand residents could be seen on roads heading out of the northern part of the Gaza strip, but it was impossible to tell their numbers. Many others said they would not go.
Hamas, which controls the densely populated Palestinian territory, vowed to fight until the last drop of blood. The Israeli military said a significant number of Gazans had begun moving southwards “to save themselves”.
Mosques broadcast the message: “Hold on to your homes. Hold on to your land”.
“We tell the people of northern Gaza and from Gaza City, stay put in your homes, and your places,” Eyad Al-Bozom, spokesman for the Hamas Interior Ministry, told a news conference.
The U.N. said Israel’s call for Gaza civilians to leave was impossible to carry out “without devastating humanitarian consequences”, prompting a rebuke from Israel which said it should condemn Hamas and support Israel’s right to self-defence.
“The noose around the civilian population in Gaza is tightening. How are 1.1 million people supposed to move across a densely populated war zone in less than 24 hours?” U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths wrote on social media.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it would be impossible for aid organisations to assist “such a massive displacement of people in Gaza” while it remains under Israeli siege.
“The needs are staggering, and humanitarian organisations must be able to increase aid operations.”
Israel’s evacuation order applies to the northern half of the Gaza Strip, including the enclave’s biggest settlement Gaza City. The U.N. said it had been told that Israel wanted the area’s entire population – around half the 2.3 million Gazans – to move across the Gaza Wadi wetland that bisects the enclave.
“Civilians of Gaza City, evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families and distance yourself from Hamas terrorists who are using you as human shields,” the Israeli military said.
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority that is a rival of Hamas, told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jordan that the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza would constitute a repeat of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven from what is now Israel. Most Gazans are the descendants of such refugees.
Gaza is already one of the most crowded places on earth, and for now there is no way out. Israel has imposed a total blockade, and Egypt, which also has a border with the enclave, has so far resisted calls to open it to fleeing residents.
Cairo said Israel’s call on Gazans to leave their homes was a violation of international humanitarian law that would put civilians in danger.
Since Hamas fighters burst across the barrier fence and killed 1,300 Israelis on Saturday, Israel has responded with the most intensive air strikes of its 75-year conflict with the Palestinians. Gaza authorities say 1,800 people have been killed; the United Nations says 400,000 people have already been made homeless. (Additional reporting by Reuters)
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