“I ordered a total siege of the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, food, water or fuel. We are fighting animals and we will act accordingly,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, referring to an area just over 40 km long and 6 to 12 km wide, home to more than 2.3 million people. More than 300,000 reservists have been mobilized, and some reports indicate that an invasion of Gaza is “imminent.”
The total of three days of violence has already exceeded 2,500 deaths; Some 900 on the Israeli side and at least 687 on the Palestinian side, including dozens of women and children killed in retaliatory bombing that the Israeli air force has carried out non-stop since Saturday. On Monday alone, dozens of people were killed in an attack on the Jabaliya refugee camp in the far north of the Gaza Strip. At least four of the hundred or so Israeli civilians who were taken to Gaza as hostages also died in self-inflicted bombings, and Hamas threatened to begin killing the rest one by one for each undeclared Israeli attack on civilians. Qatar tried to negotiate the release of some of the hostages, namely women and children, but neither the Israeli government nor the terrorists confirmed this.
Terrorist Israel cannot kill
Mohammed Deif, the Hamas military commander who ordered Saturday’s deadly attack in southern Israel, has escaped five assassination attempts in the past two decades. He lost an eye, two legs and an arm and witnessed the death of his wife and two children. He is known as “The Guest” for never sleeping two nights in a row in the same house and for participating in dozens of attacks that have killed hundreds of Israeli civilians since the 1990s. For Palestinians, he is a hero.
The darkest day
“Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day, nor have so many people been put on trucks and taken into captivity,” said PR man Isaac Herzog.
Ignored warnings
Egyptian intelligence agencies repeatedly warned that “something big” was brewing, but Israel ignored the warnings and focused its attention on the West Bank.
EU freezes aid
The EU announced on Monday it would freeze all financial aid to the Palestinians worth almost 700 million euros following the attack on Israel.
Shots fired on the border with Lebanon
Israel on Monday bombed Hezbollah positions on the border with Lebanon following an armed infiltration attempt, raising fears of a new front opening in the conflict. Two Islamic Jihad terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israel were shot down and four Hezbollah members were killed in Israeli bombing, prompting the movement to respond by firing several rockets.
Author: Ricardo Ramos
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.