Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant orders 'complete siege' of Gaza Strip

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said that he has ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, as Israel fights the Hamas terror group. “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant said. “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” he added. The announcement on Monday came as Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters and guarded breaches in its border fence with tanks, while it pounded the Gaza Strip from the air. More than two days after Hamas launched its unprecedented incursion from Gaza, the military said the fighting had largely died down for now. The attack caught Israel’s vaunted military and intelligence apparatus completely off guard, bringing heavy battles to its streets for the first time in decades, reported The Associated Press. Israel formally declared war on Sunday, portending greater fighting ahead, and a possible ground assault into Gaza — a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. Palestinian militants continued firing barrages of rockets, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Civilians are already paying a high price. Around 700 people have been killed in Israel — a staggering toll by the scale of its recent conflicts. Nearly 500 have been killed in Gaza, a tiny, impoverished enclave of 2.3 million Palestinians bordering Israel and Egypt.