Hamas has promised to murder a hostage for every unannounced strike by Israel.
More than 900 people have died in Israel and at least 687 in Gaza since the devastating surprise attack by Hamas on Saturday. More than 100,000 people have been displaced, and Israel’s military has said that the bodies of 1,500 Hamas fighters have been found inside its borders, bringing the total death toll to over 3,000.
As of the morning of October 10th, Israel says its border is secure. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate with a force “like never before.” Here’s the latest on this unfolding tragedy.
Israel orders siege on Gaza
Israel has ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza in response to Hamas, promising to turn suspected strongholds in the strip to “ruins.” Israel’s defense minister says deliveries of food, water and fuel into the already-blockaded 25-mile-long enclave will be halted.
The crowded, impoverished territory has already spent the last 16 years blockaded by Israel and Egypt, and is often described as an “open-air prison.” At least 2 million Palestinian civilians live there, making it one of the most densely populated places in the world.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Sunday that the Palestinian dead in Gaza included at least 78 children. Getting medical aid to the injured has been seriously compromised due to the loss of power following Israel’s response.
Hamas threatens to kill hostages
Hamas is holding as many as 150 hostages in locations across Gaza. The group has promised to murder one for every unannounced Israeli strike, and to publish a “recording of each execution.” The destruction of Hamas remains Israel’s priority.
“Of course, we want to see all of our boys, girls, grandmothers, everyone who was abducted we want to see them back home, but right now, our focus is looking at our national strategy is to obliterate Hamas terrorist capabilities,” Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan told CNN on Monday.
Per CNN, IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said this morning that the distinction between military and civilian targets was not so simple. “In buildings where people are living there could be a weapons store… there could be a Hamas kingpin living there,” he explained.
Countless heartbreaking messages have been shared by the family members of those who’ve been taken hostage. Adva Adar told the BBC that he’s found footage of his 85-year-old grandmother being kidnapped by four armed men, who appear to have taken her to Gaza.
“It’s heartbreaking. It hurts in every part of our bodies,” she says.
“We’re crazy worried about her. My grandmother is ill, she takes medicine every day – we don’t know how long she can survive without it.”
The U.S. response
President Biden has said that at least 11 Americans are known to have been killed, adding that it’s “likely” U.S. citizens are among the hostages being held by Hamas. He is expected to address the nation at 1 pm ET on October 10.
“As we continue to account for the horrors of the appalling terrorist assault against Israel this weekend and the hundreds of innocent civilians who were murdered, we are seeing the immense scale and reach of this tragedy,” Biden said in a statement on October 9. “Sadly, we now know that at least 11 American citizens were among those killed — many of whom made a second home in Israel.”
“This is not some distant tragedy. The ties between Israel and the United States run deep,” he said. “It is personal for so many American families who are feeling the pain of this attack as well as the scars inflicted through millennia of antisemitism and persecution of Jewish people.”
The State Department is offering consular assistance to Americans in Israel, who have been urged to monitor the situation closely.
“For those who desire to leave, commercial flights and ground options are still available,” Biden said.
In a joint statement the leaders of the US, France, UK, Germany and Italy expressed “steadfast and united support . . . to ensure Israel is able to defend itself, and to ultimately set the conditions for a peaceful and integrated Middle East region.”
U.S. aviation officials have told pilots to monitor airspace near the region closely.
“Currently there are no restrictions on United States certificated airmen or operators to operate into or out of Israel,” the alert from the Federal Aviation Administration says. The notice underscores a “potentially hazardous situation.”
Was Iran involved?
The White House has implicated Iran in Saturday’s shock attack, though no “direct information” to confirm this has yet been identified.
“What we can be quite clear about is that Iran is broadly complicit in these attacks for having supporting Hamas going back decades,” Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer told Good Morning America.
He continued, “What we don’t have is direct information that shows Iranian involvement in ordering or planning of the attacks that took place over the last couple of days. It’s something that we’re going to keep looking at closely.”
