What the attacks by Hamas mean for Israel — and Prime Minister Netanyahu
The numbers are astounding. Over 600 deaths and 1,600 injuries, coordinated infiltration in 22 places by about a thousand militants and over 5,000 rockets. In addition, dozens of persons, mostly women and children, kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip. Israel has confronted the largest single-day casualties in its history. Even by Middle Eastern standards, the scale, surprise and size of the attacks by Hamas on Israel are unprecedented. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “avenge this black day.” The full mobilisation of the reservists is underway and indicates an Israeli preparation for a ground offensive into the densely populated Gaza Strip, surrounded by Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
Traditionally, Middle Eastern militant movements have been comfortable operating closer to civilians. This gives them both immunity from reprisals and ensures popular support in case of collateral damages. Hamas is not an exception. A massive Israeli reprisal would cause enormous human and material destruction in the Gaza Strip. But the dead Israelis will not return. Revenge is sweet for an individual, but is it a good option for nations? Revenge only increases violence; plenty of examples in the Middle East exist. Even if Israel manages to inflict severe human and material damages, it is inconceivable that Hamas could be “destroyed”. However, Israel can hope to reduce the militant group’s military arsenal, reinforce deterrence and delegitimise its tactics. (Read more)
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Amid the ongoing attacks in the latest chapter of the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict, Kobbi Shoshani, Consul General of Israel to Mumbai and official representative of the state of Israel in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa, spoke to Nayonika Bose and Sandeep Singh about the current on field situation in Israel, his state’s plans for the war and his thoughts about Hamas among other subjects.
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with an Express account.
Excerpts:
When you say that Hamas will pay a heavy price, how far will Israel go in terms of retaliation? What do you aim to achieve this time, that has never been done before?
I agree with our Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that we should change the way of thinking in the Middle East, after this event. This is the only solution and the only retaliation. It was a brutal crime against humanity and we cannot accept that. For us, all means are open, by which, we mean, everything. They (Hamas) and all other terrorists in the area, around us, have to understand that such things cannot happen again in Israel. And for that, we have to teach them a lesson and the price is going to be very heavy.
Read the full interview here.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Tuesday that ending humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories in light of a recent violent escalation would be "completely wrong".
Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers to resolve divisions over whether to continue aid payments to Palestinians, Baerbock said "it would be completely wrong now to stop vital humanitarian aid to the civilian population".
"Millions of people, including many children, in the Palestinian territories, depend on us for food, water and medicine," she added. (Reuters)
Reuters is reporting that Israeli military is responding by artillery fire to rocket launches from Lebanon.
Hours after issuing a warning, Hamas has launched rocket fire against Israeli city of Ashkelon, reports The Gaurdian.
Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Ubaida had told residents of Israel's port of Ashkelon to leave the area by 5 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Tuesday, without giving any further details. (Reuters)
Reuters is reporting that the Gaza health ministry has revised the Palestinian death toll again. At least 830 Palestinians have been killed in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Saturday.
Sirens are being heard in northern Israel, close to the Lebanon border,
The Israel Defence Forces have just said that there are sirens sounding in Tel Aviv, and across Israel.
Reuters is reporting that the Israeli embassy in US says that Israeli death toll from the Hamas attack has risen to 1,000.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said the surge of violence between Israel and the Palestinians showed the failure of US policy, which he said had sought to monopolise negotiations while ignoring Palestinian interests.
"I think that many people will agree with me that this is a vivid example of the failure of United States policy in the Middle East," Putin told visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani.
Putin said the United States had sought to "monopolise" international efforts at forging peace in the region, and accused Washington of neglecting to seek compromises that would be acceptable to each side.
The United States, Putin said, had ignored the interests of Palestinians, including the need for an independent Palestinian state. The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital - all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war. (Reuters)
The United States does not want to see innocent civilians killed anywhere, including in Gaza and Israel, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday as the first tranche of U.S. security assistance headed to Israel.
"What we're focused on is making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and to take action against Hamas as the first tranche of military assistance is on its way to Israel as we speak," Kirby said in an interview with CNN. (Reuters)
Israeli bombardments hit the area of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Tuesday, Palestinian officials and Egyptian security sources said, imperilling operations at the only formal exit point on Gaza's southern border.
