Israel on Sunday issued a formal declaration of war against Hamas and pounded Gaza with strikes, promising retaliation for an unprecedented attack by the militant group that surprised Israeli security forces. The death toll has risen to 600 in Israel, according to local media, while Palestinian authorities said at least 313 were killed in Gaza. Thousands more have been injured.
ISRAEL on Sunday issued a formal declaration of war against Hamas and pounded Gaza with strikes, promising retaliation for an unprecedented attack by the militant group that surprised Israeli security forces. The death toll has risen to 600 in Israel, according to local media, while Palestinian authorities said at least 313 were killed in Gaza. Thousands more have been injured.
The official declaration of war, issued by Israel’s Security Cabinet, will allow the government to enact a broader mobilisation of military reserves, adopt a wider range of military options and compel the government to identify specific wartime objectives.
The Israel Defense Forces said early on Sunday that it had hit 10 locations in Gaza. Hamas’ intelligence headquarters, two banks and a military compound used by the group’s aerial forces were struck, the IDF said on Telegram. A weapons production facility of the Islamic Jihad – a smaller Gaza-based group that has attacked Israel – was also targeted.
Fears of a regional spillover grew after Lebanon’s militant group, Hezbollah, said it attacked Israeli targets near the border “in solidarity” with Hamas and Israel said it struck back. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, urged all sides to de-escalate.
The West Bank was quiet on Sunday, with schools cancelled and shops shuttered under a general strike being carried out in solidarity with the fighters in Gaza. One Palestinian was killed in a clash with Israelis in Nablus in the morning, but there has not been widespread violence.
Demonstrators waved the Palestinian flag around the world on Saturday night in rallies that took place in Tehran, Beirut, Istanbul and Sanaa, Yemen.
Foreign nationals are among the hundreds of people killed and listed missing amid the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
At least two Thai nationals have been killed in the conflict, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said Sunday. An additional eight were injured, and 11 were taken hostage, Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said, according to the Bangkok Post.
Britain’s Foreign Office said in a statement on Sunday it was in contact with the families of “several individuals” both in Israel and the Palestinian territories. British media outlets reported that Jake Marlowe, 26, was among those missing; his mother, Lisa, told Jewish News that her son was working as part of the security team at a desert music festival near the Re’im kibbutz, close to the Gaza border, when he contacted her to say that “rockets were flying over”.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the administration is working to verify reports that Americans are among those missing and dead in Israel after Hamas launched its attack.
“We have reports that several Americans were killed,” Blinken told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We’re working overtime to verify that. At the same time, there are reports of missing Americans and there again, we’re working to verify those reports.”
Blinken also said the Biden administration is looking at “specific additional requests that the Israelis have made – I think you’re likely to hear more about that later today.”
– THE WASHINGTON POST
