<\/p>\n
The Israeli military on Monday said it struck hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip overnight and had sent four combat divisions south where it continued to battle fighters two days after a surprise Hamas offensive<\/a>.<\/p>\n At least seven Palestinians were killed in two Israeli air strikes on two houses in Gaza, according to medics. Israeli planes carried out dozens of air strikes, many in the northern town of Beit Hanoun.<\/p>\n Israeli air strikes on Sunday hit housing blocks, tunnels, a mosque and homes of Hamas officials in Gaza. The Palestinian health ministry said more than 400 people including scores of children had been killed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe price the Gaza Strip will pay will be a very heavy one that will change reality for generations,\u201d said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in the town of Ofakim, which suffered casualties and had hostages taken.<\/p>\n Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said the country had called in around 100,000 soldiers.<\/p>\n \u201cOur job is to make sure that at the end of this war, Hamas will no longer have any military capabilities to threaten Israeli civilians with, and in addition to that we also need to make sure Hamas will not govern the Gaza Strip,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A military spokesperson said fighting was ongoing at seven or eight locations near Gaza two days after Hamas fighters killed 700 Israelis and abducted dozens more in the deadliest raid into Israeli territory since Egypt and Syria\u2019s attacks in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago.<\/p>\n Hamas fighters also continued to cross into Israel from Gaza, the spokesman said.<\/p>\n Fighter jets, helicopters and artillery struck over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, with targets including Hamas and Islamic Jihad command centres and the residence of senior Hamas official Ruhi Mashtaa who allegedly helped direct the infiltration into Israel.<\/p>\n Oil prices were up more than $3 a barrel in Asian trade on Monday as the violence deepened political uncertainty across the Middle East and raised concerns about supplies from Iran.<\/p>\n Iran is an ally of Hamas and while it congratulated Hamas on the attack, its mission to the United Nations said Tehran was not involved in the attacks.<\/p>\n Any sustained rally in oil prices would act as a tax on consumers and add to global inflationary pressures, which weighed on equities as S&P 500 futures shed 0.7pc and Nasdaq futures lost 0.6pc.<\/p>\n Several international air carriers have suspended flight services with Tel Aviv in light of the Hamas attack, saying they are waiting for conditions to improve before resuming. Appeals for restraint came from around the world, though Western nations largely stood by Israel.<\/p>\n The Palestinian foreign ministry denounced what it called a \u201cbarbarous campaign of death and destruction\u201d by Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an occupying power, Israel has no right or justification to target the defenceless civilian population in Gaza or elsewhere in Palestine,\u201d it said on Sunday.<\/p>\n In southern Israel, Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli security forces after their surprise assault with rocket barrages and bands of gunmen who overran army bases and invaded border towns.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s taking more time than we expected to get things back into a defensive, security posture,\u201d Lt Col Richard Hecht told a briefing with journalists.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s military, which faces awkward questions for not thwarting the attack, said it had regained control of most infiltration points along security barriers, killed hundreds of fighters and taken dozens more prisoner.<\/p>\n Tens of thousands of soldiers had been around Gaza, a narrow strip of land that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, and the military was starting to evacuate Israelis around the frontier.<\/p>\n Israel has not released an official toll but its media said at least 700 people were killed in Saturday\u2019s attacks, children among them.<\/p>\n Military spokesperson Daniel Hagari called it \u201cthe worst massacre of innocent civilians in Israel\u2019s history\u201d. Several Americans were killed by Hamas attackers, a White House National Security Council spokesperson confirmed. Thailand said 12 of its nationals had been killed and 11 kidnapped.<\/p>\n Palestinian fighters took dozens of hostages to Gaza, including soldiers and civilians, children and the elderly. A second Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad, said it was holding more than 30 of the captives.<\/p>\n About 30 missing Israelis attending a dance party that was attacked by gunmen emerged from hiding on Sunday, Israeli media reported, putting the death toll at the outdoor gathering at 260.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cruel reality is Hamas took hostages as an insurance policy against Israeli retaliatory action, particularly a massive ground attack and to trade for Palestinian prisoners,\u201d said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.<\/p>\n US President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second straight day on Sunday, saying in a post on the social media platform X that he expressed \u201cmy full support for the people of Israel in the face of an unprecedented and appalling assault by Hamas terrorists\u201d.<\/p>\n The United States led Western denunciations of Hamas\u2019 attack, with Biden issuing a warning to Iran and others that this was \u201cnot a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks\u201d. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said he had ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the eastern Mediterranean as a show of support to Israel.<\/p>\n In Gaza, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem condemned the US announcement as \u201can actual participation in the aggression against our people\u201d.<\/p>\n The violence may undermine US-backed moves towards normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia \u2014 a security realignment that could threaten Palestinian hopes of self-determination and hem in Hamas\u2019 alleged main backer, Iran.<\/p>\n Tehran\u2019s other main regional ally, Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah, fought a war with Israel in 2006 and said its \u201cguns and rockets\u201d stand with Hamas.<\/p>\n The escalation follows surging violence between Israel and Palestinian fighters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where a Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule, opposed by Hamas.<\/p>\n Conditions in the West Bank have worsened under Netanyahu\u2019s hard-right government, with more Israeli raids and assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages, and the Palestinian Authority called for an emergency Arab League meeting.<\/p>\n Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault would spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem. Gazans have lived under an Israeli-led blockade for 16 years, since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.<\/p>\n \u201cHow many times have we warned you that the Palestinian people have been living in refugee camps for 75 years, and you refuse to recognise the rights of our people?\u201d Haniyeh said.<\/p>\n The UN appealed for the creation of humanitarian corridors to bring food into Gaza and said at least 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza are seeking shelter in schools it runs.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Israeli military on Monday said it struck hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip overnight and had sent four combat divisions south where it continued to battle fighters two days after a surprise Hamas offensive. 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\nBeyond blockaded Gaza, Israeli forces and Lebanon\u2019s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia exchanged artillery and rocket fire on Sunday, while in Egypt, two Israeli tourists were shot dead along with a guide.<\/p>\nCaptives<\/h2>\n
Biden speaks to Netanyahu<\/h2>\n