luc, CNBC Indonesia
Monday, 09/10/2023 05:15 WIB
Photo: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Israel, which has not yet recovered from the deadliest attack ever on its territory, declared war against Hamas on Sunday (8/10/2023). The death toll in the conflict soared above 1,100 after Palestinian militant groups launched a massive surprise attack from Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emboldened a nation shocked and mourning a “long and difficult” war a day after Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel and sent a wave of militias that shot dead civilians and took at least 100 people hostage.
The escalation in bloodshed sharply increased tensions in the Middle East and killed more than 700 people on the Israeli side, the country’s worst loss since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war when it was invaded by a coalition led by Egypt and Syria in fighting that broke out in the region. occupation.
“Israel was shocked by this unprecedented attack,” said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative. “I have heard many comparisons to 9/11, and many Israelis have difficulty understanding how this could happen,” he said, as reported by AFP.
Gaza officials reported at least 413 deaths in the impoverished and blockaded enclave of 2.3 million people, which was hit by Israeli airstrikes on 800 targets ahead of what many fear is a ground invasion.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden ordered “additional support for Israel in the face of unprecedented terrorist attacks by Hamas”.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington “will immediately provide additional equipment and resources to the Israel Defense Forces, including ammunition”.
Austin also said he had directed the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its battleship group to the eastern Mediterranean, and that Washington was adding fighter squadrons in the region.
Hamas accused US aid of “aggression” against Palestinians.
Several foreign countries have reported their citizens killed, kidnapped or missing in the fighting, including Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Nepal, Thailand, Ukraine and the United States.
Tens of thousands of Israeli troops have been deployed to fight Hamas fighters in the south, where the bodies of civilians have been found strewn on the streets and in city centers.
“The enemy is still on the ground,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari said as a second night fell after a major opening attack.
The firefight raged as the Israeli army tried to secure the desert area near the coastal enclave, rescue hostages and evacuate all areas near Gaza, after the cabinet officially declared war by activating Article 40 of the Basic Law.
“We will reach every community until we kill every terrorist in Israel,” Hagari vowed, a day after Hamas fighters invaded Israel using motorized vehicles, boats and paragliders.
Kidnapping
Shock and disappointment gripped Israel after at least 100 of its citizens were captured by Hamas and kidnapped in Gaza, with images circulating on social media showing the hostages covered in blood, and their desperate relatives pleading for their release or rescue.
Yifat Zailer, 37, said he was horrified to see online video footage from Gaza showing his female cousin and the girls, aged nine months and three years.
“That’s the only confirmation we have,” he told AFP, adding that there was no information about his cousin’s husband and her elderly parents.
“After the army took over the kibbutz, they were no longer at home,” he said. “We assume they were kidnapped… We want to know what their condition is, we want them to return safely. They are innocent civilians.”
Israel also came under attack from the north when Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched missiles and artillery shells on Sunday “in solidarity” against the unprecedented Hamas attack, without causing any casualties.
Israel responded with artillery strikes across the UN-patrolled border. “We recommend Hezbollah not get involved in this,” military spokesman Richard Hecht said. If they come, we are ready.
Israel was caught by surprise when Hamas launched a multi-pronged attack on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, raining down at least 3,000 rockets as fighters infiltrated towns and kibbutz communities and stormed an outdoor rave party where many revelers were shot dead.
Panicked Israeli residents called the media as they hid in their homes, whispering that militants would go house to house and shoot civilians or drag them away.
‘No Pause’
Global concerns are mounting, with Western countries condemning attacks by Hamas, which Washington and Brussels consider a terrorist group.
On the other hand, Israel’s enemies praised the attack, including Iran, whose President Ebrahim Raisi voiced his support when he spoke with leaders of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group.
Anti-Israel protests have flared in Iraq, Pakistan and several other Muslim-majority countries, while Germany and France are among countries stepping up security around Jewish temples and schools.
In the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a police officer opened fire “randomly” on Israeli tourists on Sunday, killing two of them and their Egyptian guide before he was arrested.
Israel’s National Security Council urged its citizens to leave Egypt “as soon as possible” and avoid non-essential travel, especially in the Middle East.
Netanyahu – who leads a right-wing coalition government but has received pledges of support from political opponents during Israel’s national emergency – has vowed to reduce Hamas hideouts “to rubble” and urged Palestinians there to flee.
“We are starting a long and difficult war forced on us by the deadly attacks of Hamas,” Netanyahu wrote on X, formerly Twitter, and promised there would be no “respite” until victory.
Israeli attacks have destroyed several Gaza settlement towers and destroyed a mosque in Gaza’s Khan Yunis as well as the central bank.
Schools were closed and many flights were canceled to Ben Gurion airport amid the fighting, as the main TA-35 index on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange fell 6.47% and UEFA postponed the Israel-Switzerland Euro 2024 qualifying match.
‘We will not give up’
Hamas called its offensive “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” and called on “resistance fighters in the West Bank” and “Arab and Islamic countries” to join the fight.
His attack came half a century after the outbreak of the 1973 conflict called the Yom Kippur war in Israel, which sparked fierce recriminations over what was widely seen as a colossal intelligence failure.
“There has been a very bad failure here,” said Sderot resident Yaakov Shoshani (70). “The Yom Kippur War was nothing compared to this, and I was a soldier in the Yom Kippur War.”
He recalled the terror of attacks on their town near Gaza.
“I was holding a kitchen knife and a large screwdriver, and I told my wife that, if anything happens, be sure to recite the Kaddish (prayer) over me, if you live,” he said. “So we stayed close together at home, closed everything and turned off the lights.”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has predicted “victory” and pledged to continue “the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons”.
Watch the video below:
Helping Hamas Attacks, Hezbollah Bombards Israel
(luc/luc)
2023-10-08 22:15:32
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