#Israel on Sunday issued a formal #DeclarationOfWar against #Hamas & pounded #Gaza w/ strikes, promising retaliation for an unprecedented attack by the #militant group that surprised Israeli #security forces. The #DeathToll has risen to 600 in Israel, & thousands have been injured…, while Palestinian authorities said ≥370 were killed & 2,200 injured in Gaza.
Fears of a regional spillover grew after Lebanese militant group #Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli targets near the border “in solidarity” w/ #Hamas & #Israel said it struck back.
Israel & #Lebanon’s powerful armed group Hezbollah exchanged artillery & rocket fire… on Sunday. Hezbollah said… it launched guided #rockets & #artillery at 3 posts in the #ShebaaFarms, a slice of land #occupied by Israel since 1967 that Lebanon claims.
“We in this battle are not neutral,” snr #Hezbollah ofcl Hashem Safieddine said. “The Islamic resistance is saying it is our right, but our duty, to target the enemy that is still occupying our land.” Speaking from #Beirut…, he added: “Our hearts, minds & souls are w/ you [#Hamas]. Our history, guns & rockets are w/ you.”
The #UN Interim Force in #Lebanon, or #UNIFIL, urged all sides to de-escalate. The force said early Sunday that several rockets were “fired from southeast Lebanon toward Israeli-occupied territory in the general area of Kafr Chouba,” a Lebanese village near #ShebaaFarms, adding that peacekeepers had detected “artillery fire from #Israel to Lebanon in response.” #Palestine#Gaza#MiddleEast#geopolitics#war
#UNIFIL deems the #ShebaaFarms Israeli-#occupied land. Israel considers the area part of the Golan Heights, which it #annexed from #Syria in 1981, & Lebanon & Syria consider the farms Lebanese territory. Recent attacks from #Lebanon into #Israel have typically been launched by Palestinian factions & tempered by #Hezbollah, whose behavior had indicated an aim of avoiding escalation w/ Israel. Sunday’s attack…(is) fueling fears that…(what) began in Israel & #Gaza could turn into a wider #conflict.
The authorization of #war by the Israeli cabinet would allow the govt to carry out a wider #mobilization of #military reserves & use more military options. It also compels the govt to identify specific #WartimeObjectives, raising the specter of a #GroundInvasion of #Gaza.
…At least 10 locations in southern #Israel, incl’g #residential neighborhoods & military bases, remained active battle zones on Sunday afternoon, more than 24hrs after the start….
Masha Michelson, dpy head of the IDF’s int'l press dpt said hundreds of thousands of Israeli soldiers had been deployed to southern & northern Israel over the past day. The army is still working to “clean” the area… Michelson said.
#Hamas leaders said Saturday’s op came in response to a series of provocative moves by Israelis, incl’g the storming of the #alAqsaMosque complex in East #Jerusalem (on September 17, & on October 4, 2023) — a site known to Jews as the Temple Mount — by #ultranationalist Israeli settlers.
Sept 17, 2023, Israeli forces attacked Palestinian worshippers at Bab as-Silsila, one of the main entrances to the #AlAqsaMosque compound in #occupied East #Jerusalem….
Israeli forces imposed tight security measures, ejecting worshippers from Al-Aqsa Mosque & intensifying their presence around it, denying access to any Palestinian below the age of 50 to clear the way for #ultranationalist Israeli settlers in celebration of Rosh Hashanah….
October 4, 2023 dozens of Israeli settlers forced their way into the flashpoint #AlAqsaMosque complex in #occupied East #Jerusalem to mark the fifth day of Sukkot….
Since Oct 1, thousands of settlers have been carrying out provocative tours of the mosque complex following calls by #ultranationalist Jewish groups.
Israeli settlers stormed the complex on Oct 4 in groups through the al-Mughrabi Gate by the Western Wall near Al-Aqsa Mosque & attempted to perform “Talmudic rituals”….
Police imposed age restrictions & prevented young Palestinians from entering the mosque during the incursions, witnesses told the Anadolu news agency.
