Middle East
Israel mobilizes 300,000 soldiers
Smoke rises over Gaza after an Israeli airstrike. photo
© Mohammed Talatene/dpa
Will the Hamas terrorist attacks be followed by an Israeli ground offensive? This is indicated by a massive mobilization of the military. What Hamas will experience will be “terrible,” says Netanyahu.
After the devastating attacks by Hamas terrorists on There are increasing signs of an impending Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. Israel ordered the complete closure of the area, which is only 40 kilometers long and six to twelve kilometers wide, while the army mobilized 300,000 reservists. “What Hamas will experience will be hard and terrible. We are only at the beginning,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and vowed revenge.
People in Israel have been told to stock up on enough food, water and medicine. The military said supplies should last at least 72 hours. Germany, the USA, Great Britain, France and Italy jointly assured the attacked country of their solidarity. Together we would express “our unwavering and united support” for Israel “and unequivocally condemn Hamas and its terrible acts of terror,” said a federal government statement published that night.
150 Israeli hostages kidnapped
Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Our 5 countries will ensure that Israel can defend itself and its citizens against the vile attacks.” Hamas, meanwhile, threatened to execute a civilian hostage for every attack carried out by Israel, a spokesman said. She kidnapped around 150 Israeli hostages to the Gaza Strip. These include citizens of several Western countries, including a German.
Israel’s army says it took hundreds of Hamas members prisoner. Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU, the USA and Israel, told the Arabic broadcaster Al-Jazeera that the group was open to mediation. The Islamist organization had previously called for a prisoner exchange and the release of 36 imprisoned Palestinian women in Israel in exchange for the handover of older, kidnapped Israeli women.
At least 900 people were killed and 2,600 people were injured in the attack by Hamas terrorists that began over the weekend. US President Joe Biden said on Platform X that there were at least eleven American citizens among the dead.
The terrorists had entered Israeli towns and shot men, women and children and kidnapped others into the Gaza Strip. According to the Ministry of Health there, at least 687 people were killed and more than 3,800 injured in the massive Israeli counterstrikes in the Gaza Strip. According to unconfirmed media reports, the bodies of around 1,500 Palestinian terrorists are said to be on Israeli territory. Terrorists are currently no longer invading Israel, an Israeli military spokesman said.
For the approximately two million mostly poor residents of the extremely densely populated Gaza Strip, the situation is likely to worsen further with Israel’s complete closure. Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant said: “There will be no electricity, no food and no fuel.” Germany, the EU and other states announced that they were initially suspending aid to the Palestinian population in view of Hamas’ terror. The German programs would be reviewed comprehensively and with an open outcome, said a spokeswoman for the Development Ministry in Berlin.
Targets in the Gaza Strip under attack
Meanwhile, Israel’s army continued to attack Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip. The army announced late yesterday that the positions were attacked from the air and from ships. The military bombed, among other things, weapons depots, tunnels and a Hamas command center in a mosque.
Meanwhile, there were again clashes with deaths in the West Bank. There were also fighting on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, increasing concerns that the conflict could spread. Israeli soldiers shot several gunmen who had advanced into Israel, the Israeli military said. The Shiite organization Hezbollah, which like Hamas is allied with Iran, denied involvement.
The chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), called for a tougher approach towards Iran. “The biggest supporter of Hamas’s terror is Iran,” she told the Germany editorial network. That is why Germany, together with its partners in the European Union and the USA, must expand the sanctions against the country.