The death toll continues to rise. In less than 48 hours, more than 1,100 people were killed after Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza. This unprecedented offensive is the deadliest since the creation of Israel.
More than 700 Israelis have been killed since the attack began and 2,150 have been wounded, the Israeli military said in a new toll released Monday morning.
In the Gaza Strip, which has been under Hamas control since 2007, 413 Palestinians, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed and 2,300 wounded, local authorities said Sunday. This brings the overall death toll to more than 1,100.
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The Israeli army has deployed tens of thousands of troops to regain full control of the desert areas near the Gaza Strip, rescue any remaining Israeli hostages and evacuate all residents of the area. But according to the Government Press Office (GPO), Hamas has taken "more than 100 prisoners." "Civilians and soldiers are in the hands of the enemy, this is the time of war," IDF chief Herzi Halevi said.
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In addition, "several" Americans were killed in the Hamas offensive, according to a U.S. official, as well as 10 Nepalese nationals and nationals of other countries, including a Frenchwoman. Canada's foreign ministry reported "the death of one Canadian and the disappearance of two others."
Strikes and Battles
The Israeli army continued to fight Monday morning with Palestinian fighters infiltrating Israeli territory at "seven or eight" points around the Gaza Strip, a military spokesman said more than 48 hours after the start of the Hamas offensive.
"We are still fighting, there are seven or eight places in open ground around Gaza where we still have warriors fighting terrorists," Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters. The Israeli military announced on Monday that it had struck "more than 500 targets" overnight in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to regain control from Hamas fighters.
A 'long' war
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a "long" war.
Seeking to regain control after this large-scale attack on Shabbat, the weekly Jewish rest, Israeli forces continue to hunt down Hamas members in southern Israel and continue their strikes as they did this morning in Gaza where more buildings were destroyed.
"The enemy is still on the ground" in Israel, "we are building up our forces especially near Gaza and clearing the area," the IDF spokesman said Sunday night, vowing to hunt down "terrorists wherever they are." The Israeli army has deployed tens of thousands of troops.
Israel was further attacked on its northern border with Lebanon. Lebanon's Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and Iran, fired shells at a disputed area on the border, prompting an Israeli drone strike on a Hezbollah target. In Egypt, two Israeli tourists were killed by a policeman who shot them in Alexandria, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
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The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, announced that it had launched the operation and fired more than 5,000 rockets into Israel to "put an end to the crimes of the occupation." Israel has occupied the West Bank, a Palestinian territory, and the eastern part of Jerusalem since 1967, and has imposed a blockade on Gaza since 2007.
Several members of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday condemned the Hamas offensive, although the United States regretted the lack of unanimity at the emergency meeting.