Gaza-Israeli War: 1000s Killed, Injured In Latest Escalation Of The Decades-old Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Keneci News @kenecichannel
[Update] Israeli Military Planes Pound Gaza Strip As Propaganda, Disinformation From Both Sides Of The War, Proliferate On Mainstream Media
Israeli military offensive against Hamas terrorists continued overnight with airstrikes relentlessly pounding downtown Gaza City into early Wednesday; after the Islamist militants invaded the Gaza-Israel border over the weekend, and attacked towns and villages. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has reportedly fired 250 airstrikes in a single hour towards Gaza.
IDF said Tuesday, it regained effective control over areas near the Gaza Strip border with Israel, which was breached in Saturday's surprise attack. IDF forces also recovered the bodies of roughly 1,500 Hamas militants on Israeli territory.
The war, which has already claimed over 1,900 lives, is only expected to escalate as Israel could launch a ground invasion to eradicate Hamas from Gaza. 1,000 Israelis have been killed, including 155 soldiers. Over 900 Palestinians have lost their lives.
Israel has issued warnings to civilians in areas of Gaza City and others where they intend to strike, given civilians moments to evacuate. Hamas threatened to start executing captured Israelis if strikes targeted civilians without warning. The Islamist militant group is holding more than 150 soldiers and civilians hostage in Gaza.
In a nationally-televised address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We have only started striking Hamas."
The PM added: "What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations."
While western leaders overwhelmingly express strong support for the Jewish state, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday blamed United States foreign policy for the outbreak of the war in his first remarks on the conflict.
Putin reportedly said that “many will agree with me that this is a vivid example of the failure of the U.S. policies in the Middle East.” He added that the U.S. has “tried to monopolize the settlement, but, regrettably hasn’t bothered to search for compromises that would be acceptable to both parties and, just the opposite, sought to enforce their own view of how it should be done, exerting pressure on both parties.”
The Russian leader said the U.S. has failed “to take vital interests of the Palestinian people into account,” ignoring U.N. General Assembly resolutions envisaging the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
The comments echo those of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who at the United Nations General Assembly accused the US and the West of continuing to "fuel conflicts" that "divide humanity."
"The U.S. and its subordinate Western collective are continuing to fuel conflicts which artificially divide humanity into hostile blocks and hamper the achievement of overall aims," Lavrov said. "They’re doing everything they can to prevent the formation of a genuine multipolar world order. They are trying to force the world to play according to their own self-centered rules."
During a speech on Tuesday from the White House, President Joe Biden asserted his support for Israel, emphasizing that the US "has Israel's back" as they continue the offensive against Hamas terrorists.
"We stand with Israel," Biden asserted. "And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack. There’s no justification for terrorism. There’s no excuse. Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination. Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the state of Israel and the murder of Jewish people."
"Let there be no doubt, the United States has Israel’s back," Biden said. "We’re with Israel. Let’s make no mistake."
The USS Dwight Eisenhower carrier strike group will be heading to the eastern Mediterranean this week on a previously scheduled deployment for EUCOM exercises with other NATO countries. It will take about two weeks to get to the region. The carrier will be leaving later this week from Norfolk, Virginia. Officials said this was previously scheduled and not because of the war in Israel.
On Sunday, the Pentagon said the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group would be leaving for the Eastern Mediterranean, which would place it within range to provide a host of air support or long-range strike options for Israel if requested.
In a Direct Commercial Sale (DCS) $735 million deal, defense contractor Boeing is accelerating their delivery of 1,000 smart bombs to the Israeli military. The delivery reportedly includes 250-pound small diameter bombs, which were part of a 2021 contract between the Israeli Air Force and the U.S. Air Force.
Meanwhile on the media front, there's a growing concern among social media users and other western officials about the spread of fake news and war propaganda by both sides of the conflict enabled by the mainstream media. Reports that are later retracted; and old pictures repurposed to accuse Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists of horrific crimes, all proliferate big tech platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and to a less extent X, and alt-tech platform Gab.
Critics point out that most of the disinformation is propagated by mainstream media outlets like Washington Post and Al Jazeera, and their reporters through their social media accounts; and not alternative independent journalists on the ground.
X owner Elon Musk called out European Commission member Thierry Breton who claimed in a letter to the social media company, that "Following the terrorist attacks by Hamas against, we have indications of X/Twitter being used to disseminate illegal content & disinformation in the EU."
The SpaceX and Tesla chief asked the far-left European bureaucrat to back up his claims. "Our policy is that everything is open source and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports," Musk wrote, referencing X's crowd-sourced fact-checking system Community Notes . "Please list the violations you allude to on 𝕏, so that that the public can see them. Merci beaucoup."
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In the latest cycle of escalation in the decades-old conflict, Hamas terrorists, in a surprise attack Saturday, invaded areas of southern Israel as rocket barrages launched from the Gaza Strip struck the area. At least 1,100 people were reportedly killed in the terrorist attack and hundreds more were wounded, according to Israel's national rescue service.
