An official state of war has been declared in Israel and its tanks are already moving towards Lebanon. By reading this article, you can quickly get updated on the events of the weekend.
The security cabinet of the Israeli government has declared an official state of war in the country on Sunday evening. Tells about it al-Jazeera news channel.
Declaring martial law gives the armed forces legal permission to take “significant military action”.
In the new war that broke out between Israel and the Palestinian extremist organization Hamas on Saturday, more than a thousand people have already died, most of them civilians.
Where did the violence flare up?
On Saturday morning, Hamas launched a surprise attack from Gaza towards several Israeli settlements and military targets. The attack used both rocket attacks and fighters advancing along the ground.
Israel immediately responded to the attack by launching extensive airstrikes on Gaza. Israel has also begun planning a ground operation and has ordered Israeli reservists into military service.
The confrontation is the most serious between Israel and the Palestinians in no less than fifty years. Saturday’s attack by Hamas came on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, when Israel was just as badly surprised the previous time. Therefore, this attack is considered particularly humiliating for Israel.
The situation in Gaza is a particularly vulnerable part of the cycle of violence between Israel and the Palestinians. In this story, you can read what the decades-long conflict between Hamas and Israel is all about.
What do we know about the victims?
By Sunday afternoon, 700 Israelis are known to have died and 2,000 injured, most of them civilian victims. Many civilians have also been taken hostage.
One attack target chosen by Hamas was raves, or electronic music festivals, near the border between Gaza and Israel, populated by young revelers. A video shot on a mobile phone from the festival has been shared on social media, showing armed men landing on the festival grounds with parachutes.
Israel has responded to the attacks by carrying out airstrikes on Gaza. So far, more than 300 Palestinian fighters and civilians have been killed and around 2,000 injured.
Israel has military superiority over Hamas. Palestinian civilians have been urged to seek shelter in Gaza, so violent counterattacks can be expected in the coming days. It means an increase in the number of Palestinian victims.
How does violence affect Finns?
A dual citizen of Finland and Israel has also been wounded in the weekend’s violence. About a thousand Finns live permanently in the area.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland advises to avoid traveling to conflict areas. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published new travel recommendations for Israel, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.
They advise to avoid traveling to Israel for the time beingespecially to the southern part of the country to the Gaza border area, to the northern part of the country to the border areas of Lebanon and Syria, and to observe special caution in the West Bank.
As for Gaza advised to avoid all travel to the Gaza Strip. in Lebanon special caution is advised.
Carrier Finnair is canceling all flights from Tel Aviv to Helsinki and vice versa between 9 and 14 October Finnair says that it will contact customers personally via text message or email if the flight has been cancelled.
What follows the bloody weekend in the Middle East?
In the powder keg of the Middle East, Hamas’s attack on Israel threatens to swell into a conflict where at worst there could be three fronts: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Lebanon.
Hamas has called on Palestinians living in Israel and the West Bank to participate in the attack. The West Bank is a Palestinian area occupied by the Israeli armed forces, where there is a lot of resentment towards Israel.
The situation has also escalated with the extremist organization Hezbollah, which holds power in the southern parts of Lebanon, Israel’s neighbor. On Sunday morning, Hezbollah launched rockets and grenades into the northern parts of Israel, to which Israel responded with artillery fire and a drone strike. Israeli tanks have also already been seen moving towards Lebanon.