Jerusalem and Gaza
CNN
 — 

Combating between Hamas and Israel raged into a 3rd day Monday with militants launching a recent barrage of rocket assaults and Israeli forces nonetheless battling to expel Hamas gunmen from its soil as jets continued to bombard the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

Israel on Sunday formally declared conflict on the Islamist militant group Hamas after its fighters launched an unprecedented shock assault this weekend into Israeli territory that has thus far killed over 700 folks in Israel, escalating a long-running battle and leaving a nation reeling in anguish.

Hamas militants claimed late Sunday to be holding greater than 100 hostages in Gaza, together with high-ranking Israeli military officers, in line with Mousa Abu Marzouk, chief deputy of Hamas’s Political Bureau.

Movies on social media confirmed militants capturing a number of civilians, together with youngsters, as Israeli households throughout the nation made anxious pleas for the secure return of their family members.

Along with Israeli captives, there are additionally different nationalities believed to have been taken hostage, together with American, Mexican, Brazilian and Thai nationals – additional complicating Israel’s response to the Hamas assault.

And the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) confirmed early Monday native time that Israel is just not in full management of its territory alongside the border with Gaza.

“We’re nonetheless looking down the final terrorist inside Israeli territory,” IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus advised CNN.

“Our troops are going door to door and home to deal with, on the lookout for, and in lots of circumstances, participating with final terrorists inside Israel.”

For now airstrikes have been the first retaliation measure inside Gaza itself with Israeli jets repeatedly pounding the closely populated 140 sq. mile coastal strip, turning a number of buildings to rubble.

Greater than 430 Palestinians, together with dozens of youngsters, have been killed and practically 2,300 wounded, in line with authorities in Gaza.

The IDF says it has been hitting Hamas, destroying round 800 targets and killing “tons of” of fighters, wounding hundreds and capturing scores of others, spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari mentioned on Sunday.

Tens of hundreds of individuals have been displaced in Gaza, the United Nations Aid and Works Company mentioned, and entry to medical care has been sophisticated by Israel reducing energy to the territory, threatening “lives of tons of” of these injured, the Palestinian Ministry of Well being in Gaza mentioned.

Whereas the total scale of what the Israeli response might be stays unclear, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday predicted a “lengthy and tough conflict” and vowed “mighty vengeance” on Hamas.

The IDF mentioned the precedence for the approaching hours and days was to “management your entire enclave and kill all of the terrorists in our territory,” Hecht mentioned.

Israeli fighters continued to conflict with Hamas militants on Israeli soil early Monday morning in as much as eight places. Hecht mentioned it was potential that extra Hamas gunmen have been nonetheless crossing into Israel from Gaza, and that areas Israel is focusing on with airstrikes are factors the place militants have been gathering to cross the border.

CNN reporters on the bottom heard repeated sounds of battle all through the evening in addition to Israel’s Iron Dome missile system firing to intercept Hamas rockets.

Israel’s declaration of conflict set the stage for a serious army operation in Gaza and tanks and personnel carriers might be seen on the transfer close to the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday.

1000’s of Israeli reservists have been known as up and the IDF introduced that a number of communities near the Gaza safety fence are being evacuated.

An Israeli army official and a United States protection official mentioned Israel is requesting precision guided bombs and extra Iron Dome interceptors from the US, together with Joint Direct Assault Munitions, or JDAMs – a package that turns an unguided “dumb” bomb right into a precision “good” weapon.

US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin mentioned the US will present safety help to Israel imminently. The US mentioned it was additionally sending a Navy provider strike group to the jap Mediterranean Sea, together with guided missile destroyers and guided missile cruisers.

Many Israelis have spent a lot of the previous two days in bomb shelters and saferooms.

Israel’s Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog advised CNN Hamas fired greater than 4,000 rockets at Israel and despatched tons of of militants into Israeli territory.

