Over 1,100 dead as Israel-Hamas conflict escalates, 260 bodies found at music fest
Israel declared war on Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday after its surprise incursion from Gaza.
The three-day conflict has already claimed the lives of over 1,100 people on both sides, with more than 700 killed in Israel, including 44 soldiers.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas’s offensive was the beginning of a “long and challenging war” and vowed to destroy the militant group’s hideouts. Meanwhile, in Gaza, which endured relentless Israeli airstrikes on Sunday, officials have reported at least 413 deaths.
Hamas also fired a barrage of thousands of rockets at Israel and sent a wave of fighters who gunned down civilians and took at least 100 hostages.
Here are the latest developments in the Israel-Palestine conflict:
Israeli rescue service Zaka reported that their paramedics have recovered around 260 bodies from a music festival that came under attack by Hamas. Videos circulating online depict festivalgoers running frantically and seeking refuge in vehicles following the assault.
While numerous members of the UN Security Council condemned Hamas on Sunday, the United States expressed regret over the absence of unanimity. During an emergency session, both the United States and Israel called for a robust condemnation of the Palestinian Islamists.
US President Joe Biden ordered “additional support for Israel in the face of this unprecedented terrorist assault by Hamas”. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin directed the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier and group of warships to the eastern Mediterranean, and said that Washington was augmenting fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.
This morning, I spoke with @IsraeliPM to express my full support for the people of Israel in the face of an unprecedented and appalling assault by Hamas terrorists.
We will remain in close contact over the coming days.
According to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, Iran played a role in orchestrating the surprise attacks against Israel over the weekend. The operation’s details were reportedly fine-tuned during multiple meetings in Beirut attended by officers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and representatives from four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah.
âšáï¸Footage of the moment a rocket from Gaza landed in the city of Ashkelon moments ago pic.twitter.com/PXVHGUCRsC — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) October 8, 2023
The Associated Press reported that an Israeli airstrike in a Gaza refugee camp resulted in the deaths of 19 members of a Palestinian family. Israel hit more than 800 targets in Gaza so far, its military said, including airstrikes that levelled much of the town of Beit Hanoun.
Islamic Jihad chief Ziad al-Nakhala said on Sunday that his faction was holding captive more than 30 of the Israelis who were abducted in the Gaza Strip. The captives will not be repatriated “till all of our prisoners are released,” al-Nakhala added, referring to thousands of Palestinians who are in Israeli prisons.
More than 24 hours after Hamas launched its unprecedented assault, Israeli forces were still battling with militants holed up in several locations on Monday. Tens of thousands of Israeli forces were deployed to battle holdout Hamas fighters in the south, where the bodies of civilians had been found strewn on roads and in town centres.
Hamas has labelled its attack “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” and called on “resistance fighters in the West Bank” and “Arab and Islamic nations” to join the battle. 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”.