Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, announced this Tuesday the preparation of an “all-out offensive” against the Gaza Strip that will completely change the situation on the ground, but without giving details.
“I have lifted all restrictions. We have regained control of the border and we will move to an all-out offensive,” Gallant said during a meeting with Israeli military and elite troops near the border with Gaza.
“They fought with great bravery. They saw who we were fighting against, against human animals,” the minister said, characterizing Hamas fighters as the “Islamic State” of Gaza.
“Because of their heroic action, they will have the right to change the reality here. They will see the transformation. Hamas wanted a change, and it will change 180 degrees from what they thought. They will regret this moment. Gaza will never again be what it was ” Gallant promised.
“Israeli children cannot be killed in the countryside and Hamas allowed to continue to exist. I have lifted all restrictions: whoever fights against us will be killed, and by all means,” the minister insisted.
The Islamic group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli territory this Saturday, called Operation “Al-Aqsa Storm”, with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen by land, sea and air.
In response to the surprise attack, Israel bombed several Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip from the air, in an operation it called “Iron Swords,” and declared war on Hamas.
The number of victims of the Hamas surprise attack exceeds 900 dead and 2,400 injured, about 500 in serious condition, according to the most recent data from official Israeli sources.
On the Palestinian side, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 830 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to local officials.
This figure is associated with the approximately 1,500 Hamas fighters who would die during the attack in subsequent battles in Israeli territory, according to the Jewish Army, which today says it has regained control of the border area.
During the incursion into Israeli territory, Hamas took more than a hundred civilian and military hostages, which they took to the Gaza Strip.
Gazans have noted that the aerial bombardments carried out since Monday are very different from those carried out in previous clashes, as they were much more destructive and were launched without warning, as was common in Israeli operations in the past.
Under Hamas control, Gaza is a territory 41 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide, located between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
The enclave has around 2.3 million inhabitants and has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.
Source: TSF
