By The Associated Press
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Monday that Israel’s fierce offensive in opposition to Hamas within the Gaza Strip has “only started.”
Netanyahu delivered the pronouncement in a nationally televised deal with as Israel pressed forward with a 3rd day of heavy airstrikes in Gaza following Hamas’ unprecedented and lethal incursion into Israel.
“We have only started striking Hamas,” he stated. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.”
Israel formally declared warfare on Sunday. The hostilities to this point have killed round 900 individuals in Israel and greater than 680 individuals in Gaza, in keeping with authorities on either side.
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City killed two Palestinian journalists early Tuesday, in keeping with the Palestinian information company Wafa.
Wafa recognized the journalists as editor Saeed Al-Taweel and photographer Mohammed Sobih. The airstrike occurred near an space housing a number of media places of work.
Three Palestinian journalists reportedly have been shot and killed whereas reporting in Gaza on Saturday. The Committee to Protect Journalists, citing Palestinian press freedom teams, recognized two of them as photographer Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi and reporter Mohammad Jarghoun. CPJ stated it confirmed that freelance reporter Mohammad El-Salhi additionally was killed.
Lafi labored for Ain Media, and Jarghoun reported for Smart Media, CPJ stated.
Israel’s army stated early Tuesday {that a} deputy Israeli commander was killed in clashes on the northern border with Lebanon.
The army recognized the deputy commander as Alim Abdallah, however didn’t specify the precise circumstances of his demise.
Palestinian militants from the Islamic Jihad group slipped from Lebanon into Israel, sparking Israeli shelling into southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group stated 5 of its members have been killed, and it retaliated with a volley of rockets and mortars at two Israeli military bases throughout the border.
As retaliatory Israeli airstrikes proceed, greater than 187,500 individuals have been displaced in Gaza for the reason that starting of the battle, in keeping with a report from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
UNRWA, the U.N. company for Palestinian refugees, is internet hosting greater than 137,000 individuals in faculties throughout the territory. The report says airstrikes have razed 790 housing items and severely broken 5,330 within the territory of two.3 million individuals.
OCHA stated harm to water, sanitation and hygiene amenities in Gaza has disrupted service for greater than 400,000 individuals.
The Israeli army stated early Tuesday that it struck two tunnels utilized by Hamas militants to enter Israeli territory.
The information got here a day after 70 militants infiltrated the Be’eri kibbutz Monday night time. The small farming group has been a flashpoint of the battle — the scene of a hostage standoff through the assault.
Authorities didn’t instantly present extra data on the placement of the tunnels.
The militant group has used tunnels previously. It has a longtime a community working from Gaza to Egypt to smuggle in weapons, in addition to assault tunnels burrowing into Israel.
At least 11 U.S. residents have been confirmed useless within the shock Hamas assaults, U.S. President Joe Biden stated Monday.
Biden additionally stated the U.S. authorities believes it’s “likely” that Americans are amongst these at the moment being held hostage by Hamas militants, whereas different U.S. residents are nonetheless unaccounted for after the lethal assault.
“My heart goes out to every family impacted by the horrible events of the past few days,” Biden stated in a press release. “The pain these families have endured, the enormity of their loss, and the agony of those still awaiting information is unfathomable.”
He careworn that the State Department is providing help for U.S. residents who’re at the moment in Israel, and air and floor choices to depart the nation are nonetheless obtainable for many who select to take action. He additionally stated federal legislation enforcement officers are “closely monitoring” potential home threats stemming from the weekend assaults.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak joined a big crowd gathered for prayer at a London synagogue on Monday to underline his solidarity with Israel.
Addressing the congregation at Finchley United Synagogue in north London, Sunak condemned Hamas’ bloody incursion into Israel on Saturday as “evil.”
“There are not two sides to these events. There is no question of balance. I stand with Israel,” he stated. “The United Kingdom stands with Israel against this terrorism today, tomorrow and always.”
He additionally sought to guarantee Britain’s Jewish group that he’ll do all the things to guard them amid considerations concerning the rise of antisemitism.
Thousands of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters held vocal however peaceable gatherings Monday, at a historic French plaza and outdoors Israeli embassies in London and Athens, Greece.
Several thousand individuals rallied in Paris in help of Israel, marching to the Trocadero Plaza overlooking the Eiffel Tower. The monument was lit up within the colours of the Israeli flag, with a white Star of David within the center, in a gesture of solidarity introduced by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
In Athens, an estimated 250 individuals, largely Palestinian expatriates and members of Greek left-wing teams, held a peaceable protest outdoors the Israeli embassy to point out solidarity with Palestinians. Protesters waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans, whereas a powerful police contingent blocked off entry to the embassy constructing.
In London, a whole bunch chanted “Israel is a terrorist state” and “Free Palestine” and a few waved indicators calling for Israel to “end the occupation.”
