GAZA/JERUSALEM: Israeli troops prepared on Sunday for a ground assault on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip as the country hit back for an unprecedented assault on its territory, and Iran warned of “far-reaching consequences” if Israel’s bombardment was not stopped.
Israel has vowed to annihilate the militant group Hamas in retaliation for a rampage in which its fighters stormed through Israeli towns eight days ago, shooting men, women, and children and seizing hostages in the worst attack on civilians in the country’s history.
Some 1,300 people were killed in the unexpected onslaught, which shook the country because of horrifying mobile phone video footage and reports from medical and emergency services of atrocities in the towns and kibbutzes that were overrun.
Israel responded by subjecting Gaza to the most intense bombardment it has ever seen, putting the enclave, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under total siege and destroying much of its infrastructure.
The expected ground assault had not begun by the early hours of Sunday.
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Gaza authorities said more than 2,200 people have been killed, a quarter of them children, and nearly 10,000 wounded. Rescue workers searched desperately for survivors of nighttime air raids. One million people had reportedly left their homes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government also told the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah not to start a war on a second front, threatening the “destruction of Lebanon” if it did.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations warned late on Saturday that if Israel’s “war crimes and genocide” were not halted immediately, “the situation could spiral out of control” and have far-reaching consequences.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh met with Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday in Qatar, where they discussed the Palestinian group’s attack in Israel “and agreed to continue cooperation” to achieve the group’s goals, Hamas said in a statement.
U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders warned against any country broadening the conflict. International organizations and aid groups urged calm and pressed Israel to allow humanitarian assistance to get through.
In New York, Russia asked the U.N. Security Council to vote on Monday on a draft resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict that calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and condemns violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism.
