“Every Hamas member is a dead man”
Israel's newly formed emergency government has announced tough action against Hamas. Each of its members “is a dead man,” said Prime Minister Netanyahu.
After the massive attack by Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to kill all members of the militant Islamist Palestinian organization.
“Hamas, that is the ‘Islamic State,’ and we will crush and destroy them like the world destroyed the ‘Islamic State,'” Netanyahu said in the evening in his first address to members of the new so-called war cabinet.
After the most serious attack on Israel since its founding 75 years ago, Netanyahu and opposition politician Benny Gantz had previously agreed on a joint “emergency government and a war cabinet,” as they announced in a joint statement. The three-member “war cabinet” is said to include Netanyahu, Gantz and Gallant.
Israel’s army continues to bomb Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip
Meanwhile, the Israeli military continued its bombardment in the Gaza Strip overnight. A large-scale attack is currently underway against targets belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the armed forces announced on Telegram early this morning.
As of Wednesday, 189 soldiers were among the more than 1,200 people who died in Hamas’ terrorist attacks in Israel, according to the army. The vast majority of people killed in the major attacks are civilians.
The number of deaths in the Gaza Strip also rose again – to 1,200, reported Palestinian media, citing the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health. According to information, around 5,600 people were injured there. About 340,000 of the area’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced by the war, the UN said. 65 percent of the displaced people are currently in emergency accommodation.
President Biden: Israel must act according to the “rules of war”
US President Joe Biden called on Israel in the evening to act according to the “rules of war” in its counterattacks. According to US media, Biden had already called on the Israeli prime minister in discussions to keep the number of civilian casualties in Gaza as low as possible and to act in accordance with international law. In a speech on Tuesday, Biden said, referring to Netanyahu: “We have also talked about how democracies like Israel and the United States are stronger and safer when we act according to the rule of law.”
The US wants to deploy a second aircraft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its accompanying ships are an “available asset” that will be used if necessary, said National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby. The “USS Gerald R. Ford”, the US Navy’s most modern aircraft carrier, and its battle group of cruisers, destroyers and other ships and aircraft have already arrived in the eastern Mediterranean.
Türkiye is negotiating with Hamas to release hostages
According to government information, Turkey is now negotiating the release of civilians that Hamas took hostage during its major attacks on Israel and kidnapped them to the Gaza Strip. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the negotiations between the negotiators from Ankara and the militant Islamist group, a government representative said. Unlike the USA, the EU and Israel, Turkey does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.
In the evening, the terrorist militia reported the release of an Israeli hostage and her two children. “An Israeli settler and her two children have been released after being arrested during the clashes,” the Essedin al-Kassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, said on Palestinian television channel Al-Aqsa. Israeli media, however, stated that the woman was not abducted to the Gaza Strip and had already been released beforehand.
