The horror of the Hamas rezzou on Saturday morning, which cost the lives of 1,200 Israelis, has now been followed by the implacable military response of the Hebrew State, whose army has mobilized 360,000 reservists as part of the operation. Iron swords. Tens of thousands of soldiers have already begun the siege of the Gaza Strip, whose area is three times the size of Paris.
“The death toll is increasing, not because of the fighting, but because we are discovering bodies in several places where Hamas has infiltrated,” explained Jonathan Conricus, spokesman for the Israeli army, IDF, in a video published in English on X, at 5 a.m. this Wednesday. 2,700 Israelis are injured, he announced, and this number “is not definitive”.
Militarily, the IDF has regained control of its territory and has even rebuilt part of the barrier, the spokesperson assured. “In this area near the Gaza Strip, we sent mechanized brigades, infantry and artillery. These soldiers are ready to carry out their mission: to ensure that Hamas, at the end of the war, can no longer strike Israel.”
Israel, through intelligence, identified several Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip and launched an aerial bombardment campaign. More than 200 targets were destroyed in 24 hours. The fighter jets destroyed Hamas “advanced detection systems” that were used to spot military aircraft, the Israeli military said, as well as a weapons warehouse and command center. So far, no land operations have been undertaken from Israel to Gaza.
Around 200,000 people, out of 2.3 million Gazans, have been displaced, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha). Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, advised them to leave and the IDF spokesperson tweeted that “the Israeli army is not responsible for the crossing” of Rafah, a crossing point with Egypt. “I advise everyone who can get out to get out,” he added.
Two other fronts are active, said the spokesperson for the Israeli army. In the north of the country, near the Syrian and Lebanese borders, shots from Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah raise fears of the opening of a new front. Residents of several localities in the Golan Heights (see map above) have been ordered to stay at home, due to “suspicious flying objects”, probably drones launched from Lebanon.
Israeli fighter jets are currently patrolling this area. “We sent tens of thousands of additional troops: special forces, infantry, artillery and air force. The message to Hezbollah is clear: if they attack us, we will destroy them.”
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Finally a third front was opened, according to the IDF, on the border with Syria. “Rockets were fired, but we do not know if they came from the regime’s Syrian army, Iranian militias, or Hezbollah. But we will answer it. For the moment, the situation is calm, he assured.