Holy Land Wholly Splintered: Israel Now Has Control Of Its Borders, U.S. Carrier Strike Group With Thousands Of Sailors Arrives

Tuesday, October 10 2023

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A woman cries during the funeral of Israeli Col. Roi Levy at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem
AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo
A woman cries during the funeral of Israeli Col. Roi Levy at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military said Tuesday that it had regained effective control over its south and the border with the Gaza Strip four days after Hamas fighters stormed into the country and brought gun battles to its streets for the first time in decades.

The declaration came as the Israeli Defense Forces sought to make good on the government's vow to hunt down the militants and to intensify an assault on densely populated Gaza, the Palestinian territory ruled by Hamas and home to 2 million people.

The conflict already has killed hundreds on both sides. The Israeli military said more than 1,000 people have died in Israel since Saturday's incursion. In Gaza and the West Bank, 830 people have been killed, according to authorities there.

In Israel and beyond, the families of more than 150 people kidnapped by Hamas and other militant groups feared for the lives of their loved ones. The armed wing of Hamas has warned it will kill one of the hostages every time Israel’s military bombs civilian targets in Gaza without warning.

AMERICAN CARRIER STRIKE GROUP ARRIVES IN EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN, US OFFICIAL SAYS 

The Ford carrier strike group has arrived in the far Eastern Mediterranean, within range to provide a host of air support or long-range strike options for Israel if requested, but also to surge U.S. military presence to prevent the now four-day old war with Hamas from spilling over into a more dangerous regional conflict, a U.S. official told the Associated Press.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the arrival ahead of an official announcement.

The Pentagon has said that the U.S. warplanes, destroyers and cruisers that sailed with the Ford will conduct maritime and air operations which could range from intelligence collection and interdictions to long range strike.

Along with the Ford, the U.S. is sending the cruiser USS Normandy and destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt, and augmenting regional Air Force F-35, F-15, F-16, and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.

(2022) An F/A-18 E is launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford during flight deck operations
[Photo Credit: AP Photo/Steve Helber] (2022) An F/A-18 E is launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford during flight deck operations

WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE GROUND?  

Israel expanded its mobilization of military reservists to 360,000 on Tuesday, according to the country’s media. The chief military spokesman emphasized the unprecedented nature of the current campaign against Hamas, saying “all options are on the table."

The military said it struck hundreds of Hamas targets overnight in Gaza. Tens of thousands of residents fled their homes as relentless airstrikes leveled buildings, including in Gaza City’s residential and commercial district of Rimal.

Along with bombarding downtown Gaza City, Israeli airstrikes also targeted the crossing between Egypt and the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, the only passage out of the territory.

Over 137,000 Palestinians were packed into United Nations shelters, and the World Health Organization reported that the medical supplies it had pre-positioned in seven Gaza hospitals were already used up.

The head of Doctors Without Borders for the Palestinian Territories said he was concerned the humanitarian medical group's team in Gaza would soon run out of medical supplies now that the enclaves borders have closed.

Leo Cans told The Associated Press he was particularly concerned about the supply of surgical equipment, bandages, antibiotics and fuel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in a televised announcement Monday that the offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip “has only started.”

“What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations,” he said.

Hamas leaders have not spoken publicly about whether they anticipated Israel’s ferocious retaliation — or the potential risk of losing much of the group’s government infrastructure — when they launched the weekend attack.

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a building after it was struck by an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City
[Photo Credit: AP Photo/Fatima Shbair] Palestinians inspect the rubble of a building after it was struck by an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City

RED CROSS OFFICIALS WORKING TO GAIN ACCESS TO PRISONERS, INCLUDING ISRAELI HOSTAGES 

JERUSALEM — An official at the International Committee of the Red Cross says his organization has been in touch with both Hamas and Israeli officials about accessing prisoners, but so far have had no access to them.

Fabrizio Carboni, the regional director for the Near and Middle East for the ICRC, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that included the Israelis taken hostage by Hamas during their unprecedented incursion into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

“The level of violence is still very high but we’ve asked for access,” Carboni said from Geneva. “We ask also for the civilians who have been captured to have an opportunity to communicate with their family, to tell them that they are safe and well. We also ask that some people who have nothing to do in prison or shouldn’t be captured to be released”

Iran's role?

