Israel. New balances indicate more than 430 dead in attack and retaliation

O The number of injured in the Gaza Strip rose to 1,697, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and in Israel it rose to 1,100, according to emergency services, cited by the Efe agency, following the surprise offensive that Hamas launched this morning against Israel by land, sea and air, and of the response that followed.

“Hospitals in the Gaza Strip have so far received 232 martyrs and 1,697 people with various injuries resulting from Israeli aggression,” said the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in a statement cited by Agence France-Presse.

The Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by the Islamic movement Hamas, accused Israeli forces of deliberately attacking medical personnel and hospitals, killing three health professionals, wounding three others and destroying five ambulances.

Since the morning, Israeli air strikes have continued in Gaza and the launch of more than 3,000 rockets by Palestinian militias against Israeli territory, where there are still hundreds of members of Gaza militias fighting with Israeli forces in more than 20 points in the territory of Israel, according to an Army spokesman.

Palestinian sources said that at least five buildings were destroyed in Gaza by Israeli bombings and that hospitals are in a state of emergency due to the situation.

Thousands of civilians from cities in the north of the Gaza Strip, such as Beit Hanoun, Jabalia or Beit Lahia, were evacuated and fled to Gaza City, to be housed in schools run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees due to the harsh clashes.

According to local estimates, the number of militiamen still present in Israel is much higher than the number provided by the Israeli authorities, and there could be hundreds or even more than a thousand members of the Al Qasam brigades, a military branch of Hamas, or the armed group Islamic Jihad.

Militia elements killed Israeli soldiers, held residents hostage in Israeli cities near the Gaza Strip and kidnapped around 50 people, according to Gaza sources and videos posted on social media, with the capture of soldiers, civilians and also Asian immigrants.

Saleh al-Arouri, a senior leader of the Islamic movement Hamas, assured that the militiamen managed to capture “senior elements of the Israeli Army”, including a general.

“What has begun is not an operation, but a battle that will expand, intensify and deepen,” warned Al-Arouri.

The spokesman for the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza, Daoud Hishab, assured that “all captives in the hands of the resistance groups will be detained until the release” of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. At the same time, he said, among those kidnapped are also women and minors.

The main spokesman for the Israeli Army, Daniel Hagari, made the first official confirmation that Palestinian militias took Israeli hostages inside Gaza and assured that there were also soldiers killed in the fighting, although he did not specify numbers.

The Islamic group Hamas today launched a surprise attack against Israeli territory, in an operation called “Al-Aqsa Storm”, with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen by land, sea and air.

In response, Israel bombed several Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip from the air, in an operation it dubbed “Iron Swords”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared today that Israel is “at war” with Hamas.

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the situation in the Middle East and the Palestinian issue will take place on Sunday, following this new conflict between Israel and Hamas, the United Nations (UN) announced today in a statement. .

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