Israel turmoil updates: 300 dead, rockets fired again, hostages confirmed

The Israel Defense Forces were engaged in a massive build-up of forces on the night of Oct 7, calling up large numbers of reservists and preparing for war as it continued to reel from one of the darkest days in Israel’s history, which saw an unprecedented terrorist assault on the country’s southern communities, with hundreds killed, more than 1,500 wounded and apparently dozens abducted by the Hamas terror group, media reported.

The Israeli army said it launched “Operation Iron Swords” against the Hamas group’s “Operation Al Aqsa Flood”, media reported.

In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations in southern Israel, including towns and other communities as far as 15 miles (24 km) from the Gaza border.

In some places, they roamed for hours, gunning down civilians and soldiers as Israel’s military scrambled to muster a response. Gun battles continued well after nightfall, and terrorists held hostages in standoffs in at least two towns, according to local media reports.

The death toll reaches 300 in Israel

The death toll from the day’s events continued to rise by the hour and this morning stood at 300 people, many of them civilians slain in their homes and in the streets, as well as at a large outdoor party targeted by the terrorists.

Hospitals were flooded with wounded, with the latest tally at 1,590, nearly 300 of those seriously injured and 19 in critical condition, reported local media.

After midnight, 18 hours after the coordinated assault began, Israeli security forces were still struggling to clear terrorist cells entrenched within devastated communities.

Many civilians were still holed up in their homes, hiding in fear of roving terrorists searching for victims, as troops faced off with hostage-takers in some cases and stormed homes in others, shooting dead the gunmen within.

Social media flooded with harrowing visuals

Meanwhile, a continuous stream of Palestinian photos and videos flooded social media depicting scenes of carnage from within the towns as well as harrowing footage of frightened men, women and children dragged from their homes to an uncertain fate in Gaza. The IDF confirmed that soldiers and civilians had been taken hostage but did not specify a number.

Concurrently, barrages of rockets continued to rain down on southern and central Israel, regularly sending hundreds of thousands of people running to shelters. Several people were wounded by rockets that evaded the Iron Dome Defense system and smashed into towns. Some were seriously hurt.

The scenes of chaos and suffering and the prolonged failure to gain control of the situation shocked and outraged the nation, and sparked pointed questions and demands for answers on the many failures of intelligence, deployment and policy that had enabled such a national catastrophe, with hundreds of terrorists flooding civilian communities in armed convoys.

230 killed in Gaza

At the same time, Israel was in the preliminary stages of a military response its leaders vowed would be unprecedented, with the army carrying out strikes on terror targets across the Strip throughout the day. Gaza health officials said at least 230 were killed there, with hundreds wounded.

The army said four divisions of reservists were being deployed to the Gaza border, joining 35 battalions that were already there.

150 more rockets fired

The Izzedine al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, says it has fired an additional 150 rockets toward Tel Aviv, media reported.

The group said this was in ‘response to the bombing of the residential tower in the centre of Gaza City’, according to media.

A grouping of high-rises in Gaza were hit by an explosion and two towers were seen collapsing.

According to the media, the spokesperson for AlQassam Brigades stated that now that the occupation has bombed the Palestine Tower in the middle of Gaza City, Tel Aviv must stand on one leg and wait for our earth-shattering response.

A new round of rockets fired by Gaza militants have made direct hits on multiple locations inside Israel, including in Tel Aviv, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue service.

“Following the red alert sirens in the last few minutes, Magen David Adom teams are conducting searches in the areas where rocket hits have been reported,” the organisation said. 

It listed Tel Aviv, Rishon Letzion and Bat Yam as the affected areas, media reported.

Israel strikes 2 high-rise towers of Hamas in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces said on Oct 7 that it carried out airstrikes at two high-rise towers in the Gaza Strip that were used to house Hamas assets, a media report said.

“The Hamas terrorist organisation deliberately places its military assets in the heart of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said, local media reported.

“Prior to the strike, the IDF provided advance warning to the occupants of the building and asked them to evacuate,” the military added.

Hamas says it has ‘enough’ Israeli captives to free all Palestinian prisoners

A senior Hamas leader has said that the group has captured enough Israeli soldiers during an unprecedented attack against Israel to make Israeli authorities free all Palestinian prisoners in its jails, a media report said.

“We managed to kill and capture many Israeli soldiers. The fighting is still on,” Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas’ political bureau, told a media house on Oct 7.

“Our detainees in (Israeli) prisons, their freedom is looming large. What we have in our hands will release all our prisoners. The longer fighting continues, the higher the number of prisoners will become,” added al-Arouri, who said senior officers were among those captured, but did not provide any figures.

Nearly 5,200 Palestinians are in Israeli jails, including 33 women, 170 minors and more than 1,200 placed under administrative detention, media reported, citing the latest figures by Addameer, a prisoners’ rights NGO.

Indian actor reportedly stuck, Air India suspends flights

Air India has suspended its to and from flight services between Delhi and Tel Aviv.

“AI139 from Delhi to Tel Aviv on Oct 7 and the return flight AI140 from Tel Aviv to Delhi have been cancelled in the interest and safety of our guests and crew. Passengers are being extended all support, as per their requirement,” said an Air India spokesperson. 

Indian actor Nushrratt Bharuccha is also believed to be stuck in Israel. Her team has been unable to contact her since the afternoon on Oct 7. Bharuccha had gone to Israel to attend a film festival, and the efforts to bring her back are underway, according to her team.

The Gaza-based terror group launched an unprecedented assault on Israel on the morning of Oct 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending gunmen into Israeli communities by land, sea and air.

The multi-pronged attack, coming a day after Israel marked the 50th anniversary of the surprise invasion on Yom Kippur, appeared to have caught the Israeli military and security forces completely by surprise.

(Source: IANS)

-Edited for style

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