This Sunday, warplanes fired more rockets against the coastal enclave, home to more than two million Palestinians.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), its aircraft have attacked 426 targets in the area since hostilities began yesterday, reporting 313 dead and 1,788 injured.
The targets include a 14-story tower that allegedly housed Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) militants, but also many civilians.
In response, Hamas fired a hundred rockets into the Israeli town of Sderot, where the IDF destroyed the police station with several militiamen inside this morning.
The Israeli health authorities, for their part, have so far counted 350 deaths and 1,800 injuries.
Amid the tensions, the IDF announced that it would evacuate all towns near this enclave, such as Netiv Hathara and Yad Mordechai, and declared the area a closed military zone in anticipation of an impending ground offensive.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, announced in a parallel statement this Sunday that “fierce clashes are still taking place in several Israeli settlements” around the Gaza Strip, 24 hours after the start of their operation.
Security sources in this country confirmed the clashes, particularly in the kibbutz (agricultural community) of Bari and in the city of Kfar Aza.
The Israeli army released this morning the names of 26 soldiers killed in the Hamas offensive, surprising authorities and national security agencies.
The list includes Colonel Jonathan Steinberg, commander of the Nahal Brigade; Lt. Col. Sahar Mahlouf, chief of the 481st Battalion, and Major Chen Buchris, a member of Maglan, an elite IDF unit.
Police also released the names of 30 agents who lost their lives during the fighting.
Earlier, Abu Obaida, spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, noted that yesterday’s speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed a deep crisis in that country.
In a message to the country, Netanyahu declared a state of war and acknowledged that difficult times would come.
Threatening Gaza is a losing game, said the Palestinian militiaman, referring to the head of government’s words.
“… Netanyahu, your soldiers fled like locusts from the hundreds of Qassam fighters, leaving everything behind,” Obeida noted, referring to the offensive.
He also recalled that the armed group had in its possession dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers who had been captured the previous day.
What happens to our people in Gaza will happen to them, he warned.
Israeli forces announced a few hours ago a full-scale mobilization that appears to represent an impending large-scale offensive against the coastal enclave.
“We are flooding the south with troops,” IDF spokesman General Daniel Hagari said in a statement.
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