(Dan Tri) – Fighting in the Gaza Strip has not cooled down as dozens of Israeli warplanes have launched sorties to attack targets of Hamas forces.
Smoke rises in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli raid on October 9 (Photo: Reuters).
On October 9, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that its military aircraft had conducted air strikes against a series of targets of Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip.
`During the past 24 hours, Israeli Air Force planes carried out widespread attacks along the Gaza Strip, weakening Hamas forces,` the IDF statement said.
`In just three hours, dozens of aircraft attacked about 130 (Hamas) targets,` the IDF added.
The Israel Defense Forces later said that dozens of fighter jets attacked several `targets` in the Al-Furqan area in Gaza.
`This area serves as the center of the Hamas organization in the Gaza Strip, where many activities against Israel have been carried out, including in the past two days,` the IDF stated.
In a statement on October 9, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a `complete blockade` of the Gaza Strip, including a ban on food and fuel.
`We will completely surround Gaza… No electricity, no water, no gas, everything is closed,` Mr. Gallant said.
Israeli warplanes, helicopters and artillery struck more than 500 targets of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza, including command centers and the home of senior Hamas official Ruhi Mashtaa, who was named
`Our job is to ensure that when this war is over, Hamas will no longer have any military capabilities to threaten Israeli civilians, and in addition, we also need to ensure that Hamas will not control
Palestinians stand next to rubble after the raid in Gaza (Photo: Reuters).
On October 9, Hamas reportedly fired a series of rockets toward the Israeli settlement in Jerusalem.
Hamas claims it is holding more than 100 hostages, including Israeli military officers.
A spokesman for the al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, said civilian hostages would be executed if Israel attacked people in Gaza without warning.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari announced that Israel had regained control of all towns in the area bordering the Gaza Strip and that there was little or no fighting in communities controlled by Hamas during the offensive.
The spokesman also said that IDF tanks and drones were controlling holes in the border fence to prevent further attacks by Hamas militants.
Early on the morning of October 7, Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip fired thousands of rockets into Israel.
Israel is almost passive in the face of Hamas’s wave of attacks even though the country is considered to have outstanding ability to monitor communications in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Army Radio reported on October 9 that at least 900 people were killed in Hamas attacks on Israel, while in Gaza, at least 560 people were killed.
This is considered one of the deadliest attacks on Israel in decades.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on October 9 vowed to `change the Middle East` in the war with the militant group Hamas.
`What Hamas will go through will be difficult and terrible… we will change the Middle East. This is just the beginning… We will defeat them with strength, with enormous strength,` he said.
The conflict showed signs of spreading when Israel `killed a number of armed suspects who entered Israeli territory from Lebanese territory`.