All through the bloody weekend, Hamas rockets made direct hits on a number of places contained in the nation together with Tel Aviv, whereas armed terror teams entered Israel and infiltrated army bases, cities and farms, capturing at civilians and taking hostages.

Amongst these killed in Israel are 12 Thai residents, 10 Nepalis, 4 US nationals, two Ukrainians, one French and one British citizen.

Photos and movies present the horror unfolding on the bottom.

Images launched by the Israeli international ministry confirmed dozens of our bodies within the aftermath of a Hamas assault on a music competition close to the Israel-Gaza border, which emergency responders mentioned left at the very least 260 lifeless.

The daddy of an Israeli lady who was reportedly taken hostage on the competition advised CNN that he “didn’t need to imagine it” when he noticed his daughter being hoisted onto the again of a motorbike by Hamas militants in a video circulating on social media.

“One couldn’t describe it with phrases. It’s unimaginable…It was a really tough second,” Yakov Argamani mentioned, describing the second he noticed the video of his 25-year-old daughter Noa for the primary time.

Movies obtained and geolocated by CNN present at the very least 4 civilians within the kibbutz of Be’eri have been killed whereas within the custody of Hamas, simply ft from the place armed militants had been escorting them.

The IDF mentioned Monday that Be’eri was “very badly hit,” and though most Hamas militants within the kibbutz have been killed, Israeli troops have been nonetheless combating there.

Hamas claimed assaults in a number of elements of southern Israel on Sunday, together with in Mavki’im, simply north of Gaza, the place it mentioned its forces have been nonetheless current and conducting operations.

CNN is unable to confirm Hamas’ claims and an IDF spokesperson mentioned it was “a really fluid scenario.”

Hamas militants additionally claimed to have launched “a serious missile assault with 100 rockets” on the southern coastal metropolis of Ashkelon, near the Gaza border. Israeli police mentioned a rocket assault made a “direct hit” on an condo constructing there.

And within the southern Israeli metropolis of Sderot, Hamas mentioned it fired dozens of rockets in retaliation to the focusing on of “houses” in Gaza by Israeli forces.

Israeli warplanes continued putting Gaza in a single day Sunday into Monday and “severely degraded the capabilities” of Hamas, the IDF mentioned. Among the many targets was a construction that housed Hamas operatives and several other Hamas command facilities, together with one belonging to a senior operative of the Hamas naval forces.

The barrage of Israeli strikes in Gaza have additionally inflicted casualties on civilians in what is without doubt one of the world’s most densely populated locations.

Not less than 13 relations, together with 4 toddlers, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza Sunday, in line with journalist Hassan Eslayeh and a household relative.

The assaults come after months of surging violence between Palestinians and Israelis, with the long-running battle now heading into uncharted and harmful new territory. Questions stay over how the Israeli army and intelligence equipment gave the impression to be caught off guard in one of many nation’s worst safety failures.

Hamas’ extremely coordinated assault, which started Saturday morning, was unprecedented in its scale and scope and got here on the fiftieth anniversary of the 1973 Conflict by which Arab states blitzed Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Combating between the 2 sides has surged prior to now two years. The violence has been pushed by frequent Israeli army raids in Palestinian cities and cities, which Israel has mentioned are a obligatory response to a rising variety of assaults by Palestinian militants on Israelis.

Considerations the battle might spill out into the area have been raised Sunday when Lebanese group Hezbollah claimed duty for focusing on three Israeli websites in an space often called Shebaa Farms, utilizing missiles and artillery. The realm is taken into account by Lebanon as Israeli-occupied.

The IDF mentioned its artillery struck the realm in Lebanon the place the firing originated and mentioned it “will proceed to function in all areas and at any time obligatory to make sure the protection of the Israeli civilians.”

On Sunday, the UN Safety Council held an emergency assembly however no motion was taken afterward. The Deputy US Ambassador to the UN mentioned “not all” the member nations had condemned Hamas’ assaults, however didn’t specify which. All 15 members have to vote unanimously for the UNSC to launch an announcement.