Warriors still fighting Hamas: Israeli army says fighting ongoing at 7-8 locations around Gaza Strip

Israel relentlessly pounded the Gaza strip since the wee hours of Monday as fighting raged with Hamas around the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Army said fighting with Hamas Palestinian militants was ongoing in seven to eight locations around the Gaza Strip inside Israel. “We’re still fighting. There are between seven to eight open places around Gaza (where) we have still warriors fighting terrorists,” military spokesman Richard Hecht told media. “We thought by yesterday (Sunday) we would have full control. I hope we will by the end of the day,” Hecht said. The death toll from the Israel-Hamas war surged over 1,100 on Monday. The Israeli army said it hit more than 500 targets in the blockaded and impoverished Gaza Strip in overnight clashes. It came two days after Hamas launched a barrage of rockets and sent a wave of fighters who gunned down civilians and took at least 100 hostages in an massive attack that took Israel by surprise. On Sunday, the Israeli government officially declared war on the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israel to prepare for a “long and difficult” conflict. More than 700 Israelis have been killed since Hamas launched its large-scale attack, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Monday. Another 1,200 people have been wounded, many critically. In retaliation, Israeli air strikes have hammered the impoverished and blockaded Gaza Strip, an enclave of 2.3 million people, with officials there reporting at least 413 Palestinian deaths. “Overnight IDF fighter jets, helicopters, aircraft and artillery struck over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement. Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus estimated around 1,000 Palestinian militants had participated in Hamas’s assault on Saturday, which he called “by far the worst day in Israeli history”. “Never before have so many Israelis been killed by one single thing, let alone enemy activity in one day,” he said. He likened it to “a 9/11 and a Pearl Harbour wrapped into one”. Conricus said around 100,000 reserve troops were deployed to the south as the army battles to expel Hamas fighters from Israeli territory. A “very large amount” of Israeli civilians and soldiers were being held inside Gaza, he said. ‘Situation is unbearable’ Netanyahu – who leads a hard-right coalition government – has vowed to turn Hamas hideouts “to rubble” and urged Palestinians there to flee. Israeli attacks have levelled several Gaza residential towers and destroyed a mosque in Gaza’s Khan Yunis, as well as hitting the central bank. More than 20,000 people in Gaza have been displaced due to fighting, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said. “The situation is unbearable psychologically and economically,” said Amal al-Sarsawi, 37, as she took shelter in a classroom with her terrified children. Western capitals have condemned the attack by Hamas, which the US and EU consider a terrorist group. Oil prices soared more than four percent Monday, sparking concerns about possible supply shocks from the crude-rich region. Israel’s foes have praised the assault, including Iran whose President Ebrahim Raisi voiced support when he spoke with the leaders of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place in the United States, Iraq, Pakistan and other countries, while Germany and France were among nations stepping up security around Jewish temples and schools. In the Egyptian city of Alexandria a police officer opened fire “at random” on Israeli tourists Sunday, killing two of them and their Egyptian guide before he was arrested. ‘We will not give up’ Dubbing its attack “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, Hamas called on “resistance fighters in the West Bank” and “Arab and Islamic nations” to join the battle. Its attack comes half a century after the 1973 invasion by Egyptian and Syrian forces, a conflict known in Israel as the Yom Kippur War, and has sparked bitter recriminations for what was widely seen as an intelligence failure. “There was a very bad failure here,” said Sderot resident Yaakov Shoshani, 70. “The Yom Kippur War was small compared to it, and I was a soldier in the Yom Kippur War.” Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has predicted “victory” and vowed to press ahead with “the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons”. An Israeli survivor of the attack on Sderot, Yitzhak, 67, said he now expected the army to “conquer Gaza house by house, clean the area there properly, and not leave Gaza until they get the very last rocket out of the ground.” With inputs from AFP