Iran
[Photo Credit: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP] Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

A senior Hamas official on Monday said only a small number of top commanders inside Gaza knew about the wide-ranging incursion launched into Israel, but that allies like Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah “will join the battle if Gaza is subjected to a war of annihilation.”

Ali Barakeh, a member of Hamas’ exiled leadership, spoke to The Associated Press in his Beirut office as Israel bombarded Gaza and vowed a total blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.

The surprise attack on Saturday caught Israel’s vaunted military and intelligence services completely off guard, as hundreds of Hamas gunmen poured through holes blown in the border fence and rampaged through several towns, killing hundreds of soldiers and civilians, and capturing scores of others.

Barakeh said the attack was planned by around a half dozen top Hamas commanders in Gaza and that even the group’s closest allies were not informed in advance about the timing. He denied reports that Iranian security officials helped plan the attack or gave the go-ahead at a meeting last week in Beirut.

“Only a handful of Hamas commanders knew about the zero hour,” Barakeh said, adding that no one from the central command or the political bureau of Hamas was in the Lebanese capital last week.

He acknowledged that Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group have helped Hamas in the past, but said that since the 2014 Gaza war Hamas has been producing its own rockets and training its own fighters.

Asked whether the U.S. has seen evidence of Iranian involvement, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby at the White House noted “there’s a degree of complicity“ from Iran due to its years of support for Hamas, however, the U.S. hasn't ”seen hard, tangible, evidence that Iran was directly involved in participating in or resourcing, planning these sets of complex attacks that Hamas pulled off over the weekend.”

WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE RIPPLE EFFECTS OF THE WAR? 

Major airlines have suspended flights in and out of Israel. Scores of arriving and departing flights at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport were canceled or delayed, according to the airport’s online flight board, which also showed a steady trickle of flights. Most were operated by Israel’s national airline El Al along with others by regional carriers such as Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines and Greece’s Blue Bird Airways.

Finnish carrier Finnair on Tuesday followed American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and German airline Lufthansa in suspending service to and from Israel.

Hong Kong leader John Lee said the government had issued a red outbound travel alert for Israel, becoming the latest government telling its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to the country.

Spanish multinational clothing company Inditex, owner of Zara, Massimo Dutti and other fashion brands, said it was temporarily closing its 84 franchised stores in Israel for security reasons.

WHY DID THE ATTACK TAKE ISRAEL BY SURPRISE?  

Israel’s eyes appeared to have been closed in the lead-up to the attack by Hamas, which broke down Israeli border barriers and sent hundreds of militants into Israel.

“This is a major failure,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This operation actually proves that the (intelligence) abilities in Gaza were no good.”

Amidror declined to offer an explanation for the failure, saying lessons must be learned when the dust settles.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesperson, acknowledged the army owes the public an explanation. But he said now is not the time. “First, we fight. Then we investigate,” he said.

Some say it is too early to pin the blame solely on an intelligence fault. They point to a wave of low-level violence in the West Bank that shifted some military resources there and the political chaos roiling Israel over steps by Netanyahu’s far-right government to overhaul the judiciary. The controversial plan has threatened the cohesion of the country’s powerful military.

WHAT PROMPTED THE ATTACK?  

Hamas officials cited long-simmering tensions, including a dispute over the sensitive Al-Aqsa Mosque sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Competing claims over the site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, have spilled into violence before, including a bloody 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2021.

In recent years, Israeli religious nationalists — such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister — have increased their visits to the compound. Last week, during the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot, hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews and Israeli activists visited the site, prompting condemnation from Hamas and accusations that Jews were praying there in violation of the status quo agreement.

Hamas also has cited the expansion of Jewish settlements on lands Palestinians claim for a future state and Ben-Gvir’s efforts to toughen restrictions on Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Tensions escalated with recent violent Palestinian protests. In negotiations with Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations, Hamas has pushed for Israeli concessions that could loosen the 17-year blockade on the enclave and help halt a worsening financial crisis.

© 2024 K-LOVE News

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