Israeli soldiers deployed in Sderot, Israel. Photo: AP/PTI
LIVE | Israel-Hamas war: Death toll nears 1,200; Israel to cut off electricity, food, fuel to Gaza
More than 40 hours after Hamas launched its unprecedented incursion out of Gaza, Israeli forces were still battling with militants holed up in several locations.
Hamas militants continued to spread terror in civilian areas of southern Israel on Monday (October 9) even as the Israeli military took retaliatory measures to crush their fighters following the Palestinian outfit’s surprise attack on Saturday.
More than a thousand have been killed on both sides. While over 700 people have been killed in Israel— a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades — Palestine’s health officials pegged the number of dead in Gaza at 493.
More than 40 hours after Hamas launched its unprecedented incursion out of Gaza, Israeli forces were still battling with militants holed up in several locations.
Israel said it brought in special forces to try to wrest control of four Israeli sites from Hamas fighters, including two kibbutzim that militants entered earlier in their attacks.
Footage released by Israeli police from one area showed forces kneeling in tall grass as they exchanged fire with Hamas militants across an open field.
Meanwhile, Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group claimed to have taken captive more than 130 people from inside Israel and brought them into Gaza, saying they would be traded for the release of thousands of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The captives are known to include soldiers and civilians, including women, children and elderly — mostly Israelis but also some other nationalities.
As per a BBC report, rescuers have found more than 250 bodies at Supernova music festival site, one of the first targets in the recent onslaught by Hamas. Meanwhile, the overall death toll has crossed over 1,000.
"This is our 9/11," an Israel Army spokesperson said, according to reports. "Hamas wanted an annihilation of our state. They went for civilians, grandmothers, and babies," the official was qouted saying.
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Live Updates
- 9 Oct 2023 1:34 PM GMT
Russia 'extremely concerned'
The Kremlin is “extremely concerned” by the “spiral of violence” in Israel, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
“We believe that this situation needs to be put onto a peaceful track as soon as possible. And the continuation of such a spiral of violence, of course, is fraught with further escalation and expansion of this conflict. This is a great danger for the region, so we are extremely concerned,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman added that Russian authorities were not aware of any Russian nationals injured in the conflict.
- 9 Oct 2023 11:52 AM GMT
Pakistani religious leader calls attack on Israel 'historic success'
A firebrand Pakistani religious and political leader has termed the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas as a "historic success" and vowed to stand by the people of Palestine, a media report said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference in Peshawar on Sunday, Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the attack on Israel was clear evidence that the Palestine issue was not dead, The Express Tribune newspaper quoted him as saying.
“We reiterate the position that we are with our Palestinian brothers. The attack of the Palestinian Mujahideen on Israel is a historic success and a historic battle. The Palestinian Mujahideen have freed their territories from the usurpation of Israel,” the JUI-F chief said.
Rehman, also the chief of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief, also congratulated the Palestinian people, saying that the world was thinking that the Palestinian issue was dead.
“A section of us [Muslim world] tried unsuccessfully to recognise Israel, however, the latest incident proved that the Palestine issue is not dead,” Rehman said, adding that the attack destroyed Israel's defence system and its arrogance.
- 9 Oct 2023 11:07 AM GMT
Sensex slumps nearly 500 points amid escalating tensions in Middle East
Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled nearly 1 per cent on Monday as investors offloaded finance, utility and energy stocks amid escalating tensions in the Middle East and surging crude oil prices overseas.
Investors stayed on the sidelines and refrained from taking big risks amid huge uncertainty due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, analysts said.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 483.24 points or 0.73 per cent to settle at 65,512.39. The Nifty declined 141.15 points or 0.72 per cent to end at 19,512.35.
Only three Sensex stocks traded in the green, while the Nifty-50 saw its 43 stocks closing in the red.
- 9 Oct 2023 11:06 AM GMT
Nepalese students stranded in bunker in Israel ask govt to rescue them
Some of the students from Nepal who are stranded in a bunker in Israel after Hamas militants from Gaza launched a wave of rocket attacks in the country's southern region have sent a video message asking the Nepalese government to take immediate steps to evacuate them.
“We are not safe in this bunker because earlier, our friends were brutally killed by the Hamas people entering into the bunker and we don’t want to have the same fate,” the students said in the video message, reported setopati.com, an online news portal.
Some of the Nepalese were among the 265 students who went to Israel under its "Learn and Earn" study programme, according to Foreign Ministry sources.
- 9 Oct 2023 10:20 AM GMT
Indian woman injured in rocket attack in Israel
An Indian woman working as a caregiver in Ashkelon was injured when the Palestinian militant group Hamas fired a barrage of rockets on the Israel's northern city, PTI reported citing sources said on Monday.
The woman, identified as Sheeja Anand from Kerala, suffered injuries in her hands and leg on Saturday and was immediately provided treatment at a nearby hospital, sources said.
She was later shifted to another hospital for recuperation and her condition was stable, they added.
The Indian mission reached out to her for support and has been in touch with her family in the Kannur district of Kerala.
"Her family has been informed, and we are in constant contact both with Ms. Sheeja and her family," an embassy source said.
There is no reason for any concern at the moment, informed sources told PTI.
- 9 Oct 2023 10:07 AM GMT
493 people killed in Gaza
The Gaza Health Ministry said 493 people, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed in the territory.
- 9 Oct 2023 10:05 AM GMT
Israel Defence Minister orders 'complete siege' on Gaza
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant 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.