Gaza's Hamas-run Interior Ministry said the bombardments had caused work to stop at the crossing, and that Egyptian staff had warned Palestinian counterparts to evacuate.
The strike follows a similar incident on Monday that partially disrupted operations at the border, though Egyptian security sources said access for registered travellers and humanitarian activity had been restored by Tuesday morning. (Reuters)
Israeli air strikes, in retaliation for Hamas militants' surprise attacks on Israel over the weekend, struck residential buildings and schools across Gaza, the United Nations Human Rights chief said on Tuesday, warning that "sieges" were illegal under international law.
Volker Turk also condemned "horrifying mass killings by members of Palestinian armed groups" and said the militants' abduction of hostages was forbidden under international law.
Israel's air attacks - the worst in the 75-year history of its conflict with the Palestinians - also hit "premises of the UN relief and works agency, UNRWA (UN Palestinian refugee agency)," a UN rights office statement said, adding that civilians were among the dead and injured. Israel vowed to take "mighty revenge" after the Hamas attack left its streets strewn with bodies.
Israeli media said 900 people were killed in the attacks and most were civilians, while nearly 700 Gazans were killed in Israeli strikes, according to Gaza officials, with entire districts in Gaza flattened. (Reuters)
All partners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition approved on Tuesday a proposed expansion of the government to include politicians now in the opposition, a statement from his Likud party said.
Since the shock weekend Hamas attack from Gaza and Israel's build-up for war, some centre-left parties have offered to join Netanyahu in government - a bid to shore up the country in crisis. (Reuters)
Iran's top authority Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered his first televised speech since the Hamas attack on Tuesday and hailed what he called Israel's "irreparable" military and intelligence defeat. "We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime," said Khamenei, who was wearing a Palestinian scarf during the telecast.
At least 770 Palestinians have been killed and 4,000 wounded in Israeli air strikes on the blockaded enclave since Saturday, Gaza's Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
At least another 18 people were killed and 100 injured in the West Bank since Saturday, the ministry added. (Reuters)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to X on Tuesday, and said that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, assuring him that "India stands firmly with Israel at this difficult hour".
As Israeli forces continued to battle Palestinian militants in areas bordering the Gaza Strip two days after the Hamas invasion that has left at least 700 Israelis dead with about 150 taken hostage, there is concern in India about its expatriate population in Israel.
An estimated 18,000-odd Indians are employed in Israel, and the vast majority of them, perhaps up to 14,000 individuals, are caregivers to the elderly.
Here is a look at these caregivers, who they are, their journey to Israel from India, and their life in the West Asian Jewish nation. (Read more)
In January 2018, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Teen Murti Chowk in the heart of New Delhi to pay homage to Indian soldiers who fell in the Battle of Haifa in Israel a century ago.
The chowk was renamed Teen Murti Haifa Chowk, its three statues commemorating the heroism of the lancers from Jodhpur, Mysore, and Hyderabad who were part of the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade, and had distinguished themselves in the Sinai and Palestine campaign during World War I.
Before Haifa, Gaza
Ten months before Haifa, the lancers and Gurkha riflemen had played a key role in another battle, fought south of Haifa in a land hugging the same Mediterranean coastline. The Third Battle of Gaza in November 1917 became the turning point in the Palestine campaign. (Read more)
Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ military wing, said “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” was in response to the “16-year blockade of Gaza, the Israeli occupation and a series of recent incidents that have brought Israeli-Palestinian tensions to a fever pitch”, according to the Associated Press. But little is known about Deif himself, who is often described as a “shadowy” figure.
Deif has been the head of Hamas’s military wing since 2002. According to a recent profile in the Financial Times, he was born Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza during the 1960s. Gaza, at that point, had been under Egyptian control (from 1948 to 1967). Between 1967 to 2005, it was under Israeli rule and then it came under the Palestinian Authority from 2005 to 2007. In 2007, a Hamas coup led it to establish its control. (Read more)
Air India today said in a statement that it is offering a one-time waiver for rescheduling/cancelling confirmed tickets on flights to and from Tel Aviv. " The offer is valid on tickets issued before 9th October for travel until 31st October 2023," it said.
Why did the Palestinian militant group Hamas attack Israel? And why now?