A senior military commander of the Islamist movement, Mohammad Deif, announced the start of the operation against Israel, and called on Palestinians everywhere to attack the Jews. He said on Hamas media, that the group launched 5,000 rockets, calling the attack "the day of the greatest battle to end the last occupation on earth."
Hamas is a group of Iranian-backed terrorists group designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the United States State Department. The group controls Gaza Strip since violently taking over the territory in 2007, after Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005. On December 14, 2022, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Islamist group, and others celebrated the 35th anniversary of Hamas' founding at the Strip.
According to Israeli media, gunmen opened fire on passersby in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, and footage of the fighting appeared to show attacks in city streets: "A number of terrorists have infiltrated into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip," the Israeli military said in a statement Saturday.
In an update on the country's response to Hamas,' Israeli Defense Force(IDF) International Spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht says the attack virtually ignored military targets in favor of going after civilians, with more dozens of Israeli citizens being taken hostage. Hecht added that Israel's response to the attack will be "very, very severe."
"They attacked us on the ground, in the air and through the sea," Hecht said. "They didn't go for military targets, they went for civilians. They went for grandmothers, children, babies. This event is still unfolding. The numbers are unprecedented. We are going to respond very, very severely to this. In the upcoming, it's going to be a long round. We are going to do whatever is needed. This style of attack is barbaric. The visuals are ISIL visuals. In a way, this is our 9-11."
Dozens of IDF fighter jets have since been hitting a number of targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization. With more than 800 targets hit in the Strip, Gaza Health Ministry estimated that 413 people were killed, including 78 children and 41 women.
Israel's security cabinet Sunday, voted to officially go to war for the first time since the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already declared that Israel was "at war" on Saturday, but the high-level security cabinet decision reportedly unlocks "significant military activities," according to the PM's office.
In a video message early Saturday morning, Netanyahu said, "Citizens of Israel, we are at war — not in an operation, not in rounds — at war."
The IDF announced it would mobilize its forces in response to the attacks; and the military have moved troops to the Gaza border. It confirmed that Hamas has taken hostages and held prisoners of war in Gaza. The terror group claims to have taken enough Israeli hostages to free all of the Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel on Sunday.
Scenes of Hamas terrorists taking hostages and holding families at gun point have flooded social media in the wake of the attack. IDF rescue operations are under way throughout the region, as Hamas terrorists hunker down to use hostages as shields, officials say.
Netanyahu reportedly spoke over the phone with western leaders including US President Joe Biden Sunday morning.
"The President again expressed deep sympathy for all those missing, wounded, and killed, and pledged his full support for the Government and people of Israel in the face of an unprecedented and appalling assault by Hamas terrorists. They discussed the taking of hostages by Hamas terrorists, including entire families, the elderly, and young children. The President emphasized that there is no justification whatsoever for terrorism, and all countries must stand united in the face of such brutal atrocities," the White House said in a statement regarding the call. "Biden updated the Prime Minister on the intensive diplomatic engagement undertaken by the United States over the last 24 hours in support of Israel," the statement continued. "The two leaders committed to stay in regular contact over the coming days."
The US Central Command (USCENTCOM) is sending a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea amid the Israel-Hamas war that began on Saturday. "The United States has begun moving USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean," the command said in a statement on Sunday. "This includes the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60), as the Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS Carney (DDG 64) and USS Roosevelt (DDG 80)."
The USS Gerald R. Ford, commissioned in 2017, is the largest warship in the world.
"We have also taken steps to augment U.S. Air Force F-15, F-16, and A-10 aircraft squadrons in the region," the statement added. "The U.S. maintains ready forces globally to further reinforce this posture if required."
"USCENTCOM stands firmly with our Israeli and regional partners to address the risks of any party seeking to expand the conflict," U.S. Central Command Commander General Michael Kurilla said in a statement.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in X post, that he was "shocked" by the attacks. "Israel has an absolute right to defend itself," he wrote.
German Chancellor Olaf Sholz said the terrorist rocket fire and rising violence "shock us deeply." He added that "Germany condemns these attacks by Hamas and stands beside Israel."
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote that he "firmly" condemns the "terrorist attacks" against Israel and expressed "my full solidarity with the victims, their families and their loved ones."
In a suspected related incident, an Egyptian policeman opened fire on two Israeli tourists in Alexandria on Sunday, killing them and one other Egyptian citizen. The Interior Ministry says at least one other person, an Israeli, was injured in the attack.
Egyptian officials have offered no details regarding the attack aside from that it took place near Pompey's Pillar in Alexandria. The officer who is alleged to have carried out the attack has been detained.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry says it is working with the Egyptian government to bring the slain Israelis home.
Security forces quickly cordoned off the site of the attack. Graphic footage posted on social media showed two people lying motionless on the ground. Another was seen being helped by a group of men, while one woman was heard shouting for an ambulance.
Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel in the 1970s, and has long served as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict . But anti-Israeli sentiment runs high in the country, especially during bouts of violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
WATCH story on the latest Israeli-Gaza war