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Gaza: Israel forms emergency government and steps up Gaza offensive as brutality of Hamas attacks laid bare [1]
['Eyad Kourdi Amir Tal Abeer Salman Celine Alkhaldi Helen Regan', 'Eyad Kourdi', 'Amir Tal', 'Abeer Salman', 'Celine Alkhaldi', 'Helen Regan']
Date: 2023-10-11
Gaza and Jerusalem CNN —
Israel has formed an emergency government and war management cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz jointly announced Wednesday, in the wake of Hamas’ surprise attacks on border communities that killed at least 1,200 people and injured thousands more.
Gantz, a former defense minister, will join Netanyahu and current defense minister Yoav Gallant in a wartime cabinet.
“There is time for war and time for peace. This, now, is the time for war,” Gantz said during a televised address.
The government will not pass any laws or make any decisions that do not concern the conduct of the war, the announcement said.
Israel has stepped up its offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 onslaught, when armed militants poured over the heavily-fortified border into Israel, raiding homes, rampaging through farms and communities and taking as many as 150 hostages back to Gaza.
Since Israel began airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave Saturday at least 1,100 people have been killed in Gaza, including hundreds of children, women, and entire families, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Thousands more have been injured, it said.
Israel has ordered a “complete siege” on the enclave, including halting supplies of electricity, food, water and fuel. On Wednesday, Gaza’s only power station stopped working after running out of fuel, the head of the Gaza power authority Galal Ismail told CNN.
People are still able to use power generators, Ismail said, but with a blockade on all sides of the border, the fuel needed for the generators to work is running out.
The Palestinian health ministry warned that hospitals are set to run out of fuel on Thursday, leading to “catastrophic” conditions.
Violence spreads to the West Bank
Beyond Gaza, violence has risen in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, leaving a total of 29 Palestinians dead and 150 injured, according to the Palestinian health ministry on Wednesday.
Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli settlers Wednesday in the village of Qusra, south of the city of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, and several others were injured, the head of the Qusra council, Abdelathim Wadi, told CNN.
Two of those killed by settler gunfire were adolescents, the Palestinian foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
Settlers “protected by Israeli forces” also opened fire on farmers in the town of Kafr al-Dik and the village of Marda, east of Nablus, the foreign ministry statement added.
In the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem, two Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli police Tuesday, the Red Crescent said in a statement, adding that paramedics were “prevented from entering Silwan to evacuate those who sustained gun wounds.”
Israeli police said they fatally shot two people who launched fireworks at a close range and threw stones at officers operating in the area.
Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli military forces erupted amid an IDF-imposed closure of various entry and exit points, limiting the movement of Palestinians within the West Bank and between the West Bank and Israel, according to several Palestinian residents who told CNN on Wednesday.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said earlier this week that the military was on high alert in the area, adding it was preparing to thwart any potential attacks.
“Anyone who challenges us in Judea and Samaria will be met with huge force,” Hagari said, using the Jewish biblical names for the West Bank.
Brutal attacks
Days after Hamas launched its large-scale surprise assault on Israel, horrifying details are still emerging.
In Kfar Aza, a kibbutz in southern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN that militants carried out a “massacre” in which women, children, toddlers and elderly were “brutally butchered in an ISIS way of action.”
Hamas has denied that its militants beheaded children and attacked women during its surprise assault. Spokesman and senior official Izzat al-Risheq said there was “no evidence to support such claims and lies.”
Less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, the farming community Be’eri was among the worst-hit, with more than 100 bodies recovered and eyewitnesses describing assailants going door to door, breaking into homes and executing civilians.
In retaliation for the atrocities, Israeli jets have been pounding Gaza – the densely-inhabited coastal strip that Hamas controls – with hundreds of airstrikes, reducing homes and neighborhoods to rubble and trapping residents, with many cut off from food and electricity.
The IDF has also bolstered troops and tanks along the border as speculation of a possible Israeli ground incursion into Gaza grows. An IDF spokesperson said Wednesday that it has massed 300,000 reservists near the border.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he has “released all restraints” for the IDF in their fight against Hamas, saying the response will permanently change Gaza.
“They will regret this moment – Gaza will never return to what it was,” Gallant said.
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes on the seaport of Gaza City on October 10. Mohammed Salem/Reuters
That has deepened fears that Palestinian civilian casualties will continue to rise in the days ahead as Israel responds to the worst attack on its territory in decades.
