Jerusalem: Israel’s defense minister has ordered a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip following an unprecedented incursion into Israel by Hamas fighters.
Israel formally declared war on Sunday and gave the green light for “significant military steps” to retaliate against Hamas for Saturday’s surprise attack. More than 1,100 people have been killed and thousands wounded on both sides.
The defense minister’s announcement on Monday came as Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters and guarded breaches in its border fence with tanks while pounding Gaza from the air.
A spokesperson said the Israeli military regained control of border communities taken by Hamas fighters during the attack. But Palestinian militants continued firing barrages of rockets, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The US State Department said Monday that at least nine American citizens have been killed in the weekend Hamas attacks on Israel, raising the toll from four.
The State Department says an undetermined number of American citizens remain missing and unaccounted for. It is not clear whether the missing had been taken hostage, were killed or are in hiding.
The State Department is in touch with families “and providing all appropriate consular assistance,” spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Israeli troops shot and killed several gunmen who crossed into the country from Lebanon, the Israeli Defense Forces said without specifying the number of people killed nor their alleged affiliation.
Local media quoted Hezbollah officials on Monday as denying their involvement in the border incident. Iran-backed Hezbollah has praised key ally Hamas for its unprecedented weekend incursion into Israel but not said if it would attempt to join forces.
According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, four gunmen crossed Lebanon’s southern border into Israeli territory from the border town of Dahaira before coming across an IDF position.
Israeli and Lebanese troops deployed in large numbers over the weekend along the UN-demarcated Blue Line border that separates the two countries.
Hezbollah fired rockets Sunday at Israeli positions in disputed territory in southern Lebanon. Senior Hezbollah official Hashim Safieddine later said the volley was intended to “send a message.”
In response, Israel shelled the positions where the rockets came from.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit met Monday in Moscow but did not announce any immediate steps in response to the violence in Israel and Gaza.
“As for mediation efforts, first of all the parties themselves must stop hostilities. Everything else can be decided later in a normal, non-military situation,” Lavrov said following the meeting.
Before speaking with Russia’s top diplomat, Aboul Gheit said: “We completely reject violence from both sides. … We demand the creation of political perspectives and fair solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Major US airlines have suspended flights to Israel after the nation declared war following a massive attack by Hamas.
American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines suspended service as the US State Department issued travel advisories for the region, citing potential for terrorism and civil unrest.
American suspended service to Tel Aviv through Friday. United said it allowed two scheduled flights out of Tel Aviv late Saturday and early Sunday and accommodated its customers, crews and employee travelers who were at the airport.
Delta said its Tel Aviv flights have been canceled into this week.
An open-air electronic music festival will go down in Israeli history as the site of the country’s worst civilian massacre after paramedics recovered at least 260 bodies from a field near the border with Gaza.
The Tribe of Nova festival brought together thousands of young people to dance and revel in the swirl of bass-heavy beats. Dozens of Hamas militants who had blown through Israel’s heavily fortified separation fence and crossed into the country from Gaza opened fire on the Israelis.
“We were hiding and running, hiding and running, in an open field, the worst place you could possibly be in that situation,” said Arik Nani from Tel Aviv, who had gone to the party to celebrate his 26th birthday. “For a country where everyone in these circles knows everyone, this is a trauma like I could never imagine.”
Egypt has engaged in negotiations with Israel and Palestinian militant groups to release Palestinian women in Israel’s prisons in exchange for Israeli women captured by Hamas militants, the state-owned Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported Monday.
The daily paper quoted an unnamed source as saying that the negotiations were aimed at finalizing an agreement on the trade.
“The Egyptian government is presently awaiting responses from both parties regarding the proposed prisoners exchange and a temporary cease-fire,” Al-Ahram said.
Palestinian militant groups have claimed to be holding over 130 people who were captured in Israel in the past two days. Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua told The Associated Press by phone that the group’s fighters had captured more Israelis as recently as Monday morning.
