Israel announced on Tuesday that it had partially regained control of its border with Gaza, which has been under siege and bombarded by Israeli raids, after four days of war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that has already claimed thousands of lives.

AFP summarizes what we know about the conflict:

Conducting an offensive…

Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007 and is a staunch enemy of Israel, launched the offensive at dawn on Saturday, in the middle of the Sabbath, the weekly Jewish day of rest, and 50 years and a day after the start of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

They fired 5,000 rockets at Israel, he said, and its fighters used explosives and bulldozers to breach the barrier separating Gaza from Israeli territory, attacking military positions and civilians in the streets.

Using vehicles, boats and even motorized paragliders, the fighters hijacked Israeli military equipment and infiltrated urban areas of Israel such as Ashkelon, Sderot and Ofakim, some twenty kilometers from the Gaza Strip, a poor enclave with a population of 2.3 million.

Israel’s response

“Our response to the actions of Hamas will change the Middle East,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, calling for a “government of national unity.”

The Israeli military, which has claimed responsibility for more than 3,000 Palestinian attacks, launched Operation Iron Saber on Saturday, carrying out airstrikes and destroying buildings it described as Hamas “command centers” in Gaza.

Israel struck Gaza Photo: AA/ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia

According to the UN, more than 187,500 Palestinians have been displaced inside the Gaza Strip as a result of the strikes.

Israel imposed a “total siege” on the Gaza Strip on Monday and announced it had deployed tens of thousands of troops to the south of the country to fight infiltrators. He also seeks to rescue Israelis held hostage by Hamas.

In addition, the Israeli authorities decided to evacuate the population from the outskirts of the Gaza Strip and ordered to “immediately” stop the water supply to the Gaza Strip, which constitutes 10% of the territory’s annual water consumption.

How many dead and how many are missing?

In total, the war has already claimed more than 3,000 casualties on both sides, civilians, Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters.

According to the authorities, more than 1,000 people died in Israel. Non-governmental organizations said more than 100 people were killed in one kibbutz in southern Israel and that about 250 people were killed at a music festival attended by hundreds of Israelis near Gaza.

On the Palestinian side, according to local authorities, 830 people died. Hamas announced that two of its leaders had been killed by Israeli strikes.

The Israeli military also announced on Tuesday that it had found the bodies of 1,500 Hamas fighters in neighboring Gaza.

Hamas terrorists created filters on the road. Photo: Video recording

At least 18 Thais, 14 Americans, ten Nepalese, seven Argentines, eight French, two Ukrainians, four Russians from Israel, one Cambodian, two British, one Canadian, one Brazilian, two Peruvians and two Filipinos have been killed since Saturday. authorities in their countries.

Israel has acknowledged that about 150 Israeli civilians and military personnel have been abducted. Many foreign citizens are considered missing.

Four hostages held by Hamas were killed in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian movement said.

Eight Palestinian journalists have also been killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip since Saturday.

What Hamas says

On Monday evening, Hamas threatened to execute Israeli hostages in response to strikes on the Gaza Strip.

“Every time our people come under the target without warning, it will lead to the execution of one of the civilian hostages (…) The enemy does not understand humanitarian and ethical language, so we will speak to them in the language they understand,” threatened the terrorist group.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced the launch of the offensive to “end the crimes of the occupation.”

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, annexed East Jerusalem and imposed a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007.

“We are on the verge of a great victory,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said at the start of the offensive.

The movement called on “resistance fighters in the occupied West Bank” and “Arab and Muslim countries” to join its struggle.

“Second front”?

“Deeply concerned,” the United States warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah late Monday against opening a “second front” against Israel after the pro-Iranian movement, Israel’s dark beast, bombed two Israeli targets in retaliation for the deaths of three of its members after Israeli . shelling of the border area in southern Lebanon.

Earlier on Monday, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which claims to support Hamas, announced an operation to infiltrate Israeli territory in Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it “killed several armed suspects who entered Israeli territory from Lebanese territory.”

On Tuesday, the military wing of Hamas said it had fired three rocket salvos from southern Lebanon at Israel.

International reaction

US President Joe Biden called the attacks by Hamas “pure evil”, reporting “shocking” news of “killed children, broken whole families”.

Joe Biden. Photo: Chris Kleponis/UPI/Profimedia Images

The United States is ready to deploy “additional resources” to support Israel, Biden said after already sending military aid.

NGOs also warned about the health situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for a humanitarian corridor to support medical aid, while the enclave’s Ministry of Health warned that shortages of supplies and medicine would lead to a “catastrophic situation”.

The European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council spoke on Tuesday in favor of “sustainable financial support” for the Palestinians after a joint meeting of their foreign ministers in Oman, News.ro reported with reference to AFP.

The UN reiterated that Israel’s total siege of the Gaza Strip is “prohibited” by international humanitarian law, and the European Union has decided to continue development aid to the Palestinian people.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar said they were intensifying contacts to stop the escalation.

Iran praised the attack by Hamas, rejecting accusations of its involvement.

The head of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Abul Ghait, assured that his organization rejects violence “from both sides”. Arab foreign ministers will meet on Wednesday at the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo. (AFP)

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