Israel’s military on Wednesday warned of worse bloodshed to come as the death toll on both sides since the surprise attack by Hamas continued to rise.
Another 450 airstrikes were carried out on Gaza overnight, including 200 on a district of Gaza City that Israel said was a hotbed for Hamas terrorists.
There were also renewed exchanges of fire inside Israel between security forces and Hamas gunmen in new evidence that some of the fighters who broke through the border on Saturday remain to pose a lethal threat.
Israeli spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said “sweeps” of territory near the border had led to the killing of 18 militants over the past day, adding that “these are the same terrorists who did not flee back to Gaza” and they were being pursued by “a large number of troops”.
But, as Israel admitted it had already suffered an “unimaginable” death toll since the start of the Hamas attack, another spokesman, Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, warned even worse was likely to follow once the anticipated ground offensive into Gaza began.
“We have sustained extremely heavy casualties. This, however, will not deter us and it will not weaken our resolve,” he said in a video update on the progress of Israel’s response.
“We hope that remains that way even when the fighting will intensify and the scenes coming out of the Gaza Strip will be more difficult to understand and cope with.”
Lt-Col Conricus added that the 300,000 reservists mobilised by Israel were positioned along the border with Gaza “getting ready to execute the mission that they have been given — to make sure that Hamas at the end of this war won’t have any military capability by which they can threaten or kill Israeli citizens”.
He accused Hamas of “being cowards” by using civilian buildings to shelter their military and warned that this made them “legitimate targets” being hit with “tremendous force” by the Israeli military.
The latest developments came as:
- The number killed by retaliatory airstrikes in Gaza rose to 950 while the Israeli death toll rose to 1,200 as more bodies of those massacred by Hamas were found.
- Israel said rockets had been fired into the country from Syria and Lebanon and warned it was ready to respond.
- Palestinian officials warned the electricity supply to Gaza will run out today.
- Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Hamas as “worse than Isis” in a phone call to Joe Biden, who said the Hamas attack was an act of “sheer evil”.
- Palestinians protested in Gaza displaying pictures of airstrike victims.
The main focus today remained on Israel’s intensifying onslaught against Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli air force said the 450 airstrikes last night included hits on more than 80 sites in Beit Hanoun in Gaza, “including two bank branches used by Hamas to fund terrorism in Gaza, an underground tunnel and two operational command centres”.
The air force said it also struck two compounds used for training and for storing weapons. Meanwhile, a video of Mr Netanyahu phoning Mr Biden showed the Israeli leader denouncing Hamas and its atrocities, including the slaughter of men, women and children at the Kfar Azaa kibbutz.
“We were struck on Saturday by an attack whose savagery I can say we have not seen since the Holocaust,” Mr Netanyahu said. “We had hundreds massacred, families wiped out in their beds and their homes, women brutally raped and murdered, over 100 kidnapped including children. They beheaded soldiers, they mowed down youngsters who came to a nature festival... we have never seen such savagery in the history of the state. They are even worse than Isis.”