He said the group aims to free all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Monday that the tiny country’s priority is to maintain stability along its southern border with Israel following an exchange of attacks between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants over the weekend.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing rockets at three Israeli positions Sunday in a disputed territory along the border of the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, before Israel returned fire.
Mikati called on the international community to “take responsibility” in pressuring Israel to return to peace talks under the Arab Peace Initiative. “Anything other than that is a further spiraling of violence that will not benefit anyone,” he said.
Governments and airlines in Europe are conducting emergency and regular flights from Israel to bring back European citizens who were in the country when Hamas fighters attacked.
Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says nearly 600 Romanian citizens, including two groups of pilgrims, were repatriated from Israel on commercial flights over the weekend.
Bulgarian media say a total of 179 Bulgarians and one Croatian citizens were evacuated on the government-organized flights between Sunday night and early Monday. National carrier Bulgaria Air canceled its flights to Tel Aviv.
A spokesman for Greece’s government, Pavlos Marinakis, says 81 of the 149 Greeks registered as having been in Israel over the weekend returned to Athens on Sunday night.
Two Hungarian air force planes carrying 215 people from Israel arrived in Budapest early Monday, according to posts by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Facebook.
Spain’s Foreign Ministry has urged people not to travel to Israel. Foreign Minister Jos Manuel Albares said he expected all Spaniards wishing to leave Israel will have been brought back by later Monday.
The Kremlin is “extremely concerned” by the “spiral of violence” in Israel, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
“We believe that this situation needs to be put onto a peaceful track as soon as possible. And the continuation of such a spiral of violence, of course, is fraught with further escalation and expansion of this conflict. This is a great danger for the region, so we are extremely concerned,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman added that Russian authorities were not aware of any Russian nationals injured in the conflict.
The European Union is convening an emergency meeting of its foreign ministers to assess the developing violence in Israel, while stressing that the nation had every right to defend itself against the unprecedented incursion by Hamas fighters.
The ministers will organize the Tuesday meeting in Oman, where EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and some EU delegations are attending an EU-Gulf Cooperation Council joint meeting. Others will join by video conference.
“The priority right now is for the aggression by Hamas to stop. The hostages need to be released and we need to see the overall deescalation of the situation,” EU spokesman Peter Stano said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has drawn a parallel between Russia’s invasion of his country and the Hamas militant group’s incursion into Israel, saying only “rules (and) international law” can ensure peace around the world.
“The same evil, and the only difference is that there is a terrorist organization that attacked Israel, and here is a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a video address Monday to a NATO parliamentary assembly in Copenhagen.
“Our unity must and can stop the evil,” Zelenskyy said. “Let everyone who sponsors terror feel the power of our wrath. And let everyone who needs help defending themselves against terror feel the power of our solidarity.”
The top US envoy to the Human Rights Council has led a moment of silence to honor the victims of Hamas’ attacks against Israeli civilians and the people killed in an earthquake in Afghanistan over the weekend.
Ambassador Michele Taylor spoke Monday with a “heavy heart,” she said, following the “horrific attacks carried out by Hamas terrorists on Israeli civilians” starting on Saturday.
“The United States unequivocally condemns these heinous acts of terrorism. We extend our deepest condolences to the families affected and express our solidarity with the people and government of Israel in these trying times,” she told the council, the UN’s top human rights body.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered at the Sydney Opera House and police are advising the Jewish community to stay away.
Around 1,000 protesters on Monday marched 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Sydney Town Hall to the harborside landmark chanting: “Free, free Palestine!” They were surrounded by a heavy police presence. One protester at the town hall rally briefly waved an Israeli flag before fleeing.
The opera house is among several public buildings in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra that were to be illuminated in blue and white the colors of Israel’s flag on Monday night in solidarity with the Israelis.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said authorities would cut electricity to Gaza and block the entry of food and fuel there as part of a “complete siege” he ordered.
The announcement on Monday came as Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters and guarded breaches in its border fence with tanks, while it pounded the Gaza Strip from the air.
Israel and Egypt have imposed various levels of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.
(AP)

Press Trust of India