Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to eradicate the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement (Hamas) as the Israeli army prepares to enter the Gaza Strip in search of the militants who surprised the world with their deadly attack on Israeli border towns.
Israel has requested residents of Gaza to head south, a move that hundreds of thousands have already undertaken in the coastal enclave, home to over two million people, nearly half of whom reside in Gaza City. Inside the besieged Gaza Strip, where conditions are deteriorating and casualties are rising due to Israeli airstrikes, civilians reported that they feel unsafe anywhere. Hamas has urged them to disregard Israel's message to move south. The Gaza Health Ministry reported 2,750 Palestinians killed and 9,700 injured due to Israeli strikes since October 7. The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate stated today that "Israel has killed 11 Palestinian journalists in Gaza during airstrikes since October 7."
Iyad al-Bazam, spokesperson for the Hamas Ministry of Interior and National Security, stated on Monday that over a thousand Palestinian bodies lie under the rubble in the Gaza Strip, warning of a humanitarian and environmental crisis. Health officials in Gaza are resorting to placing corpses in ice cream trucks due to the extreme difficulties they face in transporting them to hospitals, which are overwhelmed and filled to capacity.
Amid fears of a widening conflict, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued his rapid tour of Middle Eastern countries, seeking to prevent escalation and secure the release of 126 hostages that Israel claims Hamas has captured and taken to Gaza. Arab leaders emphasized the need to protect civilians in Gaza. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi criticized Israel's response as exceeding its right to self-defense and turning into collective punishment.
Renewed clashes along Israel's border with Lebanon highlighted the risks of the conflict spreading. Hamas's military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have launched 20 rockets from Lebanon at two Israeli settlements, while the Lebanese Hezbollah claimed to have targeted an Israeli military outpost in Hanita, resulting in casualties. Israel has stated that it retaliated by bombing the areas from which the rockets were fired inside Lebanon.
Netanyahu convened a meeting of Israel's broad emergency government, which includes former opposition Knesset members, demonstrating unity. He asserted that Hamas believed its actions could eliminate Israel, but "we will eliminate it." Israel is conducting the heaviest bombardment Gaza has ever seen in response to the killing of 1,300 people when Hamas fighters stormed Israeli towns on October 7, shooting at men, women, children, and soldiers, and taking hostages in the worst attack on civilians in Israel’s history.
Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are struggling with shortages of medical supplies and are striving to cope with the influx of injuries. Among the injured is a four-year-old girl named Fella al-Laham, whose 14 family members, including her parents, died in an Israeli airstrike. Her grandmother, Umm Mohammad al-Laham, held the child's hand as she lay in the hospital with her arm wrapped in bandages. "Fourteen people were martyred at once; the only one left is my son's only daughter, Fella. She is the only survivor. May God protect her, grant her health, and heal her," she said.
On Sunday morning, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 300 people were killed and 800 injured in Gaza within the past 24 hours. The Israeli army ordered residents of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which includes Gaza City where more than a million people live, to move south immediately. Major Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hegari stated during a televised briefing, "Residents of Gaza City, I urge you again: Hamas is trying to prevent your evacuation. We will allow access to the south. Leave Gaza City and all surrounding areas for your personal safety."
Some Palestinians who went south indicated they would return north due to ongoing aerial attacks wherever they went. Although airstrikes continued before ground operations, some residents of Gaza expressed their intent to return home to the north, claiming there is no safe place. Abu Dawood, a Gaza resident, stated there is no benefit in moving as the Israelis are bombing Gaza City, Khan Younis, and Rafah. He noted that he would return with his family because he cannot live in a school or outside his home, indicating that if there is no safe place, returning home is better.
Hossam Abu Safiya, an intensive care doctor in the pediatric ward at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, said evacuation is impossible. "This is insane; there is no way, no human logic, that we can evacuate these children who are entirely dependent on machines and a staff trained to deal with these critical cases."
The World Health Organization stated that Israel's orders to evacuate 22 hospitals in Gaza are tantamount to "a death sentence for patients and the injured." Hamas claimed that dozens were killed in airstrikes on vehicles and trucks carrying displaced people on Friday. The conflict recalls the "Nakba," when many Palestinians were forced to flee their homes during the 1948 war which accompanied the establishment of Israel.
The U.S. Secretary of State reported having a "very fruitful" meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh before heading to Egypt. Blinken is scheduled to travel to Israel again on Monday. Prince Mohammed stated that Saudi Arabia is working hard to prevent escalation in the Middle East and seeks to lift the blockade on Gaza.
The violence in Gaza has been accompanied by deadly clashes along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, stirring concerns about the war extending to a second front. Iran, Israel's regional adversary, praised Hamas’s assault but denied any involvement. Its UN mission warned late Saturday that if Israel's "war crimes and genocide" are not stopped immediately, "the situation could spiral out of control" with far-reaching consequences. Hamas stated in a statement that it and Iran confirmed "ongoing cooperation to achieve the goals of resistance and the Palestinian people."
