Al Jazeera – October 8, 2023
Israel-Hamas conflict live: Gun battles rage in south Israel, deaths rise
By Lyndal Rowlands, Zaheena Rasheed, Umut Uras, Kim Makhlouf, Virginia Pietromarchi and Priyanka Shankar
Fierce fighting between Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces continues in several areas across southern Israel, a day after Hamas’s surprise attack inside Israel.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah claims responsibility for mortar strikes from Lebanon into occupied Shebaa Farms; Israel says it has responded with artillery strikes.
The escalation comes as fears of a ground invasion of Gaza are growing after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to turn the besieged Palestinian enclave into a “deserted island”.
- The latest death tolls stand at 313 Palestinians, according to health officials; and at least 400 Israelis, according to media reports.
- Hamas’s operation came on the heels of widespread Israeli settler attacks, increased tensions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem and a record number of Palestinians killed.
- Recap: This is how things stand right now
Gun battles continue between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters in Ashkelon and several areas of southern Israel.
The Israeli death toll due to Hamas attacks, has risen to at least 600 people, with more than 2,000 wounded, according to the latest reports by Israeli media.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has reported that at least 313 people have been killed and nearly 2,000 wounded so far in Israeli attacks.
Meanwhile in Egypt’s Alexandria, an Egyptian police officer has killed two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide.
Senior Hezbollah official tells Hamas fighters “our guns and rockets are with you”, after group claims responsibility for mortar strikes against an Israeli position.
Israeli army says it hit three command centres in Gaza
The Israeli army says its fighter jets struck three armed group command centres in the Gaza Strip.
The army said on X that the headquarters belonged to the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad groups.
Israel tells al-Daraj residents in Gaza to leave immediately
The Israeli army has issued a statement telling the residents of the al-Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza to leave immediately.
It said:
The operations carried out by Palestinian fighters force us to target residential areas.
We are not interested in harming you or your families. For your safety, leave your residence.
We call on the residents of the al-Daraj neighbourhood area near Aziz Mosque to leave the place immediately. Targeting.
Israeli death toll reaches 400: Reports
The Israeli death toll has risen to at least 400, according to the latest reports by Israeli media.
More than 2,000 have also been wounded, they said.
Dozens of tanks ‘moving to southern Israel’
Israeli media reports say that the army has mobilised dozens of tanks to southern Israel.
Fierce battles between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters who entered from Gaza are ongoing in the region.
‘A new resistance approach’: Analyst
Tamer Qarmout, head of the Public Administration programme at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, has told Al Jazeera that Hamas’s attack was meant to send a message to Arab states normalising relations with Israel that “normalisation will not bring any security to Israel if Israel cannot protect itself”.
He added that “Hamas is laying down the foundation of a new resistance approach” post-Oslo Accords.
Qarmout also commented on the suffocating conditions faced by the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip
“Netanyahu yesterday said that he wants to turn Gaza into a deserted island, but in a cynical way, Gaza has been a deserted island over the last 20 years.”
Do Gaza residents support Hamas’s tactics?
Tamer Qarmout, head of the public administration programme at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, says that while Hamas is popular in Gaza, it is unclear if all Palestinians in the enclave support its tactics.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said this is because there have been no elections in the region and the democratic will of the people is unknown.
“In Israel, it is a democratic government and things are clear, we know what the Israeli people want. But the Palestinian society in Gaza and the occupied West Bank is fragmented,” he said.
“The Palestinian split is designed by Israel and the international community. Of course, the Palestinians are responsible as well. But the de facto player is Israel which controls Palestinian politics. Hamas also functions under Israel’s instructions,” Qarmout explained.
“So Palestinians have no say on even sitting and trying to create a neutral platform to have a political dialogue amongst themselves,” he added.
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