Israel has bombed more than 40 000 targets in the Gaza Strip in the past year, uncovered 4 700 tunnel shafts and destroyed 1 000 rocket launch sites, the Israeli military said on Monday, the 7th of October, marking a year since an attack by Hamas-led militants that killed some 1 200 Israelis and took 250 prisoners, 100 of whom are still held captive, and launched an Israeli assault on the enclave, reports Reuters.
The Israeli military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42 000 Palestinians, devastated the enclave, displaced almost all of its 2.3 million population, and triggered a hunger crisis.
The Israeli armed forces announced that 726 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the 7th of October 2023. Of these, 380 soldiers died in the 7th of October attacks and 346 soldiers in the Gaza Strip as of the 27th of October 2023.
The number of wounded soldiers reached 4 576. Fifty-six soldiers died as a result of operational accidents, which were not defined by the military services. The Israeli army stated that 300 000 reservists – 82% men and 18% women – have been conscripted since the beginning of the war, and that almost half of them are between 20 and 29 years of age.
Since the start of the war, 13 200 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Another 12 400 rockets were fired from Lebanon, 60 from Syria, 180 from Yemen and 400 from Iran, military officials said.
It claimed to have killed more than 800 “terrorists” in Lebanon, where air strikes hit 4 900 targets and some 6 000 ground targets. The military said eight Gaza militia brigade commanders, some 30 battalion commanders and 165 company commanders had been killed in the past year.
Meanwhile, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters GATHERED IN CITIES AROUND THE WORLD,
including London, Paris, New York, Jakarta, Manila, Cape Town, Berlin and Rome, to demand an end to the violence in Gaza and the Middle East ahead of the first anniversary of the deadly Hamas attack on Israel. Demonstrations were also held outside the White House in Washington to protest against US support for Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
As reported, Israel struck targets in Lebanon on Sunday in the most intensive bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel stepped up its campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, killing 12 people and wounding several others, in what it said was an attack on intelligence headquarters and weapons depots. In Gaza, at least 26 people were killed and 93 wounded in “precision strikes against Hamas terrorists”.
But Hezbollah missiles hit Haifa and Tiberias in Israel, bypassing air defences. The strikes in Haifa were reported to have damaged buildings and injured ten people in both cities. Hezbollah has claimed that a salvo of Fadi 1 rockets targeted a military facility south of Haifa.
On Sunday, the US government reacted to Israel’s heavy bombardment by saying that military pressure can promote diplomacy but can also lead to miscalculations.
French President Emmanuel Macron said at the weekend that arms shipments to Israel should stop. Israel said such a move would help Iran.
The conflict in Lebanon, which began a year ago with cross-border attacks by Hezbollah in support of Hamas, has escalated in recent weeks. More than 2 000 people have been killed in the escalating violence, with the Lebanese Ministry of Health reporting that 25 people died on Saturday alone.