Fighting between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants continues on Israeli territory near Gaza.
By Nathan Morley
Israel continues to reel from this unprecedented assault by Hamas which saw hundreds of Palestinian gunmen break through into Israel at dawn on Saturday morning.
On Sunday, local media reported more than 600 Israelis had been killed since Palestinian militants launched a major attack, some media estimate 2,000 have been injured.
Fighting continues
As of Sunday afternoon, the Israeli military remained embroiled in clashes with militants in the southern part of the country as fighting continued for a second day.
In a bulletin, the Israeli army said that more than 400 Hamas gunmen had been killed.
Elsewhere, Israeli warplanes continued to hit targets in Gaza – flattening buildings, including several multi-story complexes. Palestinian officials said 256 civilians were killed by the strikes, with 1,800 people wounded.
As the violence around Gaza raged, the Israeli Defence Forces managed to rescue many people who had been held hostage, however, an unknown number of Israelis remain captive.
Meanwhile, as Palestinians fired more volleys of rockets, Israel began cutting electricity, water, and goods supplies to Gaza. During the night, Israel also blasted artillery rounds into Lebanon after projectiles were fired from Hezbollah operatives in the north.
UN peacekeeping forces urge restraint
“We urge everyone to exercise restraint and make use of UNIFIL’s liaison and coordination mechanisms to de-escalate to prevent a fast deterioration of the security situation,” the United Nations peacekeeping forces in the south, known as UNIFIL said in a statement.
Elsewhere, Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement that two Israeli tourists were killed in a shooting attack in Egypt on Sunday. “This morning during a tourist visit of a group of Israelis in Alexandria, Egypt a local opened fire on them, as a result of which two Israeli citizens and the local Egyptian guide were murdered”.
