Scours southern regions for Hamas fighters as death toll nears 1,200 and number of injured continues to rise
Palestinians search for survivors after an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp
Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters and guarded breaches in its border fence with tanks on Monday, as it pounded the Gaza Strip from the air and mustered for a campaign its prime minister said would destroy “the military and governing capabilities” of the militant group.
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The military said the fighting had largely died down for now, but Palestinian militants continued firing barrages of rockets, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
(From left) Protesters show support for Palestinians during a rally in Sydney; Israelis inspect a damaged building hit by a rocket fired from Gaza; Palestinians rally in support of Gaza in the occupied West Bank. Pics/AP
Around 700 people have been killed in Israel while nearly 500 have been killed in Gaza, a tiny, impoverished enclave of 2.3 million Palestinians bordering Israel and Egypt. More than 2,000 people have been wounded so far.
Israeli tanks and drones, meanwhile, guarded openings in the border fence to prevent more infiltrations, while 15 of 24 border communities have been evacuated, with the rest expected to be evacuated in over the next 24 hours. wIsrael hit more than 1,000 targets in Gaza, its military said, including airstrikes that leveled much of the town of Beit Hanoun in the enclave’s northeast.
2,000
No. of people wounded in the fighting so far
Iranian officials helped Hamas plan: Report
A captured Israeli civilian (center) being taken into the Gaza Strip
Iranian security officials helped Hamas plan the deadly attack on Israel in which the death toll has risen to thousands the Wall Street Journal reported. According to senior members of terrorist groups Hamaz and Hezbollah, Iran gave approval for the assault at a meeting held in Beirut last Monday, as per the report.
Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions.
Details regarding the operation were refined during several meetings that were held in Beirut. IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah attended these meetings, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal.
More than 130 held hostage in Gaza
A senior Hamas official says the militant group is holding more than 100 people captive after its unprecedented assault on Israel. Mousa Abu Marzouk made the remarks Sunday to the Arabic language news outlet al-Ghad. The figure is in addition to more than 30 people said to be held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. During their rampage, militants dragged back into Gaza dozens of captives, including children.
Israeli and Palestinian supporters rally in US
Supporters of Israel and backers of the Palestinian cause held competing rallies in several American cities Sunday over the conflict that has killed hundreds and wounded thousands in the Middle East. In New York City, a skirmish broke out between opposing demonstrators near the United Nations compound after a large group of Palestinian supporters rallied in Times Square. Palestinian Americans protested outside the Israeli consulates in Atlanta and Chicago. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a Jewish community gathering to support Israel at a synagogue in San Francisco. The US has ordered naval forces deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Over 1 lakh Gazans have been displaced
The UN says the number of displaced Gazans has risen to more than 123,000 as a result of the fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas. As of late Sunday, retaliatory Israeli airstrikes had destroyed 159 housing units across Gaza and severely damaged 1,210 others, according to the UN. Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said a school sheltering more than 225 people took a direct hit.
10 Nepali students dead, others worry
Ten Nepali students have been killed and four others injured in Israel after Hamas launched a wave of rocket attacks in the country’s southern region, Nepal’s foreign ministry said on Monday. Meanwhile, some of the students who are stranded in a bunker sent a video message asking the Nepalese government to take immediate steps to evacuate them. There are currently around 4,765 Nepali nationals in Israel.
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