The bodies of around 1,500 Hamas militants have been found in Israel, as the nation’s military announced it has now sealed the border with Gaza.
Minor firefights with militants erupted in two communities near to Gaza overnight. However dozens of breaches in the fence have been closed, and the military is in control, Lt. Col Richard Hecht, Israeli military spokesperson said.
The military has meanwhile mobilised 300,000 reservists, with speculation a ground invasion of Gaza is imminent.
“We have more or less restore full control over the border fence in the next few hours, it will be final,” said Lt. Col Richard Hecht, adding that there were no further infiltrations from Gaza overnight.
“We have nearly completed the evacuation of all the communities around the border. Right now we are focusing on our offensive in the Gaza Strip,” he added.
At least 1,600 people have been killed on both sides since Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel on Saturday triggering unprecedented street battles between militants and Israeli soldiers in Israeli towns.
The Israeli military said more than 900 people already have been killed in Israel a death toll not seen in half a century since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The number of dead is expected to rise as first responders discover more bodies in communities which were under militant control.
In Gaza and the West Bank, 770 people have been killed, including dozens of children, in Israeli strikes according to authorities there. Israel says hundreds of Hamas fighters are among them. Thousands have been wounded on both sides.
Hamas has also taken around 130 soldiers and civilians hostage in its deadly raids of communities and a music festival near to Gaza. Hamas’s leader said on Monday that the militant group would begin executing them in response to Israel’s heavy bombing of Gaza.
Lt Col. Hecht said Israel would continue the bombardment, that 35 battalions and 4 divisions were fully deployed and ready and that they were “building an infrastructure for future operations”, a guarded hint at a possible imminent ground invasion.
“This is not a regular event this is a war, this is a massive massive dramatic epic event in Israeli society there will be books written about this” he said.
”We should all change the paradigm here this is not regular contained tit for tat.”
It echoed a late night address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said "We have only started striking Hamas.”
What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations,” he said.
On Monday the Israeli defence minister announced that Israel would impose a “total siege” on Gaza, which is home to more than two million people and is already struggling with a 16-year Egyptian and Israeli blockade that has strangled medical, fuel and electricity supplies.
Palestinian medics warned that this would be “catastrophic” for the civilian population, that was already dealing with just four hours of power a day.
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, said there was “no doubt that collective punishment is in violation of international law.”
“If and when it would lead to wounded children dying in hospitals because of lack of energy, electricity and supplies, it could amount to war crimes,’ he told the AP.
The Israeli military initially suggested that Palestinians "get out" via Rafah border crossing to Egypt but this was revised as the border is closed. The United Nations refugee agency said that more than 185,000 Palestinians are internally displaced within the tiny 42-km strip, including 137,000 people sheltering in UN schools.
Three UN schools and a rehabilitation centre for the visually impaired were damaged in Israeli airstrikes, with one taking a direct hit.
Firefights also erupted along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon with Lebanese militant groups. threatening to expand the conflict into a wider international arena. Lt. Col. Hecht said that four Islamic jihad fighters opened the border fence with Israel and got through but were killed in a firefight.
A Lt. Col, and second in command of an Israeli brigade was also killed in this attack, Hecht confirmed.
