Israel announces “total offensive” against Gaza Strip without restrictions

“LI lifted all restrictions. We have regained control of the border and we will move to an all-out offensive,” Gallant said during a meeting with Israeli military and elite troops near the border with Gaza.

“They fought with great courage. They saw who we were fighting against, against human animals,” said the minister, characterizing the Hamas fighters as the “Islamic State” of Gaza.

“Due to your heroic action, you will have the right to change the reality here. You will see the transformation. Hamas wanted a change, and it will change 180 degrees in relation to what they thought. They will regret this moment. Gaza will never again be the it was,” Gallant promised.

“Israeli children cannot be murdered in the countryside and allow Hamas to continue to exist. I have lifted all restrictions: whoever fights against us will be killed, and using all means”, insisted the minister.

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

In response to the surprise attack, Israel bombed several Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip from the air, in an operation it dubbed “Iron Swords”, and declared war on Hamas.

The number of victims of Hamas’ surprise attack exceeds 900 dead and 2,400 injured, around 500 in serious condition, according to the most recent data from official Israeli sources.

On the Palestinian side, Israeli aerial bombings caused at least 830 deaths in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to local officials.

This number is associated with the approximately 1,500 Hamas fighters who would die during the attack in subsequent fighting on Israeli territory, according to the Jewish Army, which today says it has regained control of the border area.

During the incursion into Israeli territory, Hamas took more than a hundred civilian and military hostages, which they took to the Gaza Strip.

The inhabitants of Gaza have pointed out that the aerial bombardments carried out since Monday are very different from those carried out in previous clashes, as they proved to be much more destructive and launched without prior warning, as was usual in Israeli operations in the past.

Under the control of Hamas, Gaza is a territory 41 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide, located between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

The enclave has around 2.3 million inhabitants and has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.

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