Gaza/ Tel Aviv (Web Desk): Israel imposed a "total blockade" on the Gaza Strip on Monday with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stating that all supplies of electricity, water, food, fuel and other goods would be stopped as Israeli troops battled to clear out Hamas fighters from southern settlements.
The Israeli army further said it would soon go on the offensive after the biggest mobilisation in Israeli history.
Fighting raged at several locations inside Israel where the fighters were still holed up following a raid that shattered Israel's reputation of invincibility.
The Israeli military 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 Palestinian fighters two days after a bloody incursion.
Earlier today, the death toll of Israel-Hamas war reportedly surpassed 1200, as latest death toll stood at 508 in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, and more than 700 in Israel, according to Israeli media.
Death toll in Gaza rises above 500, 2800 wounded, after Palestinian ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Israel says it struck more than 500 targets in the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for one of the bloodiest attacks in its history when Hamas killed 700 Israelis and abducted dozens of Israelis and other foreigners.
Israeli air strikes hit housing blocks, tunnels, a mosque and homes of Hamas officials in Gaza, killing more than 400 people, including 20 children, in keeping with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge of “mighty vengeance”.
Beyond blockaded Gaza, Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia exchanged artillery and rocket fire, while in Egypt two Israeli tourists were shot dead along with a guide.
While fierce battles with Hamas fighters continue in several areas in southern Israel. In southern Israel on Sunday, Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli security forces more than 24 hours after their surprise, multi-pronged assault of rocket barrages and bands of gunmen who overran army bases and invaded border towns.
The intense bombardment has so far displaced more than 120,000 people in the besieged Palestinian enclave in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said on Monday.
“Over 123,538 people, have been internally displaced in Gaza, mostly due to fear, protection concerns and the destruction of their homes,” said the UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA.
Israel’s 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.
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.
Military spokesperson Daniel Hagari called it “the worst massacre of innocent civilians in Israel’s history”. 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.
The conflict has had a global impact, with several other countries reporting nationals killed, abducted, or missing, among them Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Nepal, Thailand, and Ukraine.
A US National Security Council spokesperson confirmed that "several" Americans had been killed in the surprise attack, but did not provide further details.
The Israeli army 100,000 reserve troops have amassed near Gaza, where Palestinian fighters say they are holding 130 people captive.
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.
It is important to mention that Hamas’s surprise attack came after Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in recent days and a record number of Palestinians were killed by Israel in recent months.
