Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at a ground invasion during his address to the nation on Saturday, October 7, more than 16 hours after the Palestinian resistance movements launched their operation Al-Aqsa Floods. The move would be a serious escalation in Israeli aggression against Gaza.
Hours after the start of the operation, Israeli forces began a campaign of intensive bombings inside Gaza. The airstrikes have destroyed several civilian buildings in besieged Gaza Strip including a 14-storied building, housing various administrative offices. According to the Palestinian health ministry, an estimated 313 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks so far with over 2,000 reportedly injured as of publication.
Palestinian resistance forces in occupied Gaza, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others launched the coordinated “Al-Aqsa flood” early Saturday morning attacking inside 1948 borders through air, sea and ground forces. Hamas claimed to have fired around 5,000 rockets inside Israel.
The number of Israelis killed have exceeded 600 according to local Israeli media with over 2,000 wounded. According to local reports, dozens of Israeli soldiers, including some top officials have been taken hostage by the Palestinian resistance forces and taken to Gaza.
During his TV appearance Netanyahu threatened to make Gaza “a deserted island” asking over 2 millions of its Palestinian residents to leave the enclave. He called the surprise attack by Hamas and other forces unprecedented.
In a statement on Saturday, Hamas’ Al-Qassem Brigades described Netanyahu’s threats as “broken record” claiming that the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood will continue. The statement also claimed that the number of Israeli hostages are many times more than what Netanyahu believes it to be.
Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas said in a televised address on Saturday that Israel was responsible for Saturday’s attack as it repeatedly ignored Palestinian warnings about breaching the red lines on attacks against Al-Aqsa.
“Enough is enough, the cycle of intifada and uprisings and revolutions in the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prison must be completed.” He declared that Palestinians will win the battle.
Hezbollah joins the offensive
Lebanese resistance force Hezbollah launched missile attacks inside Israel borders on Sunday targeting illegal military bases inside occupied Shebaa farm areas. Hezbollah claimed to have fired three missiles “on the path of liberating what is left of our occupied Lebanese land and in solidarity with the triumphant Palestinian resistance.”
Israel has already cut electricity to Gaza apart from deciding to completely halt the movement of fuel and goods to the enclave besieged since 2005. This may further complicate the humanitarian situation in one of the world’s mostly densely populated regions.
Several demonstrations have been taken out in support of Palestinian resistance in different parts of the world. In Iran, large scale demonstrations were held across the country where people celebrated the initial success of Palestinian resistance against occupation forces. In cities across the United States, Palestinian diaspora groups, anti-war organizations, and progressive and left movements have organized emergency demonstrations calling on the US government to cut all funding to Israel and in support of the Palestinian struggle.
Several people condemned Netanyahu’s threats of harming civilians stating it could constitute a war crime as per international humanitarian law. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is set to meet on Sunday to discuss the latest situation in Gaza.
