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Israel is hammering Gaza with airstrikes, hitting hundreds of targets and reducing neighborhoods to rubble, as new atrocities are uncovered in its territory after a devastating surprise attack by Hamas militants.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had “more or less” secured the border with Gaza by Tuesday, after Hamas sent fighters pouring into Israeli territory on Saturday. At least 1,000 people were killed in Israel and thousands more injured in the militant group’s onslaught, according to the IDF.
During an inspection of the front line along Israel’s border with Gaza on Tuesday, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he has “released all restraints” for the IDF troops in their fight against Hamas.
“They will regret this moment – Gaza will never return to what it was,” Gallant said
As Israeli troops regain ground, details are gradually emerging of the horror unleashed during the weekend attack. More than 100 bodies have been found in the Israeli kibbutz Be’eri, a farming community near Gaza, which was one of first places targeted by militants on Saturday. Bodies were also found at the nearby Kfar Aza kibbutz, according to an Israeli general.
“I have heard during my childhood about the pogroms in Europe, the Holocaust, of course. All my family came from Europe, they are survivors. But I never thought I would see in my eyes pictures and things like that,” Major Gen. Itai Veruv told CNN.
Israel, which has formally declared war on Hamas, is now battering the densely-inhabited strip with air strikes that have killed at least 900 people, including hundreds of children, women, and entire families, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. It said thousands more had been injured.
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Hamas launched a salvo of rockets from Gaza towards the Israeli city of Ashkelon, October 10, 2023.
Israeli officials have also pledged to cut off food, water and energy to the impoverished coastal enclave, which Hamas controls, in a “complete siege” ahead of an expected ground incursion. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to obliterate Hamas’ strongholds.
The strikes have already damaged Gaza’s medical infrastructure, say Palestinian officials, and have forced more than 187,500 Palestinians to flee their homes, the United Nations said.
The full scale of Israel’s response is still unclear, but complicating its retaliation operations are 150 army and civilian hostages – including American citizens according to US President Joe Biden – believed to have been taken to Gaza by militants.
Israel has saturated its southern border with troops, and the entire length of fence along the border with Gaza is covered with tanks and air coverage, the IDF told CNN. Israeli forces have evacuated civilians close to the border, and more than 300,000 Israeli reservists have been called up, it said.
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There are rising fears of 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.
A US carrier strike group is headed to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, which officials say is intended to deter Hezbollah in Lebanon and other militants groups.
Lebanese media outlet Al Manar reported Tuesday that rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel. The IDF said that it responded with artillery fire after “launches” were “identified from Lebanese territory toward Israeli territory.”
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Smoke rises over buildings in Gaza City on October 9, during an Israeli air strike.
Rockets were also launched from Syria into Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday, adding that they landed in open areas.
Meanwhile, attacks have continued by Hamas, whose fighters have sought to breach the border with Israel in order to launch suicide missions, IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said.
A firefight erupted between IDF troops and Hamas militants near the southern town of Mefalsim on Tuesday evening, multiple IDF troops on the ground told CNN.
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Scenes of desperation have emerged from Gaza amid Israel’s bombing campaign as the Palestinian health ministry accuses Israeli forces of deliberately targeting “civilian neighborhoods, health facilities, and notably, medical and rescue crews, as well as ambulance vehicles.”
Asked whether Israeli forces were distinguishing between civilian, governmental and military targets, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said the distinction was not so simple.
“In buildings where people are living there could be a weapons store… there could be a Hamas kingpin living there,” he said Tuesday.
Homes, schools, medical institutions, dozens of schools and government buildings were flattened in Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Information said Tuesday, forcing displaced people to 70 shelters in the city amid continuing airstrikes.
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Smoke rises after Israeli strikes on the seaport of Gaza City on October 10.
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Stranded travelers wait to be booked on a flight at Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv on October 10.
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Palestinians walk amid the rubble following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 10.
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Israelis in Ashkelon take cover in a shelter as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets on October 10.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Children run for cover as bombs fall near the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on October 9.
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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.
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People take shelter in Jerusalem on October 9.
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The ruins of the Yassin mosque are seen in the Shati refugee camp just outside Gaza City on October 9.
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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.
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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.
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Lightning strikes over Gaza City following an Israeli bombardment on October 9.
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Israeli soldiers take position near the border between Gaza and Israel on October 9.
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A Palestinian man mourns over the body of his nephew killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 9.
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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.
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Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the Sousi mosque in Gaza City on October 9.
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Israeli soldiers work on a tank at the border between Israel and Gaza on October 9.