Experts say one reason could be to disrupt or destroy ongoing negotiations, mediated by the United States, for the normalisation of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The two countries are on the cusp of signing an agreement that could potentially mark a tectonic shift in the political landscape of the Middle East. But this deal, if it comes through, will also show that the support for an independent Palestinian state is no longer a priority for the Arab world, of which Saudi Arabia is the leader.
That is something that Hamas does not want. And notably, the militants attacked southern Israel just days after the US announced that the “basic framework” of the agreement was in place. Nine hundred Israelis are now dead in the attack, and 150 have been taken hostage in Gaza. A fierce Israeli retaliation has killed almost 700 Palestinians so far.
What is the potential deal? Why is it being negotiated now? Will the Hamas attack impact the deal? We take a look. (Read more)
Gaya Kalderon last heard from half her family at 8.26 am Saturday.
“They are here,” her sister, Sahar, 16, wrote in a text message.
“Who is?” said Gaya, 21.
“We’re hiding from them,” Sahar said. “We left the house.”
“Where are you?” Gaya said. “Where are you going?”
There was no reply.
It wasn’t until Sunday that a terrified Kalderon saw any sign of her missing relatives, on social media. A video appeared of an Israeli child being shoved down a path by Palestinian militants. Erez, 12, and four other members of the Kalderon family are feared to be among an estimated 150 Israelis, many of them civilians, taken hostage by Palestinian militants during the broadest invasion of Israeli territory in 50 years. About 900 other Israelis were killed, according to a government statement. (Read more)
“Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English, or France to the French,” Mahatma Gandhi wrote in Harijan on November 26, 1938.
Gandhi’s article — ‘The Jews’ — has been the subject of intense debate over the years. It has been cited as evidence of his naivete by some, while others have seen it as further proof of his deep commitment to non-violence, regardless of consequences.
Amidst the latest bloody chapter in the history of Israel and Palestine, we look back at what Gandhi had to say on this, in Gandhi’s own words, “very difficult question”. (Read more)
Four students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) were booked Monday by the police for taking out a march on the campus in support of Palestine amid the ongoing conflict with Israel.
The Aligarh police swung into action after the political leaders raised objections following videos of the march taking rounds on social media platforms since Monday morning. Sub Inspector (SI) Azahar Hasan at the AMU police outpost lodged the First Information Report (FIR) at the Civil Lines police station Monday afternoon. (Read more)
It's around 9.30 am on October 10 in Israel and Gaza now.
The city has been pounded by Israeli missiles through the night, with hundreds of strikes targetting the middle-class high-rise neighbourhood in Rimal, says The Guardian. Meanwhile, it has been a quieter night on the Israeli night, says the report, adding that there were two firefights on Gaza periphery.
The report quoted the IDF spokesperson as saying that the military was "laying down infrastructure for further options," adding "The scope of this bigger than before and more severe. It is not going to be clean."
Since its founding, Hamas has declared that Israel has no right to exist, that there are no Israeli civilians and that every Israeli citizen is a soldier of the state and thus a legitimate target.
Still, if Western nations considered Hamas a terrorist organisation, they also thought that it was preoccupied with governing Palestinians crammed into Gaza. Hamas provided social services. It was even thought of as a restraint on what were considered even more radical groups.
But the assault launched by Hamas this weekend, with more than 900 Israelis listed as killed so far and more than 150 believed taken as hostages and human shields into Gaza, has now stripped away any remaining illusions about the group or its intentions. (Read more)
Israel's military said about 1,500 bodies of Hamas militants were found in Israeli territory as, as it said it had largely gained control in the country's south and “restored full control” over the border on the fourth day of fighting following an unprecedented surprise attack.
Spokesperson Richard Hecht said no Hamas fighters have crossed into Israel since last night, although infiltrations could still be possible. Israel has previously reported 900 soldiers and civilians killed, and Palestinian authorities have reported about 700 deaths in Gaza and the West Bank. (AP)
The Israeli military today warned the over 2 million residents of Gaza that they should leave for neighbouring Egypt via the Rafah border crossing while they can, indicating an upcoming severity in retaliatory moves. It added that the Gaza border has been secured and there have been no new infiltrations since Monday.
