Gaza will become a “tent city,” an Israeli defense official has vowed, vowing to raze every building in revenge for Hamas terror attacks over the weekend.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Israeli forces carried out 250 airstrikes in just one hour, Fox News’ Trey Yingst said.
He said the attacks impacted northern and eastern parts of the Gaza Strip to pave the way for a ground invasion. Thousands of infantry troops are stationed on the border with Gaza, Yingst said.
Three Hamas terrorists were shot dead by Israeli forces on Tuesday as they tried to enter Israel, he added.
The Israeli military said its forces, supported by a helicopter and drones, clashed with militants on Israeli territory on Tuesday evening.
The IDF says the neighborhood hit by the airstrikes, which the army named al-Furqan after a mosque in the area, is a “nest of terror” used by Hamas to carry out attacks against Israel.
As dawn broke on Wednesday, more airstrikes were launched on Gaza
Palestinians assess the damage after an Israeli airstrike on the Sousi Mosque in Gaza City
Palestinians are seen digging through rubble after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a municipal building following Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis on Tuesday
Photos that emerged on Tuesday showed that parts of the densely populated city had been reduced to rubble. The Israeli defense official told Channel 13 News that “no building will remain standing.”
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said he had “lifted all restrictions” on troops fighting Hamas.
“Hamas wanted a change and they will get one.” “What was in Gaza will no longer be,” he said, speaking to soldiers near the Gaza fence.
“We started the offensive from the air, later we will also come from the ground.” We have been controlling the area since the second day and are on the offensive. It will only intensify.’
Gallant promised not to show the terrorists any mercy.
“Whoever comes to behead women, murder women or Holocaust survivors – we will eliminate them at the height of our power and without compromise.”
The air strikes took place as follows:
- Gallant ordered a total siege of the Gaza Strip as the United Nations seeks a humanitarian corridor for civilians, food and aid
- Large crowds gathered at the Gaza border crossing with Egypt, which has been closed since Monday
- The death toll from the weekend attacks rose to 1,200 Israelis. American officials confirmed that 14 US citizens were among the dead and 20 were missing
- The list of dead and missing included citizens of Great Britain, France, Argentina, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and many other nations
- Israel has called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists: Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has promised to deal a decisive blow to Hamas
Israel has also come under attack from the north and west, with rockets fired into Israeli territory from Syria and Lebanon on Tuesday. No one was injured in Tuesday’s attacks.
The attacks came as the barbarity of Hamas’ attacks on Israel became apparent and increasingly brutal behavior was described.
The death toll among Israelis rose to 1,200, an unknown number are missing and many are believed to be held hostage. The missing are believed to include 20 Americans, 14 are presumed dead.
In Kibbutz Be’eri, 100 people – 10 percent of the population – were murdered.
David Ben Zion, deputy commander of Unit 71, told i24News that he saw victims beheaded, including children.
David Ben Zion, deputy commander of Unit 71, told i24News that he saw victims beheaded, including children
Gunshots and bloodstains can be seen on a door and walls of a house where civilians were killed days earlier in a Hamas attack on this kibbutz near the Gaza border on Tuesday
A child’s seat and a child’s dress are seen covered in blood after a Hamas attack
Israeli soldiers say Hamas terrorists beheaded babies and shot entire families in their homes on a small kibbutz in Israel
Israeli soldiers on Tuesday recovered the body of a compatriot who was killed in an attack by Hamas terrorists in Kfar Aza
“We went door to door and killed a lot of terrorists,” he said.
“We are stronger than them.” They are aggressive, they are very evil.
“They cut off children’s heads, cut off women’s heads. But we are stronger than them.”
Harrowing images from the crime scene at Kibbutz Kfar Aza showed a child’s bed covered in blood; Her little bloody dress lay next to it.
Israeli soldiers were seen comforting each other after witnessing such horrors, including the bodies of entire families shot dead in their beds.
“You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers, in their bedrooms, in their shelters and how the terrorist kills them,” said Israeli Maj. Gen. Itai Veruv.
“It’s not a war, it’s not a battlefield.” It’s a massacre, it’s a terrorist activity.
“It is something I have never seen in my life.” This is what we imagined from our grandfathers and grandmothers during the pogroms in Europe and elsewhere. “That doesn’t happen in the new story.”
Veruv said his soldiers spent “approximately 48 hours” battling “waves of terrorists” on streets and in neighboring communities.
Joe Biden called it “an act of pure evil” and said it was reminiscent of “the worst rampages of ISIS.”
US President Joe Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks after a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Biden was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris and senior security officials for a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Situation Room before delivering his speech
People mourn at the grave of Eden Guez, who was killed at her funeral in Ashkelon, southern Israel, at a festival that was attacked by Hamas gunmen and left at least 260 people dead
He promised that the U.S. would ensure Israel had the resources it needed to defend itself: He sent the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and five guided-missile cruisers and destroyers to the site, and they arrived Tuesday.
Biden said the US had “strengthened our military position” in the region and would increase military aid to Israel.
Biden also spoke with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, for the third time on Tuesday.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 900 people were killed and 4,600 injured in the crowded coastal enclave.
Aid groups urged Israel to open humanitarian corridors to allow the flow of food and medical supplies.
Israel said it would cut off supplies of food and fuel to the territory.
Palestinian media said Israeli airstrikes hit homes in Gaza City, the southern city of Khan Younis and the Bureij refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip.
A house that was attacked reportedly belonged to the father of Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ armed wing in Gaza. According to reports, Deif’s brother and other family members were killed.
Residents pleading for help on social media said many buildings had collapsed, sometimes trapping up to 50 people inside and emergency workers unable to reach them.
Rockets fired from Gaza City (right) were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system (left) on Tuesday
Rockets fired from Gaza are intercepted by the Iron Dome protection system
Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted rockets fired from the Gaza Strip overnight on Tuesday
According to the United Nations, more than 180,000 people in the Gaza Strip have become homeless, with many crowded together on the streets or in schools.
In the mortuary of Gaza’s Khan Younis Hospital, bodies lay on stretchers on the floor with names written on their bellies. Paramedics called on relatives to quickly collect the bodies as there was no more room for the dead.
A municipal building was hit while it was serving as an emergency shelter. Survivors there spoke of many deaths.
“No place in Gaza is safe, as you can see, they strike everywhere,” said Ala Abu Tair, 35, who sought refuge there with his family after fleeing Abassan Al-Kabira near the border.
Two members of Hamas’ political office, Jawad Abu Shammala and Zakaria Abu Maamar, were killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis, a Hamas official said.
They were the first senior Hamas members killed since Israel began attacking the enclave.
Israel said Abu Shammala led a number of operations against Israeli civilians.