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Palestinians remove a body from the rubble of a building after an Israeli airstrike on the Jebaliya refugee camp in Gaza on October 9.
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A plume of smoke rises in the sky over Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on October 9.
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The mother of Israeli Col. Roi Levy cries during her son’s funeral at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on October 9.
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Palestinians inspect damage from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp on October 9.
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An injured Palestinian child is pictured in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes at al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza on October 9.
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Israelis view a damaged residential building in Ashkelon after it was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza on October 9.
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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.
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Fire and smoke rise from Gaza City following an Israeli airstrike on October 8.
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A relative of an Israeli missing since the attacks is overcome by emotion during a press conference in Ramat Gan, Israel, on October 8.
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Palestinians inspect a mosque destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 8.
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An Israeli soldier prays standing in front of a tank on the outskirts of the northern town of Kiryat Shmona on October 8.
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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.
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Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza on October 8.
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Palestinians search the rubble of a home in Khan Younis that was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes on October 8.
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Palestinian citizens inspect damage to their homes caused by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 8.
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Rockets launched from Gaza are intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system on October 8.
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Palestinian children look toward the sky at the sound of airstrikes at a United Nations-run school in Gaza on Saturday, October 7.
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A woman runs to her family’s reinforced concrete shelter moments after rocket sirens sounded in Ashkelon on October 7.
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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.
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Palestinians gather around an Israeli army vehicle that Palestinian militants drove from Israel into Gaza on October 7.
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Palestinians break into the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, after gunmen infiltrated parts of southern Israel on October 7.
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Police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket in Ashkelon on October 7.
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Israeli police take cover in Ashkelon as sirens wail while rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel on October 7.
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Smoke rises over Gaza during Israeli airstrikes on October 7.
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An Israeli woman reacts over the body of her relative who was killed in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 7.
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Children are seen in a damaged house in Gaza after Israeli airstrikes on October 7.
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Vehicles in Ashkelon burn as rockets are launched from Gaza on October 7.
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A man in Ashkelon runs after rockets were launched from Gaza on October 7.
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Israelis donate blood in Jerusalem on October 7.
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Palestinians inspect a destroyed building as emergency responders try to contain fires after Israeli jets bombed Gaza on October 7.
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Outside of a hospital in Gaza, men sit next to the covered body of a Palestinian militant killed during Saturday’s clashes.
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Relatives of Palestinians killed on Saturday, October 7, mourn at the morgue of a hospital in Gaza.
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An Israeli soldier stands by the bodies of Israelis killed by Palestinian militants in Sderot on October 7.
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A woman stands in a room damaged by rockets in Ashkelon on October 7.
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A building in Tel Aviv is ablaze Saturday, October 7, following rocket attacks from Gaza.
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Smoke rises as the clashes between Palestinian groups and Israeli forces continue on the streets of Beit Hanun in Gaza on October 7.
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People take cover in a bomb shelter in Rishon Lezion, Israel, as rockets are launched from Gaza on October 7.
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Rockets are fired toward Israel from Gaza on October 7.
A total of 168 buildings, including 1,009 residential units were completely destroyed, the statement said, adding that 12,630 units were partially destroyed.
Ten medical institutions, including seven hospitals, were bombed, while 12 ambulances have been directly targeted, it added.
Most of those arriving at hospitals in Gaza have sustained second- and third-degree burns and amputations, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Health Ministry, Ashraf al-Qidra, told Palestinian news outlet Shihab Agency on Monday. Many have also sustained shrapnel injuries, al-Qidra said.
Those seeking hospital care are mainly women and children, al-Qidra said, adding that this is a “result of Israelis directly targeting residential houses and buildings.”
Oren Ziv/AP
Israeli soldiers take position near the border between Gaza and Israel on October 9.
The UNRWA said its emergency shelters in Gaza are at 90% capacity with more than 137,000 people taking cover from Israeli strikes. It also said that one UN school housing displaced families was “directly hit,” without giving further details. It’s unknown how many people were in the shelter at the time of the strike.
The only border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been closed after an Israeli strike on Tuesday.
Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on Earth, where some 2 million people live in an area of 140 square miles.
It has been almost completely cut off from the rest of the world for nearly 17 years, when Hamas seized control, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a strict siege on the territory, which is ongoing. Israel also maintains an air and naval blockade on Gaza.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said late Monday it has been forced to close all 14 of its food distribution centers in Gaza and “as a result half a million people have stopped receiving vital food aid.”
More than half of its population lives in poverty and is food insecure, with nearly 80% of its population relying on humanitarian assistance.
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