Israel’s counterattack on Hamas, ground offensive ready

“The enemy is still inside the house.” Although videos of actions carried out by Hamas in Israel, including assassinations and hostage taking, have gone viral on social media, Israel has opened the hunt for terrorists still present in the country, in particular two sleeper cells ready to carry out suicide attacks. But two days after the surprise attack launched during Shabbat, the victims are counted: 700 dead, 4 apparently Americans, and more than 2,000 injured, of which around 300 are in serious condition. While 750 were missing and 170 hostages, including 7 Americans. Furthermore, in the Negev desert alone, 260 young people attending a rave were killed, while two Israeli tourists and their guide were killed by a police officer in Alexandria, Egypt.

This is why Israel asked its citizens to leave Egypt. Among Palestinians, however, more than 400 people were killed and 2,200 were injured. But the death toll in this war is constantly updated and the response from Israel, which declared a state of war, is constantly changing. Yesterday, columns of tanks headed towards the Gaza Strip, suggesting action from the ground. While the US decided to transfer a US Navy aircraft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

However, the fighting on the borders with Gaza has not ceased and for this reason the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) announced that schools will remain closed throughout the country. Commercial activities south of Netanya and north of the central Negev will also be limited: they can only remain open if they are close to immediate access to air raid shelters. Additionally, in these areas, a limit of 10 people has been imposed on outdoor gatherings and 50 indoors. And major airlines have canceled dozens of flights to Tel Aviv.

A situation that paralyzes the country and, in some cases, does not allow the repatriation of tourists. As with the 38 Italian tourists locked in their hotel in Jerusalem. This is a group that arrived from Verona for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The return to Italy was scheduled for Saturday, the day of the attack, and Farnesina and the Veneto Region were informed of their situation. The fear at this time, therefore, is that other civilians could become involved in the ongoing fighting between Hamas militiamen and the Israeli military. Yesterday, in the city of Magen, in the south of Israel, near the border with the Gaza Strip, a violent shootout took place to free the territory from terrorist infiltration. The objective, in fact, is to clear it of militiamen from the Al Qassam brigades, who have penetrated Israeli territory at least ten kilometers east of Gaza.

Yesterday, two terrorists were apparently killed near a camp not far from the Strip, but at this time other militiamen are still found in some kibbutzim, where they have taken other hostages. In total, the settlements occupied by Hamas would be 7. But the south is not the only open front. The risk, in fact, is that a new threat could also arrive from the north. On Saturday, after the attack, Israel prepared to send troops to the border with Lebanon, where yesterday morning Hezbollah fired mortars at Israeli military installations. And yesterday, Iran once again supported the Hamas operation, calling it “legitimate defense of the Palestinian nation”. For Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, “the Zionist regime and its supporters are responsible for the instability in the region”. Raisi’s statements came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was no evidence to suggest Iran was behind any attacks in Israel. But long-standing ties between Hamas and Tehran suggest otherwise.

Source: IL Tempo

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