New Delhi: Israel has promised to increase its military response to an attack by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas with a ground invasion, while U.S. President Joe Biden expressed his support for Israel and warned against any misuse of the situation. Hamas, which has Israeli hostages, has said it will kill one of them for every home in Gaza hit without warning, but despite Israel flattening parts of Gaza and more airstrikes overnight there was no sign Hamas had done its threat.
Armed Conflict
- Israel's air force said it hit more than 200 targets overnight in a Gaza City area.
- Gaza's health ministry said at least 900 people have died and 4,600 injured in the crowded coastal strip. Israeli public broadcaster Kan said the weekend death toll had reached 1,200.
- On Saturday, Hamas fighters from the Gaza Strip attacked parts of southern Israel, in the worst Palestinian militant assault in Israel's history.
- "Hamas wanted a change and it will get one. What was in Gaza will no longer be. We began the offensive from the air, later on we will also come from the ground," said Israeli Defence Minister Yoavv Gallant, speaking to soldiers near the Gaza fence.
- Israel has mobilized an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, as Israeli airlines added flights to bring reservists back to the country.
- The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Israeli strikes had since Saturday demolished more than 22,600 residential units and 10 health facilities and damaged 48 schools.
- Two members of Hamas' political office died in an air strike in Khan Younis, a Hamas official said. They were the first senior Hamas members killed since Israel started pounding the strip.
- On Israel's northern border, a volley of rockets was launched from southern Lebanon towards Israel, triggering Israeli shelling in return, three security sources said. More shells fired from Syrian territory landed in open areas in Israel, triggering Israel to fire back, the military said, further increasing fears that the violence could lead to a wider war.
Human Impact
- A 21-year-old Israeli woman said she had "no tears left" after her father, sister, grandmother and cousin went missing on Saturday and video showed her 12-year-old brother being taken by gunmen.
- Gazans like Plestia Alaqad, 22, are fleeing for their lives. After her apartment block was hit, she took refuge in a friend's home but then got a call it would be targeted too. After a short stay in a hospital, where she charged her phone, she headed to another home.
- Gazan rescuers pulled the body of a 4-year-old girl and other dead from the rubble of a municipal building where she and many others were sheltering. "They tried to escape death only to find it," said volunteer Mohammad al Najjar.
- The worried parents of a Thai seized in Israel sent a plea: "Help the hostages as soon as possible." His parents recognised their son in a photo shared on social media of hostages sitting with hands seemingly tied behind their backs. "He was going to play soccer with his friend. Then he hung up the phone," his mother said.
International Reaction
- President Joe Biden called the attacks by Hamas "an act of pure evil" and at least 14 U.S. citizens were killed. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will arrive in Israel on Thursday, in a show of support.
- Egypt is trying to prevent a mass exodus south from the Gaza Strip, as Israeli bombardments stopped crossings.
- European Union foreign ministers met to try to resolve divisions over whether to continue aid payments to Palestinians.
- Iran's top authority Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran was not involved in the Hamas attack, though he "kissed the hands" of those doing damage to Israel.