'Rafah crossing is still open. Anyone who can get out, I would advise them to get out,' Israel Defence Force spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said during a call with foreign reporters, reported The Times of Israel. However, Hecht's office later said, "Clarification: The Rafah crossing was open yesterday, but now it is closed."
American adult magazine Playboy said in a statement today that it is cutting ties with Lebanese-American media personality and former pornstar Mia Khalifa over her comments in support of the Hamas attack on Saturday.
“Over the past few days, Mia has made disgusting and reprehensible comments celebrating Hamas’ attacks on Israel and the murder of innocent men, women, and children,” Playboy said in a statement.
Khalifa had taken to X (formerly known as Twitter) to comment on the attacks, saying "Can someone please tell the freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal." When criticised, she responded, "I just wanna make sure there’s 4k footage of my people breaking down the walls of the open air prison they’ve been forced out of their homes and into so we have good options for the history books that write about how how they freed themselves from apartheid."
Only a few of Hamas' top commanders knew about the plan to attack Israel on Saturday, claimed senior militant group leader Ali Barakeh in an interview with the Associated Press on Monday.
"Only a handful of Hamas commanders knew about the zero hour," said Barakeh, a member of Hamas’ exiled leadership. He said it 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 also rejected allegations that Iran was involved in the attack, but warned that Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah "will join the battle if Gaza is subjected to a war of annihilation."
The Hamas leader added that the operation, dubbed "Operation Al-Aqsa Storm" (Al-Aqsa is a holy mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem), had succeeded beyond their expectation. "We were surprised by this great collapse," Barakeh told AP. "We were planning to make some gains and take prisoners to exchange them. This army was a paper tiger."
Around 150 Israelis are believed to be held hostage by Hamas following Saturday's attack, and the Israel Defence Force (IDF) is in the process of notifying their families, reported local media.
The Times of Israel said that the IDF is sending out officials to inform over 100 Israeli families that their relatives are being held in Gaza by Hamas. It added that the number of hostages is estimated to be between 100 and 150.
As many as 790 housing units have been razed and 5,330 others have been severely damaged in Israel's retaliatory airstrikes in Gaza the past few days, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in an update early today. It added that three water and sanitation sites have cut off services to 4 lakh residents.
In a separate update, the Israel Defence Forces said that it struck more than 200 targets in Gaza overnight. "In recent hours, IDF warplanes and vessels have attacked many targets of the terrorist organisations throughout the Gaza Strip. Dozens of fighter jets attacked over 200 targets throughout the Rimal neighbourhood and Khan Yunis during the night," it said on X (formerly known as Twitter).
While India was one of the last non-Muslim states to recognise Israel, it became the first non-Arab state to recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation. However, the balance of ties shifted in the 1990s.
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor, The Indian Express speaks to Charulata Biswas, Senior Producer, The Indian Express in this explained video.
The US State Department Tuesday said that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has reaffirmed American efforts to secure the immediate release of all hostages in a call with Israel Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
Eighteen Thai nationals have been killed in unrest in Israel according to the latest available figures, a Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday. (Reuters)
In response to Israel's aerial attacks, the spokesman of Hamas' armed wing, Abu Obeida, said Monday night that the group will kill one Israeli civilian captive any time Israel targets civilians in their homes in Gaza “without prior warning.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen warned Hamas against harming any of the hostages, saying, “This war crime will not be forgiven.” Netanyahu appointed a former military commander to manage the hostage and missing persons crisis. (AP)
The Israel-Palestine conflict escalates as hostilities persist near Gaza, extending beyond 24 hours following Hamas' initial surprise attack. The Israeli Defense Force has commenced live reporting from outside Gaza, reflecting the heightening tensions and the ongoing developments in the region.
? Israel continues retaliatory strikes against the land-locked Gaza Strip, primarily controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
? Meanwhile, Hamas has warned that it would execute an Israeli captive for every civilian house bombed without warning. The spokesperson for Hamas' armed wing said it will not negotiate over Israeli captives "under fire" and that Israel should be ready to "pay the price" in return for the captives' freedom.
? US said it does not intend to put its military on the ground but will support US interests in the region and support Israel with fresh supplies of air defenses, munitions and other security assistance.
? Media reports said that Qatari mediators have held urgent calls to try to negotiate freedom for Israeli women and children seized by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for the release of 36 Palestinian women and children from Israel's prisons, but an Israeli official said no negotiations were underway.
