Israel has amassed 100,000 troops plus tanks and armoured personnel carriers near the border with Gaza as it seeks to obliterate the militant Hamas group’s bases and governing facilities in retaliation for a series of shock attacks and hostage takings.
As the Israeli death toll grew to at least 700 and the Palestinian death toll exceeded 400 on latest estimates, the Israel Defence Forces said the military had targeted 500 sites in the Gaza Strip through the use of jets, helicopters and other aircraft.
Israel, which has declared it is at war against Hamas, on Monday vowed to lay total siege to the Gaza Strip as its military scoured the country’s south for militants, guarded breaches in its border fence and pounded the impoverished Hamas-ruled territory in the wake of an unprecedented weekend incursion.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza, saying authorities would cut all electricity and prevent food and fuel from entering the territory, which is home to more than two million people.
Israel’s military response has been complicated by the fact Hamas militants claim they have taken 130 Israelis hostage over recent days.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said the hostages taken into Gaza included “babies, toddlers, young people, parents and grandparents”.
Read the article by Matthew Knott and Natassia Chrysanthos in The Sydney Morning Herald.