Israel deploys 100,000 soldiers near Gaza; Number of dead more than a thousand
The latest tally published by Israel puts more than 700 deaths in the country. The information comes from the Israeli newspaper The Times of Israel and Portal. In the Gaza Strip, local authorities report at least 413 civilian deaths, including 20 children. According to spokespersons from both sides, these numbers are still expected to rise.
An Israeli military spokesman, Jonathan Conricus, said the country had assembled 100,000 reserve troops near Gaza for the conflict. Soldiers are currently in southern Israel. “Our job is to ensure that at the end of this war, Hamas no longer has the military capacity to threaten Israeli civilians,” he said, according to Al Jazeera television.
According to the spokesman, Israeli troops are searching for the last Hamas fighters who have infiltrated southern Israel. On Saturday evening, the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had destroyed “most” of the “enemies” who invaded Israel. However, on Sunday (8) a Hamas spokesman said that the extremist group was still active in several parts of Israel.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official said the group was holding more than a hundred people captive the exact number of people kidnapped by the extremists during the attack is not yet known. According to Mousa Abu Marzouk, among those abducted are highranking Israeli officials (including elderly people, children and women). The number rises to more than 30 people suspected of being arrested by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
“Every Israeli citizen knows someone who has been killed, kidnapped or missing,” Pernambuco sociologist Janine Ayala Melo told GloboNews. She serves in the Israeli Army Reserve Infantry Battalion. “The mother of a friend of mine was murdered yesterday [sábado] in their house. A friend of mine’s grandparents are missing, one of them has Alzheimer’s. An acquaintance of mine who studied with me is missing.