? The European Union initially said that it is suspending aid to Palestinians in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on Saturday, but backtracked in disarray after EU countries complained the bloc's executive had overstepped the mark.
Former US President Barack Obama took to X (formerly Twitter) to issue a message of solidarity with Israel.
US President Joe Biden took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a photo of the White House lit up in Israel's blue and white colour.
The Israeli military said early Tuesday that it struck two tunnels used by Hamas militants to enter Israeli territory.
The news came a day after 70 militants infiltrated the Be'eri kibbutz Monday night. The small farming community has been a flashpoint of the conflict — the scene of a hostage standoff during the attack.
Authorities did not immediately provide more information on the location of the tunnels. The militant group has used tunnels in the past. It has an established a network running from Gaza to Egypt to smuggle in weapons, as well as attack tunnels burrowing into Israel. (AP)
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City killed two Palestinian journalists early Tuesday, according to journalists on the scene who survived. The victims' names and the news outlets they worked for weren't immediately known. The airstrike targeted an area housing several media offices, survivors said.
Three Palestinian journalists reportedly were shot and killed while reporting in Gaza on Saturday. The Committee to Protect Journalists, citing Palestinian press freedom groups, identified two of them as photographer Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi and reporter Mohammad Jarghoun. CPJ said it confirmed that freelance reporter Mohammad El-Salhi also was killed.
Lafi was shot at the Erez Crossing, the main border crossing into Israel, CPJ said. Jarghoun was killed near Rafah city, and El-Salhi was shot dead in the central Gaza Strip. Lafi worked for Ain Media, and Jarghoun reported for Smart Media, CPJ said. (AP)
Drone footage taken over the Gaza Strip has shown the damage caused to numerous buildings in the area, several of which appear to have been completely razed in the retaliatory airstrikes by Israel.
On Saturday morning (October 7), the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a devastating attack on Israel that has led to the deaths of at least 300 people, according to Israeli media reports as of Sunday. In the Gaza Strip, the coastal Palestinian region from where Hamas fighters crossed over to the bordering Israel, around 250 people have died.
The attack is being seen as the biggest exchange of fire between the two parties in decades. Israel has now declared war, raising global concerns for an already volatile region of the world that has been beset by decades of regional, sectarian and communal rivalries, and intervention from foreign powers. (Read more)
Seven Argentines were killed during the attacks by Hamas militants in Israel over the weekend, and 15 more are still missing, Argentina's foreign minister Santiago Cafiero said.
Around 625 nationals still in Israel have also requested repatriation, he added. (Reuters)
On the Israel-Palestine conflict, Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said, "In the last decades, I don't think that we saw such sins - maybe only in ISIS...Hamas is the proxy of Iran. Hamas executed a historical massacre that the world will not forget."
The IDF Homefront Command has ordered Israeli civilians in towns near the Lebanese border to remain in their homes.
India has condoled the death of 10 Nepalese students in Israel and voiced its support to the neighbouring country in its hour of grief, Nepal's foreign ministry said on Monday.
Ten Nepalese students in Israel were killed by Hamas militants in the country's southern region. In a letter to Nepal's Foreign Minister NP Saud, the Indian ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava expressed sadness over the killing of the Nepalese students.
“In a letter addressed to Foreign Minister Saud, Ambassador Srivastava has expressed sorrow over the death of the Nepalese students and extended condolences to the bereaved family members,” the statement from Nepal's foreign office said.
There are currently 4,500 Nepali nationals working as caregivers in Israel. A total of 265 Nepali students are studying in Israel under the ‘Learn and Earn' programme of the Israeli government. Of them, 119 are from Agriculture and Forestry University, 97 are from Tribhuvan University and 49 are from Sudur Paschim University. All of them are bachelor-level students of agriculture.
atari mediators have held urgent calls to try to negotiate freedom for Israeli women and children seized by the militant group and held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 36 Palestinian women and children from Israel's prisons, a source briefed on the talks told Reuters.
Qatar's foreign ministry confirmed to Reuters its involvement in mediation talks with Hamas and Israeli officials, including over a possible prisoner swap.
The ongoing negotiations, which Qatar has been conducting in coordination with the United States since Saturday night, are "moving positively" said the source, who has been briefed on them.
