Live. Live: Death toll continues to climb as Israel pummels Gaza
Fire and smoke rise following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023.
By Joshua Askew
Published on 09/10/2023 – 06:44•Updated 07:14
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Israel has declared a “state of war” following Hamas’s surprise attack on Saturday.
12:47 AM
Summary
Some 1,000 people have been killed in Israel and Gaza following a large-scale assault by the militant group Hamas that started early Saturday
The death toll is expected to rise with many people critically wounded
Israeli airstrikes against Gaza have displaced 123,000 Palestinians, says the UN
Hezbollah has struck Israel from southern Lebanon
Fears of a ground invasion of Gaza are growing after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to turn the besieged Palestinian enclave into a “deserted island”.
The violence is the biggest escalation between the two sides for decades, with some analysts claiming Israel was caught off guard
Hamas’s operation came after widespread Israeli settler attacks, increased tensions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and a record number of Palestinians killed.
01:48 AM
Iran claims not involved in Hamas offensive
Iran has denied any involvement in the unprecedented attacks launched by Hamas within Israel.
“We emphatically stand in unflinching support of Palestine, however, we are not involved in Palestine’s response as it is taken solely by Palestine itself,” Iran’s mission to the UN said in a statement.
“The resolute measures taken by Palestine constitute a wholly legitimate defence against seven decades of oppressive occupation and heinous crimes committed by the illegitimate Zionist regime,” the statement added.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards helped plot the attack against its enemy Israel over several weeks, giving the green light for an assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday.
A spokesman for Hamas, Ghazi Hamad, told the BBC that the militant group had received support from its ally Iran. Others have helped too, he told the broadcaster without naming them.
US officials say they haven’t seen evidence of Tehran’s involvement.
Iran and Israel are key regional enemies in the Middle East, with Tehran supporting Palestine and at times openly calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.
Both countries also compete regionally, trying to assert their influence and interests at the expense of the other.
01:36 AM
Fighting rages on
There are ongoing battles in “7 or 8” locations in Israel and around Gaza, the Israeli army said Monday morning.
(AFP)
01:33 AM
‘Root of violence is oppression’ – Jewish peace group
Israel’s war against Palestine is the “source of all this violence”, the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) claimed in a statement published on Sunday.
“The Israeli government may have just declared war, but its war on Palestinians started over 75 years ago. Israeli apartheid and occupation — and United States complicity in that oppression — are the source of all this violence,” it said.
The state of Israel was founded 75 years ago in the Middle East, with Israeli leaders then invoking their historical and biblical ties to the land.
“For the past year, the most racist, fundamentalist, far-right government in Israeli history has ruthlessly escalated its military occupation over Palestinians in the name of Jewish supremacy with violent expulsions and home demolitions, mass killings, military raids on refugee camps, unrelenting siege and daily humiliation,” the statement continued.
The Israel-Palestine conflict is a highly sensitive and complex issue.
Israel maintains it needs to defend its citizens and borders against possible terrorism or violence from Palestinian groups. It has been repeatedly attacked in the past.
“For 16 years, the Israeli government has suffocated Palestinians in Gaza under a draconian air, sea and land military blockade, imprisoning and starving two million people and denying them medical aid. The Israeli government routinely massacres Palestinians in Gaza; ten-year-olds who live in Gaza have already been traumatized by seven major bombing campaigns in their short lives,” wrote the Jewish Voice for Peace.
“For 75 years, the Israeli government has maintained a military occupation over Palestinians, operating an apartheid regime. Palestinian children are dragged from their beds in pre-dawn raids by Israeli soldiers and held without charge in Israeli military prisons. Palestinians’ homes are torched by mobs of Israeli settlers, or destroyed by the Israeli army. Entire Palestinian villages are forced to flee, abandoning the homes and orchards and land that were in their family for generations.”
Based in the US, the JVP describes itself as the world’s largest organisation “working towards Palestinian freedom and Judaism beyond Zionism.”
01:12 AM
Supporters of Israel face people rallying in support of Palestinians in Times Square in New York on October 8, 2023
Smoke rises above buildings during an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City on October 9, 2023.
Palestinian supporters rally outside Ottawa City Hall on October 8, 2023
01:05 AM
Israel-Hamas violence jolts oil prices
Oil prices jumped by more than 4% on Monday after the surprise assault by Hamas against Israel.
A barrel of Brent from the North Sea jumped 4.7% to $86.65, while one of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 4.5% to $88.39 as Asian markets opened.
The surprise offensive by the Palestinian militant group against Israel has raised concerns about oil supplies from the Middle East.
“What is key for markets is whether the conflict remains contained or spreads to other regions, particularly Saudi Arabia,” said analysts Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes.
“At least initially, markets seem to think that the situation will remain limited in scope, duration and impact on oil prices. But greater volatility can be expected.”
This crisis comes at a time when oil prices are already high due to worries about falling production from Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Fears also surround its impact on prices. Rising energy costs are one of the main drivers of inflation, as winter looms.
(AFP)
12:54 AM
Israeli army hammers Gaza Strip overnight
“More than 500 targets” of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were hit overnight from Sunday to Monday by airstrikes and artillery fire in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army announced.
“During the night, fighter jets, helicopters, aircraft and artillery struck more than 500 targets of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists,” it said in a statement.
(AFP)
12:51 AM
Death toll in Israel expected to rise
Israel’s military has said the country’s death toll will increase, with a large number of people critically wounded.
“Never before have so many Israelis been killed by one single thing, let alone enemy activity on one day,” said Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces, in a video on Sunday night.
He likened the scale of Hamas’ attack to “a 9/11 and a Pearl Harbour wrapped into one”.
12:44 AM
Good morning, this is the Euronews live blog on the Israel-Hamas war.
