<\/p>\n
Israel imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip on Monday and cut off the water supply as it kept bombing targets in the crowded Palestinian enclave, after Hamas stunned Israel with a surprise offensive<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gaza\u2019s health ministry said there were dozens of Palestinians killed and wounded in Israeli air strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp. Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on Gaza since Saturday when Hamas fighters launched attacks in Israel and fired thousands of rockets at the country.<\/p>\n Latest developments<\/strong><\/p>\n The death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to 560 on Monday, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said.<\/p>\n The Hamas-controlled ministry said \u201c570 people were killed and another 2,900 injured\u201d in the fighting that began on Saturday after Hamas fighters fired thousands of rockets in Israel in a surprise dawn offence.<\/p>\n Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened that \u201cwhat Hamas will experience will be difficult and terrible \u2026 We are going to change the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is only the beginning,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will defeat them with force, enormous force.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier, Netanyahu warned Gaza civilians to get away from all Hamas sites, which he vowed to turn \u201cto rubble\u201d.<\/p>\n Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would impose a \u201ccomplete siege\u201d on the long blockaded enclave and stressed what this meant for its 2.3 million people: \u201cNo electricity, no food, no water, no gas \u2014 it\u2019s all closed.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 123,000 people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip since fighting began, the United Nations said. \u201cOver 123,538 people, have been internally<\/a> displaced in Gaza, mostly due to fear, protection concerns and the destruction of their homes,\u201d said the UN\u2019s humanitarian agency, OCHA.<\/p>\n More than 73,000 are sheltering in schools, OCHA said, some of which have been designated emergency shelters.<\/p>\n Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said he expected the numbers to rise further.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s electricity in these schools, we provide them with a meal, clean water, psychological support and medical treatment,\u201d he told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n Gaza is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, who have lived under a crippling Israeli blockade imposed after Hamas took power in 2007.<\/p>\n At least seven Palestinians were killed in two Israeli air strikes on two houses in Gaza, according to medics. Israeli planes also carried out dozens of air strikes, many in the northern town of Beit Hanoun. The Associated Press<\/em> reported<\/a> that 19 members of a single family were killed in one such strike.<\/p>\n The situation is unbearable,\u201c said Amal al-Sarsawi, 37, as she took shelter in a school classroom with her terrified children.<\/p>\n Minors in war zone have felt their sense of safety \u201cripped away\u201d said Jason Lee of charity group Save the Children. \u201cOur teams and their families are terrified, they feel like sitting targets. Children across the region are in constant fear.\u201d<\/p>\n Middle East tensions have spiked as Israel\u2019s arch-enemy Iran and their Lebanese ally Hezbollah have praised the Hamas attack, although Tehran rejected any role in the military operation.<\/p>\n Hamas has called on \u201cresistance fighters\u201d in the occupied West Bank and in Arab and Islamic nations to join its \u201cOperation Al-Aqsa Flood\u201d, launched half a century after the 1973 Arab-Israel war.<\/p>\n \u201cThe military operation is still continuing,\u201d Hossam Badran, a Hamas official, told AFP<\/em> from Doha, adding that \u201cthere is currently no chance for negotiation on the issue of prisoners or anything else\u201d.<\/p>\n The United States has pledged \u201crock solid\u201d support for Israel and said it would send munitions and military hardware to its key ally and divert an aircraft carrier group to the eastern Mediterranean.<\/p>\n Israel, which has long prided itself on a high-tech military and intelligence edge in its many conflicts, has been shaken to the core by Hamas\u2019s unprecedented attack.<\/p>\n It now faces the threat of a multi-front war after Hezbollah launched guided missiles and artillery shells from the north on Sunday \u201cin solidarity\u201d with Hamas, in what some observers considered a warning shot.<\/p>\n On Monday, the Israeli army said its soldiers had \u201ckilled a number of armed suspects\u201d who had crossed the border from Lebanon and that Israeli helicopters were striking targets in the area.<\/p>\n Chief military spokesperson Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel has drafted a record 300,000 reservists and is \u201cgoing on the offensive\u201d.<\/p>\n Hagari said control of border villages and towns in which there were Palestinian fighters had been re-established but that isolated clashes continued as some gunmen remained active.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now carrying out searches in all of the communities and clearing the area,\u201d he said in a televised briefing.<\/p>\n Military officials had previously said that their focus was on securing Israel\u2019s side of the border before carrying out any major escalation of the counter-offensive in Gaza.<\/p>\n Hagari said 300,000 reservists have been called up by the military since Saturday, a number suggesting preparations for a possible invasion – though any such plans have not been officially confirmed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have never drafted so many reservists on such a scale,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are going on the offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n Hagari confirmed media reports that 700 people had been killed on Israel\u2019s side of the border, including 73 confirmed members of the security forces. He said Israel\u2019s military had killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen.<\/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.<\/p>\n Beyond 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>\n 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 The EU has halted development aid payments to the Palestinians and is placing 691 million euros ($728 million) of support \u201cunder review\u201d after the Hamas assault on Israel, Brussels said today.<\/p>\n \u201cThe scale of terror and brutality against Israel and its people is a turning point. There can be no business as usual,\u201d European Union Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi posted on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the biggest donor of the Palestinians, the European Commission is putting its full development portfolio under review, worth a total of 691 million euros ($728 million),\u201d he added, in a message confirmed by a commission spokesman.<\/p>\n Earlier, Austria also announced it is suspending its aid to Palestinians, totalling around 19 million euros ($20 million) for a handful of projects, in response to Hamas\u2019s incursion on Israel.<\/p>\n Neutral Austria\u2019s ruling conservatives have adopted one of the most pro-Israel stances in the European Union in recent years. The Israeli flag has been hoisted above the chancellor\u2019s office and the Foreign Ministry after the shock Hamas offence launched from the Gaza Strip on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n
123,000 people displaced in Gaza: UN<\/h2>\n
Lebanon border clash<\/h2>\n
300,000 reservists called<\/h2>\n
Relentless bombardment<\/h2>\n
Aid to Palestine suspended<\/h2>\n