Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “demolish Hamas” as his military prepare to move into the Gaza Strip in search of Islamist militants whose deadly rampage through Israeli border towns shocked the world.
Israel has told Gazans to evacuate south, which hundreds of thousands have already done in the enclave that is home to more than two million people, about half in Gaza City.
Inside besieged Gaza, where conditions are deteriorating and deaths from Israeli air strikes rising, civilians said they were not safe anywhere.
Militant group Hamas, which runs Gaza, has told them to ignore Israel’s message to move south.
Report says conditions are so atrocious that Palestinian health workers are storing bodies in ice cream freezer trucks because moving them to hospitals is too risky and cemeteries are full.
With fears of the conflict spilling over, United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken continued his rapid tour of Middle East states, seeking to prevent escalation and secure the release of 126 hostages Israel says were taken by Hamas back into Gaza.
“The reaction went beyond the right to self-defence, turning into collective punishment,” said Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Israel’s retaliatory strikes.
Renewed clashes on Israel’s border with Lebanon on Sunday underscored the dangers of regional spillover.
Hamas’ armed wing, Al Qassam Brigades said it fired 20 rockets from Lebanon on two Israeli settlements while Lebanon’s Iran-backed group Hezbollah said it targeted barracks in Israel’s Hanita with missiles and had inflicted casualties.
Netanyahu convened Israel’s expanded emergency cabinet, including former opposition lawmakers, in a show of unity.
“Hamas thought we would be demolished. It is we who will demolish Hamas,” he said.