Israel's Defence Minister orders 'complete siege' of Gaza; power to be cut and food and fuel blocked

Agencies

Jerusalem, October 9

Israel’s Defence Minister has ordered a “complete siege” on Gaza, saying authorities would cut electricity and block the entry of food and fuel.

Israel and Egypt have imposed various levels of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. 

Fighting raged at several locations inside Israel where the fighters were still holed up after killing 700 Israelis and seizing dozens of hostages in a raid that shattered Israel’s reputation of invincibility.

Israel has already responded with its heaviest ever bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing some 500 people so far, and could be contemplating an unprecedented ground assault of the territory it abandoned nearly two decades ago.

Israel’s chief military spokesman said troops had re-established control of communities that had been overrun, but that isolated clashes continued as some Palestinian gunmen remained active.

“We are now carrying out searches in all of the communities and clearing the area,” chief military spokesperson Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

The shocking images of the bodies of hundreds of Israeli civilians sprawled across the streets of towns, gunned down at an outdoor disco and abducted from their homes were like nothing seen before in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Chief military spokesperson Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari said 3,00,000 reservists had already been activated in just two days.

“We have never drafted so many reservists on such a scale,” Hagari said. “We are going on the offensive.” Hamas says the attack is justified by the plight of Gaza under a 16-year blockade, an Israeli crackdown in the occupied West Bank that has been the deadliest in years, and a far-right Israeli government that talks of annexing Palestinian land.

Hamas fighters were continuing to cross into Israel from Gaza, the military said, adding that between 70 and 100 gunmen have been killed in the Beeri area since Saturday.

Fighter jets, helicopters and artillery struck over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip overnight, with targets including Hamas and Islamic Jihad command centres and the residence of a senior Hamas official, Ruhi Mashtaa.

“The price the Gaza Strip will pay will be a very heavy one that will change reality for generations,” said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in Ofakim, one of the towns that where calm was restored after a battle with Hamas fighters who stormed through it, killing civilians and leaving with hostages.

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