Israel vowed on Thursday not to end its relentless siege of the Gaza Strip for aid or evacuation until every one of its hostages is freed – as the head of the Israel Defense Forces vowed to dismantle Hamas and insisted the Palestinian territories would never see the same.”
Israel’s military said it had dropped 6,000 bombs on Gaza since the weekend as it made good on its promise to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the deadliest attack on civilians in Israel’s history.
“We will attack them, we will dismantle them, dismantle their systems,” said IDF chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi Thursday on Hamas in his first speech since the war broke out.
“Gaza will never look the same.”
However, as the Israeli army continued to pound Hamas-ruled territory with airstrikes and prepared for a possible ground invasion, the army chief admitted that the army had failed to foil the surprise attack.
“The IDF is responsible for defending the country and its people, and on Saturday morning, in the area around Gaza, we did not comply,” Halevi said, adding that lessons would be learned from security failures around Gaza that allowed the horror to unfold.
The Israeli military said on Thursday that it had dropped 6,000 bombs in Gaza since the weekend. CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Shutterstock Smoke billows from a building during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Thursday. ZUMAPRESS.com
“We will study, investigate, but now is the time to fight.”
As the war entered its sixth day, the death toll surpassed 2,700, according to officials on both sides.
More than 1,300 Israelis have been confirmed dead, including the majority shot dead in their homes, on the streets, or in the desert. About 150 Israelis and foreigners have been taken hostage back to Gaza, officials said.
Gaza authorities say more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed so far after Israel subjected the besieged enclave to the heaviest bombing campaign in the 75-year history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The morgue at Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, overflowed Thursday as bodies arrived faster than relatives could claim.APAImages/Shutterstock People stand next to the bodies of victims of Israeli airstrikes outside the morgue of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. .APAImages /Shutterstock
Despite international aid groups warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis after Israel halted deliveries of food, water, fuel and electricity to Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said Thursday there would be no exceptions to the siege without freedom for its hostages.
“Not a single electric switch will be turned on, not a single faucet will be turned on, and not a single oil truck will come in until the Israeli hostages come home,” Katz said on social media.
As the death toll continued to rise, the morgue at Gaza’s largest hospital overflowed on Thursday as bodies arrived faster than relatives could claim.
Workers at Shifa hospital in Gaza City had to stack the bodies three high outside the cold room and place dozens more, side by side, in the parking lot.
“The body bags started and kept coming and coming and now it’s a cemetery,” Abu Elias Shobaki, a nurse in Shifa, said of the parking lot. “I’m emotionally, physically tired. I just have to stop myself from thinking about how bad it is going to be.”
Smoke billows over buildings during Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City.Sameh Rahmi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock People inspect buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Shutterstock
Almost a week after Hamas terrorists crossed Israel’s border and began killing innocent civilians in a bloody rampage, Israel is preparing for a possible ground invasion of Gaza – its first in nearly a decade.
Ground attacks are likely to only increase the Palestinian death toll.
Meanwhile, in the biggest sign of a potential cross-border conflict, Syria said Israeli airstrikes had hit airports in two Syrian cities, Damascus and Aleppo, on Thursday – knocking both out of service.
The Israeli military said it did not comment on such reports. Syria is a close ally of Iran, which sponsors Hamas and has celebrated the attacks while denying any direct role.
Lebanon’s interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his country will make an immediate protest against Israel at the United Nations Security Council after Israel and the powerful armed group Hezbollah began exchanging fire across the Lebanese border.
The Israeli army, which has begun digging in along its northern border, said it had responded with artillery fire to the launch coming from Lebanese territory.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