#DefSec Lloyd Austin said Sunday he has ordered the Ford carrier strike group to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel after the surprise attack by #Hamas that has left >1k dead & thousands wounded on both sides.
The USS Gerald R. Ford & its ~5k #USN#sailors & deck of #warplanes will be accompanied by #cruisers & #destroyers in a show of force that is meant to be ready to respond to anything, from possibly interdicting additional #weapons from reaching #Hamas & conducting #surveillance.
The large deployment… underscores the concern that the #UnitedStates has in trying to deter the #conflict from growing. The Israeli govt formal #DeclarationOfWar …gave the green light for "significant military steps"….
Ghazi Hamad, spox for #Hamas, told the BBC that the militant group received direct support from its ally #Iran to carry out the multifaceted #attacks on #Israel….
Hamad said the violence came in response to attacks by Jewish settlers in the #WestBank. “Every day they build #settlements, seize our lands, kill our people & enter our cities, & thru mediators, Egyptians, Qataris or the UN, we told them to stop, but they did not listen to anyone.”
Iranian ofcls have not confirmed direct support of the assault. Earlier, Iranian Pres #EbrahimRaisi praised what he called a “history-making move” by #Hamas & highlighted #Iran’s support for the Palestinians’ “legitimate defense” against #Israel. In a stmnt, he blamed the “Zionist regime”& its supporters for instability in the region. #Raisi urged all #Muslim govts to support the #Palestinians & called for the “whole world to wake up” & acknowledge injustices committed against them over the yrs.
#Hamas militants targeted Israel’s largest #airport, Ben Gurion Intn’l Airport in Lod, w/a missile barrage, the al-Qassam Brigades #IQB said. The #IDF tweeted that missile sirens had activated in central #Israel, but there were no immediate reports from the govt of damage from the attack.
While Saturday’s attack on southern #Israel came from #Gaza, where #Hamas has control, #violence has also hit the #WestBank. Israeli forces killed 13 #Palestinians on Sunday, including one child, in the West Bank, acc/to the #UN.
In an interview on CNN, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a #Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair is among the #hostages taken into Gaza by #Hamas.
#Blinken urged #PNA President Mahmoud #Abbas to restore calm & stability in the West Bank.
At least 33 #Palestinian#children have been killed in #Gaza since Saturday morning, Defense for Children International Palestine, a nonprofit based in the Palestinian territories, said on social media Sunday. A list of names will soon be released, it said. In the #WestBank, 12-year-old Ahmad Abdulnaser Adnan Rabi was shot by Israeli forces near Qalqilya city, #DCIP said Saturday.
Drone video posted Oct 8 shows the aftermath of an attack at a #musicfestival in southern #Israel. The Tribe of Nova trance music fest, near Kibbutz Reim, was one of the first targets for #Hamas militants as they launched their unprecedented attack on Israel in the early hours Saturday morning. The new video, independently verified by WaPo, reveals new graphic detail of the attack’s aftermath.
Another video, which included dozens of graphic visuals of the attack & aftermath, showed one apparent hostage being taken & an armed man appearing to execute a person on the ground.
≥260 bodies were recovered from the concert site Sunday, according to ZAKA, a volunteer emergency response group in #Israel. Across the country, ≥ 700 people have been killed. Dozens are still missing; Israeli media has put the figure at >100. #Hamas says hostages are being held in tunnels & other secure locations.
>a thousand people were at the event when the #Hamas militants attacked. Some festivalgoers estimated the true figure was closer to 3,000 or 4,000.
The festival was held just 3 miles from the fence that divides #Israel from the #Gaza Strip & its ~2 million inhabitants. The ravers were told not to bring firearms or sharp objects onto the festival grounds. They were tired & defenseless when the attack began, trapped in a wide-open area that offered few hiding places.
Millet Ben Haim saw saw the militants in the distance, closing in on foot. “I took the car keys from a friend of mine that was really wasted & got as many people in the car as possible & started driving like crazy,” she said. “The people who stayed, most of them got kidnapped or murdered.”
Cars were being shot at on the roads & there were gunmen everywhere, she said.
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