Dozens of Israeli fighter jets struck more than 70 targets in the Daraja Tuffah area of Gaza Wednesday, where the IDF claimed “a large number of terror attacks against Israel are directed.” The IDF also said it had struck Hamas naval targets in Gaza early Wednesday, which it claimed were used to carry out attacks on the Israeli coastline.
The Palestinian Ministry of Interior Affairs said residential areas in the eastern part of Jabalia and the Qizan al-Najjar region of Khan Yunis came under intense airstrikes, with attacks targeting civilians’ homes and roads, resulting in “direct injuries among citizens,” the ministry said.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday pledged that the US would make sure Israel has the tools needed to defend itself and is surging military assistance to it.
Humanitarian crisis
Civilians in Gaza are facing a deepening humanitarian crisis as Israel ramps up its bombardment for a fifth day and the “complete siege” ordered by Israeli Defense Minister on Monday takes effect.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said imposition of sieges that endanger civilians by depriving them of essential goods “is prohibited under international humanitarian law.”
“These risks (are) seriously compounding the already dire human rights and humanitarian situation in Gaza, including the capacity of medical facilities to operate, especially in light of the increasing number of injured people,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said Tuesday.
Video Ad Feedback See the devastation in Gaza after Israeli strikes 02:16 - Source: CNN
Cutting off the water supply to Gaza “affects over 610,000 people and will result in severe shortage of drinking water,” UN OCHA’s Jens Laerke added.
The strikes have already damaged Gaza’s medical infrastructure, say Palestinian officials, and have forced more than 263,000 Palestinians to flee their homes, the United Nations said.
Destruction of infrastructure and streets by Israeli bombs is hampering efforts by medical teams to reach victims, according to the UN.
Officials with the UN’s Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said 11 of its employees have died as a result of airstrikes on Gaza and at least 14 of their facilities there have been damaged directly or indirectly.
The agency has been unable to bring any aid into Gaza since Saturday, according to UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma.
Israel controls the movement of residents from Gaza into Israel through two crossings, Erez and Kerem Shalom, both of which have been shut.
The only border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was struck by Israeli warplanes Tuesday, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Interior Ministry Eyad al-Bozom said.
The tightly controlled Rafah crossing is the only one available to Gazans looking to flee.
The IDF said it struck the Rafah area Tuesday, including an underground tunnel used for “smuggling weapons and equipment.”
Plea for hostages
There are rising fears of the Lebanon-based Shia militant faction Hezbollah entering the conflict, potentially opening a second front in the war. The IDF said Tuesday that it has added tens of thousands of additional troops to its northern border with Lebanon in anticipation of an attack by the Iran-backed group.
In a briefing on Wednesday, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that Hezbollah in southern Lebanon fired anti-tank missiles and rockets at Israeli positions and soldiers.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed that many Israeli soldiers had been killed and injured in an attack on an Israeli site on the Lebanon-Israeli border. The IDF did not immediately respond when asked by CNN about the casualties.
A Palestinian child is injured during bombing in Gaza on October 13. Saher Alghorra/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images Palestinians carrying their belongings flee to safer areas in Gaza City after Israeli airstrikes, on October 13. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images Mourners attend the funeral of Israeli soldier Abraham Cohen at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on October 12. Francisco Seco/AP Israeli soldiers patrol near Kibbutz Be'eri, Israel, on October 12. Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images Family members of Valentin Ghnassia react during his funeral ceremony at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem on Thursday, October 12. Ghnassia was killed in a battle with Hamas militants in Be'eri, Israel. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images An Israeli soldier patrols near the Nova music festival grounds near Be'eri, Israel, on October 12. Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images An Israeli military helicopter flies near the border between Gaza and Sderot, Israel, on October 12. Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images Palestinians seek shelter in Khan Younis, Gaza, after a house next door was hit by an Israeli airstrike on October 12. Yousef Masoud/The New York Times A morgue worker arranges body bags at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on October 12. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on Thursday, October 12. Ibrahim Hams/AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian woman covered in dust and dirt carries a child in Gaza City on October 12. Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images An Israeli soldier walks by a house destroyed by Hamas militants in Kibbutz Be'eri on Wednesday, October 11. Baz Ratner/AP An Israeli army self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on October 11. Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images People carry bodies of Palestinians killed during an Israeli airstrike prior to their burial in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 11. Abed Rahim Khatib/Picture-Alliance/Getty Images An aerial view of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes at the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza City on October 11. Yahya Hassouna/AFP/Getty Images Mourners react beside the body of Mapal Adam during her funeral in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 11. Francisco Seco/AP Palestinians run from Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 11. Abed Zagout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Israeli soldiers load donated food into the back of a military vehicle in Sderot, Israel, on October 11. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux Bullet holes are seen in a cracked window at the entrance of a kindergarten in Be'eri, Israel, on October 11. The self-sustaining farming community near Gaza was one of the first places targeted by Hamas militants on October 7. Baz Ratner/AP A mourner reacts while burying a child from the al-Agha family, who were killed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 11. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters Itzik and Miriam Shafir, center, mourn during their son's funeral at a cemetery in Modiin Maccabim, Israel, on Wednesday, October 11. Their son, Dor Shafir, and his girlfriend, Savion Kiper, were killed during Hamas' attack on a music festival on Saturday. Maya Alleruzzo/AP A boy carries salvaged belongings from the wreckage of his family's home in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 11. Yousef Masoud/The New York Times/Redux Smoke rises after Israeli strikes on the seaport of Gaza City on Tuesday, October 10. Mohammed Salem/Reuters Israeli soldiers carry a body on October 10 in Kfar Aza, a village in Israel just across the border from Gaza. Hamas militants carried out a "massacre" in Kfar Aza during their attacks over the weekend, the Israel Defense Forces told CNN Sergey Ponomarev/The New York Times/Redux Palestinians mourn during the funeral of a relative killed in an Israeli strike, in Gaza City on October 10. Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images People mourn at the grave of Eden Guez during her funeral in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 10. She was killed as she attended a music festival that was attacked by terrorists from Gaza . Israeli officials counted at least 260 bodies at the Nova Festival. Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters Israeli soldiers take position in Kfar Aza near the border with Gaza on October 10. Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Palestinians rescue a young girl from the rubble of a destroyed residential building following an Israeli airstrike on October 10. Fatima Shbair/AP Stranded travelers wait to be booked on a flight at Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv on October 10. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux Palestinians walk amid the rubble following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 10. Fatima Shbair/AP Israelis in Ashkelon take cover in a shelter as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets on October 10. Ohad Zwigenberg/AP People gather around the bodies of two Palestinian reporters, Mohammed Soboh and Said al-Tawil, who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 10. Fatima Shbair/AP Israelis mourn as they attend the funeral of Israel Defense Forces soldier Noam Elimeleh Rothenberg at Mount Herzel Cemetery in Jerusalem, on October 10. Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian man reacts as he carries the body of his cousin who was pulled from the rubble after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on Monday, October 9. Belal Khaled/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A family takes shelter at a neighbor's house after their home was damaged in an Israeli airstrike in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza on October 9. Samar Abu Elouf/The New York Times/Redux Children run for cover as bombs fall near the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on October 9. Samar Abu Elouf/The New York Times/Redux A photo from a wedding is seen on the ground of a building in Ashkelon that was hit by rockets from Gaza on October 9. Amir Cohen/Reuters People take shelter in Jerusalem on October 9. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux The ruins of the Yassin mosque are seen in the Shati refugee camp just outside Gaza City on October 9. Samar Abu Elouf/The New York Times/Redux Friends and relatives of Ilai Bar Sade mourn next to his grave during his funeral at a military cemetery in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 9. Erik Marmor/AP Six-month-old Sama Alwadia is rescued from the rubble in Gaza City on October 9. Though the child had survived the initial strike, she died later while being treated for her injuries. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Lightning strikes over Gaza City following an Israeli bombardment on October 9. Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images Israeli soldiers take position near the border between Gaza and Israel on October 9. Oren Ziv/AP A Palestinian man mourns over the body of his nephew killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 9. Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Israeli security and emergency officials respond after a rocket landed in the Israeli settlement of Beitar Ilit, in the occupied West Bank, on October 9. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the Sousi mosque in Gaza City on October 9. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images Israeli soldiers work on a tank at the border between Israel and Gaza on October 9. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa/picture-alliance/AP Palestinians remove a body from the rubble of a building after an Israeli airstrike on the Jebaliya refugee camp in Gaza on October 9. Ramez Mahmoud/AP A plume of smoke rises in the sky over Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on October 9. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images The mother of Israeli Col. Roi Levy cries during her son's funeral at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on October 9. Maya Alleruzzo/AP Palestinians inspect damage from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City's Shati refugee camp on October 9. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images An injured Palestinian child is pictured in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes at al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza on October 9. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Israelis view a damaged residential building in Ashkelon after it was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza on October 9. Erik Marmor/AP Tali Touito reacts as she describes how Hamas gunmen attacked and took over the police station on her street, in Sderot, Israel, on Sunday, October 8. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux Fire and smoke rise from Gaza City following an Israeli airstrike on October 8. Fatima Shbair/AP A relative of an Israeli missing since the attacks is overcome by emotion during a press conference in Ramat Gan, Israel, on October 8. Maya Alleruzzo/AP Palestinians inspect a mosque destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 8. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters An Israeli soldier prays standing in front of a tank on the outskirts of the northern town of Kiryat Shmona on October 8. Jalaa Marey/AFP/Getty Images Israelis inspect the rubble of a building in Tel Aviv on October 8, a day after it was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza. Oded Balilty/AP Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza on October 8. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters Palestinians search the rubble of a home in Khan Younis that was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes on October 8. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters Palestinian citizens inspect damage to their homes caused by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 8. Ahmad Hasballah/Getty Images Rockets launched from Gaza are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system on October 8. Amir Cohen/Reuters Palestinian children look toward the sky at the sound of airstrikes at a United Nations-run school in Gaza on Saturday, October 7. Samar Abu Elouf/The New York Times/Redux A woman runs to her family's reinforced concrete shelter moments after rocket sirens sounded in Ashkelon on October 7. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux From the window of his family's apartment, a man surveys damage from a rocket that struck a parking lot in Ashkelon on October 7. Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times/Redux Palestinians gather around an Israeli army vehicle that Palestinian militants drove from Israel into Gaza on October 7. Fatima Shbair/AP Palestinians break into the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, after gunmen infiltrated parts of southern Israel on October 7. Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa/Reuters Police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket in Ashkelon on October 7. Tsafrir Abayov/AP Israeli police take cover in Ashkelon as sirens wail while rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel on October 7. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images Smoke rises over Gaza during Israeli airstrikes on October 7. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images An Israeli woman reacts over the body of her relative who was killed in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 7. Baz Ratner/AP Children are seen in a damaged house in Gaza after Israeli airstrikes on October 7. Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Vehicles in Ashkelon burn as rockets are launched from Gaza on October 7. Ilan Rosenberg/Reuters A man in Ashkelon runs after rockets were launched from Gaza on October 7. Amir Cohen/Reuters Israelis donate blood in Jerusalem on October 7. Maya Alleruzzo/AP Palestinians inspect a destroyed building as emergency responders try to contain fires after Israeli jets bombed Gaza on October 7. Samar Abu Elouf/The New York Times/Redux Outside of a hospital in Gaza, men sit next to the covered body of a Palestinian militant killed during Saturday's clashes. Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images Relatives of Palestinians killed on Saturday, October 7, mourn at the morgue of a hospital in Gaza. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images An Israeli soldier stands by the bodies of Israelis killed by Palestinian militants in Sderot on October 7. Tsafrir Abayov/AP licensed A woman stands in a room damaged by rockets in Ashkelon on October 7. Amir Cohen/Reuters A building in Tel Aviv is ablaze Saturday, October 7, following rocket attacks from Gaza. Itai Ron/Reuters Smoke rises as the clashes between Palestinian groups and Israeli forces continue on the streets of Beit Hanun in Gaza on October 7. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images People take cover in a bomb shelter in Rishon Lezion, Israel, as rockets are launched from Gaza on October 7. Hadas Parush/Reuters Rockets are fired toward Israel from Gaza on October 7. Fatima Shbair/AP In pictures: The deadly clashes in Israel and Gaza Prev Next
Rockets were also launched from Syria into Israeli territory, the IDF said Tuesday, adding that they landed in open areas.
Families in Israel are left with little information about their missing loved ones, as Hamas warned it will start executing hostages if strikes on Gaza continue.
Israel’s Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog on Tuesday strongly urged the international community to pressure Hamas to unconditionally release people taken as hostages.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the US has special operators who “are going to help” the Israeli military “with intelligence and planning” for potential operations regarding hostages taken by Hamas.
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