The Israeli death toll after the surprise attack by the militant group Hamas on communities in the country’s south on Saturday has risen to at least 800, as Israel has declared a “complete siege” of Gaza. In Gaza,officials have reported at least 560 deaths.
Israel’s death toll has risen to at least 800, with 2,616 injured, according to Israeli authorities.
The death toll in Gaza has risen to 560, with 2,900 injured, according to Palestinian authorities.
Gaza fired rockets toward southern and central Israel. There are injuries.
Israel has declared a “complete siege” of Gaza, cutting it off from water and power supplies, and launched hundreds of strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as Hamas claimed Israeli bombings had killed hostages held there.
Israeli authorities said they restored control in southern communities but that some Hamas militants might still be present inside Israel.
Israeli forces exchanged fire with armed individuals in northern Israel who crossed the border from Lebanon. Militants were killed, while Israeli soldiers were wounded.
Israeli combat helicopters carrying out strikes inside Lebanon, and Israelis living near the Lebanese border were told to seek shelter until further notice.
Spokesperson for the IDF, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, said “almost 48 hours into the fighting … the situation in Israel is a dire one”. “It is by far the worst day in Israeli history. Never before have so many Israelis been killed by one single thing on one day.”
Israeli rescue service Zaka said that its paramedics have removed approximately 260 bodies from a music festival that was attacked by Hamas. Videos posted online showed festival goers running frantically and getting into cars after the attacks.
Numerous members of the UN security council denounced Hamas on Sunday but the United States regretted the lack of unanimity. At an emergency session, the United States and Israel urged strong condemnation of the Palestinian Islamists. “There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all,” senior US diplomat Robert Wood told reporters after the closed-door session. “You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything,” said Wood, in a clear allusion to Russia.
The Israeli military has said there is no concrete evidence of Iranian involvement in the Hamas attack from Gaza, after denials issued by the Iranian foreign ministry.
Iran helped Hamas plan its surprise attacks against Israel over the weekend, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, they said. US secretary of state, Antony Blinken has however said that Washington had not seen any evidence that Iran was behind the attack.
An Israeli airstrike has killed 19 members of a Palestinian family in a Gaza refugee camp, according to the Associated Press.
The permanent observer mission of the state of Palestine to the UN has issued a response on Sunday to the Israel-Hamas war, saying that “these developments did not occur in a vacuum”. “They are preceded by the killing this year of hundreds of Palestinians … and preceded by decades of Israel’s unrelenting military raids on Palestinian villages, towns, cities and refugee camps,” it said.
Nine American citizens are confirmed to have been killed in the violence following Hamas’s attacks on Israel at the weekend, the US state department says.Matthew Miller, a US state department spokesperson, said: “At this time, we can confirm the deaths of nine US citizens. We can confirm that there are unaccounted-for US citizens, and we are working with our Israeli partners to determine their whereabouts.”
The BBC reported that at least 10 British citizens were dead or missing. France confirmed the deaths of two of its citizens, and there were reports that as many as nine French people were missing, dead or taken hostage. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said two Ukrainians had also been killed.
Protesters gathered in the US cities of New York, Chicago and Washington DC as renewed conflict in Israel and Gaza sparked outpourings of support and anger. In New York, around a thousand pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators took to Times Square on Sunday to voice their opposition to Hamas attacks on Israel and IDF counterattacks on Gaza.
The United States defence secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford to head its “strike group” of forces as it sails to the eastern Mediterranean to be closer to Israel following Hamas’s “heinous” attacks. “In addition, the United States government will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions,” he added.
Joe Biden told the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday that “additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces is now on its way to Israel with more to follow over the coming days.” After the call between the two leaders, the White House released a statement, saying: “The President … pledged his full support for the Government and people of Israel in the face of an unprecedented and appalling assault by Hamas terrorists.”
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has pledged to provide diplomatic, intelligence or security support to Israel if requested after attacks by Hamas, as he prepared to chair an emergency meeting of Cobra. He has told the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday that Britain stands with Israel “unequivocally”.
More airlines have suspended flights into Tel Aviv following Hamas’s attacks on Israel over the weekend. Those airlines include Delta, American Airlines, United and Air France.
The UN’s World Food Programme has called on the establishment of humanitarian corridors to deliver food supplies into Gaza following Israeli airstrikes in response to Hamas’s attacks. “As the conflict intensifies, civilians, including vulnerable children and families, face mounting challenges in accessing essential food supplies,” the WFP said.
The UK Foreign Office has issued a travel advisory advising against all but essential travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories. British nationals requiring consular assistance should call the following numbers: +972 (0)3 725 1222 or +972 (2) 5414100, the advisory said.
The Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, has said Iran supports the Palestinians’ right to self-defence, Agence France-Presse reports. “Iran supports the legitimate defence of the Palestinian nation,” Raisi said on Iranian state television.
Mexican foreign secretary Alicia Bárcena has announced that two Mexican citizens, a man and a woman, have allegedly been taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza on Saturday. “We are in contact with authorities in Israel and family members to provide follow-up, support and care,” Bárcena said.
Eight hundred Hamas targets were struck in Gaza with hundreds of Hamas fighters killed, Reuters reports an Israeli military spokesperson saying. Dozens more had been captured, added the spokesperson.
The UN’s relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said thousands of people were sheltering in its 44 schools around Gaza and food distribution for more than 112,000 families had had to be put on hold.
The German government said on Sunday it was reviewing its hundreds of millions of euros of aid for Palestinians after the militant group Hamas attacked Israel. Development minister Svenja Schulze said the government had always been careful to check that the money was only used for peaceful ends. “But these attacks on Israel mark a terrible fracture,” she said.
Up to 100 Israeli hostages, including women and children, may have been taken into Gaza by Hamas, hugely complicating any Israeli military operation to free them. The whereabouts and fate of the captives has become one of the most pressing issues for military planners.
