Israel bombards Gaza and readies troops at border

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The Israeli military bombed more than 200 targets in Gaza overnight and said it had secured the breached border barrier with the enclave. Three days ago, Hamas’s unprecedented incursion sparked the worst war on the country’s soil in decades.

Israel struck Gaza from sea and air in response to weekend attacks by the armed group that killed hundreds and sent tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing their homes, according to the United Nations.

The IDF said its targets included a Hamas combat command center inside a mosque, entry points to tunnels used by militants and other “combat infrastructure” inside a second mosque.

The Financial Times could not independently confirm these claims. Israel accuses Palestinian groups, which have controlled Gaza since 2007, of burying military infrastructure in civilian areas and religious sites.

The Israel Defense Forces said the bodies of 1,500 Hamas militants had been found in Israel and that the area near the Gaza border was now “more or less safe.”

The United Nations also warned that “serious shortages of already scarce drinking water” were expected to affect more than 610,000 people in the area, where Israeli authorities have cut off water and electricity as part of a “total siege”.

A military official also said that Palestinian civilians should “leave” Gaza if they can enter Egypt through the Rafah border. Gaza is home to more than 2 million people and Israel and Egypt tightly control its borders.

“First of all, I know that the Rafah crossing remains open,” IDF spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. “Anyone who can get out, if he can get out, I will advise him.” The Israeli military later issued a clarification that although the Rafah crossing was open on Monday, it is now closed.

Israel said it had fully deployed 35 military battalions and four divisions ahead of the widely anticipated ground operation in Gaza and was “building infrastructure for future operations.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech on Monday night that Hamas made a “historic mistake” when it launched an attack on Israel on Saturday when its militants breached the Israeli border barrier and entered the country. towns and kibbutz, killing hundreds of civilians and kibbutz. soldiers and kidnapped dozens of people.

“We will offer a price that they and Israel’s other enemies will remember for decades to come,” he said.

He also called on opposition leaders to agree to join the coalition government “unconditionally”. Benny Gantz, chairman of the National Unity Party, said on Sunday he would prepare to form a “war cabinet” to oversee the war effort in Gaza and other conflict zones.

More than 900 Israelis have been killed so far, and dozens more are being held hostage in Gaza. Palestinian officials said late Monday that at least 687 people had died in Gaza.

According to UNRWA, the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees, Israeli bombing has displaced more than 187,000 people in Gaza.

The war has also raised concerns about escalation in the wider region, including in the north, where Israel faces the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The United States has deployed a naval battle group to the nearby Mediterranean Sea.

Hezbollah said on Monday it fired rockets and mortars at two Israeli military posts and three militants were killed after crossing the border. Israel said one soldier was killed in an earlier cross-border attack.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday it was “wrong” to link the Iranian regime to Hamas’ attacks on Israel.

But he said the attack caused an “irreparable failure” for Israel’s military and intelligence agencies that “cannot be easily repaired.”

Hamas’s incursion sparked shock and soul-searching in Israel over its security lapses. The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday morning it was “still counting the bodies” of an attack on revelers at a party near the border that left some 250 people dead.

Additional reporting by James Short in Jerusalem