The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, stated this Saturday that his country’s Army will use “all its power” and urged the Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip by warning that it will reduce the facilities in the area “to rubble.”
“The Israel Defense Forces are about to use all their power to destroy the capabilities of Hamas,” Netanyahu said in a televised speech, the second since this morning the Hamas group surprised with a military operation in Israeli territory, something that hadn’t happened in decades.
“We will destroy them and forcefully avenge this dark day that they have imposed on the State of Israel and its citizens,” Netanyahu added as part of his threat before calling on the inhabitants of Gaza to evacuate the strip in the face of the imminent offensive.
A few hours earlier, Israeli Energy Minister Yisrael Katz reported that the electricity supply to the Gaza Strip had been ordered to be cut off. As Palestinians search for their relatives amid ruins and total darkness, health officials have expressed concern that this could have serious consequences for the wounded seeking treatment in hospitals.
“I tell the residents of Gaza: leave now because we will act forcefully. All the places where Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating, we will turn them into islands of rubble,” Netanyahu warned of the new attacks that Israel will launch. The first Israeli response was several bombing raids on the Gaza area, destroying buildings, hospitals and other infrastructure.
#URGENT | An Israeli airstrike has just destroyed the three buildings of the “Palestine Tower” complex in the Al Rinal neighborhood of Gaza City.
Israeli bombers are also attacking the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/iPeQ9fAwCo— Juan Andrés Gallardo (@juanagallardo1) October 7, 2023
Palestinians living in Gaza have no possibility of leaving the enclave as it is blocked by Egypt and Israel. Thus, few Gazans manage to obtain permits to leave the strip.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s statements came almost at the same time as the brief speech made by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, who condemned “the attacks” against Israel and warned that Washington “will never” stop supporting the Israeli Government.
“In this moment of tragedy, I want to tell the world and the terrorists that the United States stands with Israel. We will never stop supporting them,” the president said in an institutional statement from the White House, accompanied by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The White House reported that $8 billion in military aid will be sent to Israel.
This Saturday the Hamas group launched a military action from the Gaza Strip towards the Israeli territories on the border, as part of the “Al-Aqsa Storm” operation. Israel’s response is to declare a “state of war”, dropping bombs on the Palestinian territories, a much more deadly attack taking into account the enormous military differences in favor of the Israelis equipped with cutting-edge weapons thanks to the support of the United States and others. powers.
According to the first reports, 232 Palestinians were killed by the bombings and more than 1,700 were injured according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which also reported that Israeli forces attacked medical personnel and hospitals. Israeli authorities say that about 200 people died during the Hamas attacks, without detailing how many are members of the Army or civilians.
The action launched by the Hamas group occurs within the framework of the attacks of the Israeli Army that daily murders, tortures, and harasses millions of Palestinian men, women and children, whose territories are occupied by Israeli forces. This 2023 was the bloodiest year for the Palestinians, since the second intifada in 2000, and 204 Palestinians, including 37 minors, were murdered in Israeli military raids on refugee camps in various cities in the West Bank, due to attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages in that occupied region and also in Israeli attacks and bombings on the Gaza Strip.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
