TEL AVIV: Israel imposed a “whole blockade” on the Gaza Strip on Monday with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stating that every one provides of electrical energy, water, meals, gasoline and different items can be stopped as Israeli troops battled to filter out Hamas fighters from southern settlements.
The Israeli military additional stated it could quickly go on the offensive after the most important mobilisation in Israeli historical past.
Preventing raged at a number of areas inside Israel the place the fighters have been nonetheless holed up following a raid that shattered Israel’s status of invincibility.
The Israeli army stated it struck a whole lot of Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets within the Gaza Strip in a single day and had despatched 4 fight divisions south the place it continued to battle Palestinian fighters two days after a bloody incursion.
The Palestinian well being ministry stated at the least 493 folks together with scores of youngsters have been killed by Israeli bombing and greater than 2751 have been injured until now.
A army spokesperson stated preventing was ongoing at seven or eight areas close to Gaza two days after fighters from Hamas killed 700 Israelis and kidnapped dozens extra within the deadliest raid into Israeli territory since Egypt and Syria’s assaults within the Yom Kippur struggle 50 years in the past.
Hamas fighters additionally continued to cross into Israel from Gaza, the spokesman stated.
Fighter jets, helicopters and artillery struck over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets within the Gaza Strip in a single day, with targets together with Hamas and Islamic Jihad command centres and the residence of senior Hamas official Ruhi Mashtaa who allegedly helped direct the infiltration into Israel.
Medics in Gaza stated at the least seven Palestinians have been killed in two Israeli air strikes on two homes. Israeli planes carried out dozens of air strikes, many within the northern city of Beit Hanoun.
Israeli air strikes on Sunday hit housing blocks, tunnels, a mosque and houses of Hamas officers in Gaza.
“The worth the Gaza Strip pays will probably be a really heavy one that may change actuality for generations,” stated Defence Minister Yoav Gallant within the city of Ofakim, which suffered casualties and had hostages taken.
Israeli army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus stated the nation had known as in round 100,000 troopers.

Israeli safety collect close to a rifle on the web site of a battle with Hamas fighters, in Sderot, southern Israel. PHOTO: Reuters
“Our job is to ensure that on the finish of this struggle, Hamas will not have any army capabilities to threaten Israeli civilians with, and along with that we additionally want to ensure Hamas won’t govern the Gaza Strip,” he stated.
Oil costs have been up greater than $3 a barrel in Asian commerce on Monday because the violence deepened political uncertainty throughout the Center East and raised considerations about provides from Iran.
Iran is an ally of Hamas and whereas it congratulated Hamas on the assault, its mission to the United Nations stated Tehran was not concerned within the assaults.
Any sustained rally in oil costs would act as a tax on customers and add to international inflationary pressures, which weighed on equities as S&P 500 futures shed 0.7% and Nasdaq futures misplaced 0.6%.
A number of worldwide air carriers have suspended flight providers with Tel Aviv in gentle of the Hamas assault, saying they’re ready for situations to enhance earlier than resuming.
Past blockaded Gaza, Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah exchanged artillery and rocket hearth on Sunday, whereas in Egypt, two Israeli vacationers have been shot lifeless together with a information.
Appeals for restraint got here from world wide, although Western nations largely stood by Israel.
The Palestinian international ministry denounced what it known as a “barbarous marketing campaign of loss of life and destruction” by Israel.
“As an occupying energy, Israel has no proper or justification to focus on the defenceless civilian inhabitants in Gaza or elsewhere in Palestine,” it stated on Sunday.
In southern Israel, Hamas fighters have been nonetheless preventing Israeli safety forces after their shock assault with rocket barrages and bands of gunmen who overran military bases and invaded border cities.
“It’s taking extra time than we anticipated to get issues again right into a defensive, safety posture,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht advised a briefing with journalists.
Israel drafts 300,000
Israel has drafted a file 300,000 reservists in its response to a multi-front Hamas assault from Gaza and is “happening the offensive,” the chief army spokesperson stated on Monday.
Since Saturday’s shock assault, Israeli plane have been pounding Gaza targets whereas its floor forces have battled to retake management of border villages and cities overrun by Palestinian gunmen.
Chief army spokesperson Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari stated management of these communities had been re-established however that remoted clashes continued as some gunmen remained energetic.
“We at the moment are finishing up searches in the entire communities and clearing the world,” he stated in a televised briefing.

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from the town of Ashkelon. PHOTO: Reuters
Israeli army officers had beforehand stated that their focus was on securing Israel’s aspect of the border earlier than finishing up any main escalation of the counter-offensive in Gaza.
Hagari stated 300,000 reservists have been known as up by the army since Saturday, a quantity suggesting preparations for a doable invasion – although any such plans haven’t been formally confirmed.
“Now we have by no means drafted so many reservists on such a scale,” he stated. “We’re happening the offensive.”
Captives
Israel’s army, which faces awkward questions for not thwarting the assault, claimed it had regained management of most infiltration factors alongside safety obstacles, killed a whole lot of attackers and brought dozens extra prisoner.
Tens of 1000’s of troopers had been round Gaza, a slender strip of land that’s residence to 2.3 million Palestinians, and the army was beginning to evacuate Israelis across the frontier.
Israel has not launched an official toll however its media stated at the least 700 folks have been killed in Saturday’s assaults, kids amongst them. Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari known as it “the worst bloodbath of harmless civilians in Israel’s historical past.”
A number of People have been killed by Hamas attackers, a White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson confirmed. Thailand stated 12 of its nationals had been killed and 11 kidnapped.
Palestinian fighters took dozens of hostages to Gaza, together with troopers and civilians, kids and the aged. A second Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad, stated it was holding greater than 30 of the captives.
About 30 lacking Israelis attending a dance get together that was attacked by gunmen emerged from hiding on Sunday, Israeli media reported, placing the loss of life toll on the outside gathering at 260.
“The merciless actuality is Hamas took hostages as an insurance coverage coverage towards Israeli retaliatory motion, notably an enormous floor assault and to commerce for Palestinian prisoners,” stated Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace.
Unabated violence
US.President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second straight day on Sunday, saying in a put up on the social media platform X that he expressed “my full assist for the folks of Israel within the face of an unprecedented and appalling assault by Hamas terrorists.”
America led Western denunciations of Hamas’ assault, with Biden issuing a warning to Iran and others that this was “not a second for any get together hostile to Israel to take advantage of these assaults.”
US Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin stated he had ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford Service Strike Group to the jap Mediterranean as a present of assist to Israel.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem condemned the US announcement as “an precise participation within the aggression towards our folks”.
The violence might undermine U.S.-backed strikes in direction of normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia – a safety realignment that would threaten Palestinian hopes of self-determination and hem in Hamas’ essential backer, Iran.
Tehran’s different essential regional ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fought a struggle with Israel in 2006 and stated its “weapons and rockets” stand with Hamas.
The escalation follows surging violence between Israel and Palestinian teams within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, the place the Palestinian Authority workouts restricted self-rule.
Circumstances within the West Financial institution have worsened below Netanyahu’s hard-right authorities, with extra Israeli raids and assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages, and the Palestinian Authority known as for an emergency Arab League assembly.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh stated the assault would unfold to the West Financial institution and Jerusalem. Gazans have lived below an Israeli-led blockade for 16 years, since Hamas seized management of the territory in 2007.
“What number of instances have we warned you that the Palestinian folks have been residing in refugee camps for 75 years, and also you refuse to recognise the rights of our folks?” Haniyeh stated.
The UN appealed for the creation of humanitarian corridors to deliver meals into Gaza and stated at the least 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza are searching for shelter in faculties it runs.