– We are at war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, rejecting that it would be just one military operation in the crowd.
He warned that it could be a long war and that Israel’s revenge will be powerful. Hamas’ ability to harm Israelis must be defeated for a long time to come.
After a meeting of the Security Council, the announcement came that fuel and goods to Gaza are to be stopped. Already before, the electricity, most of which comes from Israel, has been turned off.
After midnight on Sunday night, the Israeli army called on civilians in the Gaza Strip to immediately, for their own safety, leave their homes and move to other areas as the army targets Hamas targets in the area.
Israel shelled from Lebanon
Iran-backed Hezbollah says it has fired shellfire from Lebanon into northern Israel.
The group states that it has targeted targets in the land area of Har Dov (Shebaa Farms). Furthermore, Hezbollah describes the shelling as an act of “solidarity” with Palestinian Hamas.
Israel’s military, the IDF, says it responded with artillery fire.
“The IDF has taken preparatory measures for this type of possible event and will continue to operate in all regions, whenever necessary, to ensure the safety of Israeli civilians,” the military wrote, according to the Times of Israel.
There are no reports of injuries or deaths.
At least 500 dead
At least 500 people have been killed in Israel and Gaza since the surprise attack by Hamas on Saturday morning, and around 1,600 Israelis and 1,700 Palestinians have been injured, it was reported on Sunday morning.
The fighting inside Israel, which began on Saturday morning with widespread attacks by the Hamas movement, is not over.
– When dawn comes, we can hopefully announce that we have regained control in Israel. But we are not there yet, said a spokesman for the Israeli army, Jonathan Copernicus, in an interview on CNN.
Once that is done, the border with Gaza will be closed and the focus will shift to striking Hamas in an unprecedented manner, according to Copernicus.
The Israeli army confirms, according to Haaretz newspaper, that a significant number of Israeli soldiers and civilians have been taken hostage by Hamas and taken to Gaza. Some of them have now been freed, but on Sunday morning the number of prisoners is still 100, reports Bloomberg.
Video clips of Israelis in Gaza
According to Israel, over 3,000 rockets have been fired at the country from the Gaza Strip since Saturday morning. The terrorist-labeled Islamist movement Hamas claims to have fired over 5,000 rockets, according to leader Mohammad Daif.
Videos purportedly showing Israelis in the hands of Hamas soldiers are circulating on social media. A clip, verified by the BBC news channel, shows a truck carrying captured Israeli soldiers entering the
Hamas responded with additional rockets at Israel in response to air strikes on a symbolically important high-rise in Gaza City that was razed to the ground.