"We are in constant contact with all sides at the moment. Our priorities are to end the bloodshed, release the prisoners and make sure the conflict is contained with no regional spillover," foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told Reuters, without elaborating.
But there are no signs of breakthroughs as both sides dig in. (Reuters)
The Bank of Israel said on Monday it will sell up to $30 billion of foreign currency in the open market, the central bank's first ever sale of foreign exchange, to maintain stability during the war with Palestinian militants in Gaza. The shekel fell 2.7% versus the dollar to 3.945 - its lowest since early 2016 - after the announcement.
"We are in an unprecedented security situation, and our estimate was that the market could get to a situation of divergence without the announcement of our intervention," Golan Benita, head of the Bank of Israel's markets department, told a news conference.
The shekel had already weakened by 10% so far in 2023 to a rate of 3.86 per dollar on political turmoil, and on the heels of what is expected to be a long war with Hamas in Gaza the shekel was set to depreciate sharply. Benita said that prior to the opening of trade, the exchange rate jumped to reach as much as 4.3 shekels per dollar overnight in Asia.
"Therefore it was important for us before the opening of trade in the local market to increase the certainty in the market or decrease the uncertainty in the market, in order to moderate as much as possible incidents of overreactions ... and ensure the markets' regular activity," he said. Benita said there were no plans at this time to sell more than $30 billion of forex and that the high level of reserves allowed the central bank room to support the economy in times of emergency.
"At the current juncture, the central bank's priority is only to ensure a normal functioning of markets," HSBC's Neil Churchill said. The central bank also said it would provide liquidity through swap mechanisms in the market of up to $15 billion.
"The Bank of Israel will continue monitoring developments, tracking all the markets, and acting with the tools available to it as necessary," it said. Citi economists said in a report: "Despite our expectation of a weaker shekel in the medium term - softer tech equity flows, a more complex political background and more two-sided risks to monetary policy - we do not expect further sustained bouts of shekel weakness." (Reuters)
Rocket sirens were heard in Jerusalem on Monday amid the ongoing fighting between Palestinian factions in Gaza and the Israeli army, a Reuters witness said
The European Union's commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement Oliver Várhelyi has said that it is putting Palestinian development aid worth 691 million euros under review, saying that the scale of terror against Israel has "reached a turning point."
“All payments immediately suspended. All projects put under review. All new budget proposals, incl. for 2023 postponed until further notice. Comprehensive assessment of the whole portfolio," he wrote in a post on X.
Israeli TV is saying that the death toll from Hamas attack has risen to 800. (Reuters)
Israel Defence Forces personnel, backed by helicopters, have killed a number of gunmen who infiltrated from Lebanon.
The United States on Monday confirmed the death of nine Americans in Israel during the violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected, and wish those injured a speedy recovery. We continue to monitor the situation closely and remain in touch with our Israeli partners, particularly the local authorities," a National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.
Israel's response to the unprecedented multi-pronged attack by Palestinian gunmen from the Gaza Strip will "change the Middle East," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
He was speaking to mayors of southern border towns hit by the surprise assault that began on Saturday, a statement from his office said. It did not elaborate on his prediction. (Reuters)
The October 7 attack in Israel by Hamas spells a major defeat for Israel as well as for the efforts at normalisation and peace in the region. For Israel, the failure involves poor intelligence and inadequate military preparedness. More importantly, the country’s reputation of military invincibility has been shattered. Israel is now resorting to a massive attack on Gaza to try to restore the deterrence it once enjoyed, yet it is far from certain that it can accomplish this even if Gaza is destroyed and re-occupied.
Furthermore, it is hard to see how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will survive politically given the loss of civilian Israeli lives and the large number of Israeli hostages now in Hamas’s hands. Of course, the Palestinians are also losers in that this attack is unlikely to get them any closer to establishing their state or to lead to the destruction of Israel, which is Hamas’s aim. What will happen instead is that more misery and violence will be heaped on the Palestinians in retaliation by Israel. Thus, the circle of violence continues unabated, and with greater ferocity in the Middle East with no winners on any side.
But why did this attack happen now and what were its intended goals? Read Princeton University Professor Bernard Haykel's column to know.