Israel Recovers 1,500 Bodies While Restoring Control Over Gaza Border
JERUSALEM/GAZA (Worthy News) – Israel’s military said about 1,500 bodies were found in Israeli territory while it “restored full control” over the border with Gaza on the fourth day of fighting after an unprecedented surprise attack.
It was unclear how many Israeli human remains were among the discovered bodies. The official death toll of people killed in Israel since Saturday’s incursion by Palestinian Hamas gunmen had been estimated at more than 900, with thousands more injured.
In remarks aired by Israel’s Army Radio, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said there had been no new infiltrations from Gaza since Monday. In an apparent response to allegations that gunmen used cross-border tunnels, he said the military had no such findings.
As fighting continued Tuesday in at least some parts of Israel and inside Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said 770 people have now been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched its retaliatory air strikes on Saturday.
Around 4,100 were reportedly injured in what is one of the world’s most densely populated area of some 2.3 million people.
Back in Israel, a married couple with Italian-Israeli citizenship are missing after the Hamas attack on southern Israel, said Italy’s foreign minister and deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani.
The couple lived in Kibbutz Be’eri, where more than 100 bodies were reportedly found since Hamas targeted their community early on Saturday, shooting dead kibbutzniks and taking an unknown number hostage.
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Numerous citizens from other countries, some with dual nationality, have also been killed or missing, including those from the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Argentina, Thailand, Nepal, and other nations. Several journalists were also reported missing or killed.
There have been calls for a ceasefire while China and its ally Russia refrained from condemning the attacks by Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip. It is sworn to Israel’s destruction and wants to replace it with an Islamic state.
Hamas as a whole, or in some cases its military wing, is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union, and Britain.
It didn’t go unnoticed that an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council did not reach a consensus on condemning Hamas” attack.
Russia and China condemned “all attacks against civilians” but did not openly condemn the violence meted out by the militant group.
They also alluded to Israel’s alleged shortfalls and “unresolved issues” that they said had led to the current crisis. Both endorsed a two-state solution to the long-running, simmering conflict.
The Gaza Strip, a 41 kilometers (25 miles) long and 10 kilometers wide (6 miles) Palestinian enclave between Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea, was bracing for more Israeli strikes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is at war and would destroy Hamas.
(With reporting by Worthy News’ George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos. This is a BREAKING NEWS update on a rapidly developing story. Stay with Worthy News for continued coverage).
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