Meanwhile, within the U.S., supporters of Israel and of the Palestinians held competing rallies in a number of cities, together with in New York, the place rival protesters shouted at one another close to U.N. headquarters amid a large police presence.
The European Union late Monday reversed an earlier announcement by an EU commissioner that the bloc was instantly suspending assist for Palestinian authorities and as a substitute stated it will urgently overview such help within the wake of the assaults on Israel by Hamas.
“There will be no suspension of payments” in the mean time, a terse European Commission assertion stated late Monday, 5 hours after EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi had stated that each one funds from the event program for Palestinians can be instantly suspended.
No fast rationalization for the reversal was given. The reversal on a 691 million-euro ($730 million) program capped an embarrassing day on the EU’s govt at a time of utmost geopolitical sensitivities.
The Health Ministry within the Gaza Strip stated Monday that greater than 680 individuals have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory strikes following an unprecedented Hamas assault.
The ministry stated greater than 3,700 individuals have been wounded.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip for the reason that Saturday assault, putting a whole bunch of targets and leaving huge destruction.
The United Nations says intense diplomatic exercise is happening geared toward making certain that regional and worldwide leaders are on the identical web page in attempting to stop the battle between Israel and Hamas from spreading.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres advised reporters Monday that he and U.N. Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland are partaking with key events within the area.
Guterres has spoken to Israel’s president and Jordan’s king and expects to speak to the Palestinian president, Israel’s prime minister, Egypt’s president and Lebanon’s prime minister, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated. Wennesland has been in contact together with his counterparts from the United States, European Union, Qatar, Lebanon and others.
Israeli rescue service Zaka says greater than 100 our bodies have been recovered from a small farming group that was the scene of a hostage standoff throughout Hamas’ assault in opposition to Israel.
The determine is a part of the full 900 reportedly killed in Hamas’ multi-pronged assault. Be’eri, a kibbutz, had a inhabitants of about 1,000 individuals earlier than the assault.
American oil large Chevron Corp. stated Monday that at Israel’s instruction it had stopped manufacturing at its offshore Tamar pure gasoline rig within the Mediterranean Sea off Israel.
In a press release saying the motion, the corporate declined to debate any safety points and didn’t say why Israel ordered it.
The Tamar area, which went on-line in 2013, is believed to carry greater than 300 billion cubic meters of gasoline. Chevron and the Israeli-American firm Isramco every personal round a 3rd of Tamar, with the rest held by smaller corporations.
There have been threats beforehand in opposition to Israel’s offshore oil rigs by militant teams within the area and Lebanon has disputed Israel’s maritime boundaries.
The ongoing preventing in Israel and the Gaza Strip has sparked a soar in crude oil costs, partly over a worry of a wider regional battle breaking out. Israel and the Palestinian territories don’t produce oil. Benchmark Brent crude traded up Monday to over $87 a barrel.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says solely three of its members have been killed alongside the border with Israel throughout an trade of fireplace Monday.
Earlier Monday, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group had stated that 5 members have been killed throughout Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon.
Also Monday, the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad stated in a press release that it despatched 4 gunmen throughout Lebanon’s border into Israel as a part of the Hamas-led assault that began over the weekend. Israeli Defense Forces reported that its troops shot and killed a number of gunmen who crossed into the nation from Lebanon.
The Lebanese army referred to as on residents of border cities to “take the utmost precautions.” Families in a number of cities in southern Lebanon began fleeing north because the Israeli shelling continued.
The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has warned that it’s going to kill an Israeli hostage each time Israel’s army bombs civilian targets within the Gaza Strip with out warning.
Abu Obeida, the spokesman of the Qassam Brigades, stated in an audio launched Monday night time that the risk was a response to intense air strikes by Israel on civilian areas.
“We have decided to put an end to this and as of now, we declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of one the hostages of civilians we are holding,” he stated.
In a video assertion Monday, Israel’s international minister warned Hamas in opposition to harming any of the hostages who have been taken from Israel and being held in Gaza. Eli Cohen stated Israel was dedicated to bringing the hostages house “in the spirit of mutual responsibility.”
“We demand Hamas not to harm any of the hostages, Cohen said. “This war crime will not be forgiven,” he added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held back-to-back phone calls with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in keeping with Erdogan’s press workplace.
Erdogan and Abbas mentioned the continued battle between Israel and the militant group Hamas. “President Erdogan stated that Turkey is making every effort to end the conflicts in the region and ensure calm as soon as possible” a press release from his press workplace stated.
Arab international ministers plan to convene Wednesday in Cairo for a gathering on the warfare between Israel and the Palestinian militant teams in Gaza.
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki stated the ministers would talk about Arab efforts to “stop the Israeli aggression” on Gaza.
The assembly was referred to as by the Palestinians.
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This story has been up to date to right the day of the week U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed no less than 11 U.S. residents have been killed within the shock Hamas assaults. He stated so Monday, not Wednesday.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”