PM Netanyahu vows to ‘exterminate bloody monsters’ as troops surround Gaza amid fears terrorists block civilians fleeing
ISRAEL’s prime minister this afternoon vowed to “exterminate the bloody monsters” who unleashed hell on his country.
It comes as Israel’s military says it has Gaza surrounded, while Hamas is reportedly blocking terrified residents from escaping the bomb-blitzed enclave.
As the ground offensive looms ever-nearer, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli troops “are ready to act at any moment, to exterminate the bloody monsters that rose up against us.”
“Hamas thought we would break up – we will break up Hamas,” he raged.
This morning, Israel’s military announced it has surrounded the Gaza Strip – but its plans to launch a “coordinated” attack have been delayed due to bad weather.
Tens of thousands of its soldiers and tanks massing on the border are “ready” for what the military has described will be a major combined operation by land, air and sea.
Israeli army spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said its forces had Gaza surrounded with troops now “in formation… all around the Gaza Strip, in the south, in the centre and the north.”
However, senior IDF officials today revealed their plans have been delayed.
The ground invasion should have begun already but continues to be postponed due to bad weather preventing aerial cover, sources told ,
The officials also shared unclassified battle plans that included capturing Gaza City, wiping out the entirety of Hamas leadership and conducting a possible 18-month campaign to root out any remaining terrorists.
The assault is expected to be Israel’s largest since they invaded Lebanon in 2006 and their first attempt to capture and hold onto land since their invasion of Gaza in 2008.
Meanwhile, the IDF accused Hamas of “stopping civilians trying to flee” and using them as “human shields” against Israeli airstrikes.
IDF spokesman, Jonathan Conricus said: “If that isn’t the most sinister and vile use of civilians during war, I don’t know what is.”
Since Friday, there have been continued reports that Hamas dismissed Israel’s countdown to flee as “fake propaganda” and has been ordering civilians to stay put.
Israeli air strikes continued to hammer the Gaza Strip last night after the deadline passed for citizens to get out ahead of Israel‘s impending ground invasion.
At least 2,329 Palestinians have so far been killed during the retaliatory bombardment of densely-populated Gaza, including 600 children.
The IDF told Palestinians in northern Gaza that the route to safety would not be targeted if they left by latest 1pm (11am BST) today.
It comes as Israel made the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, 60 – their number one target, vowing to find him wherever he is hiding.
Sinwar – who spent 24 years in Israeli prisons – is being held accountable for the slaughter of 1,300 Israelis after masterminding and leading last weekend’s cross-border massacre.
“Yahya Sinwar is the face of evil,” said IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht.
“He is the mastermind behind this, like bin Laden was.
“He built his career on murdering Palestinians when he understood they were collaborators. That’s how he became known as the butcher of [southern Gaza].”
Over 360,000 reservists have been called up to bolster Israel’s 130,000-strong regular army that is preparing to crush Hamas’s strongholds.
Late on Saturday, PM Netanyahu visited troops on the Gaza border preparing for the attack.
He asked: “Are you ready for the next stage? More is coming!”
On Friday, Israel warned 1.1 million people living in the north of the Gaza Strip to flee their homes ahead of an “imminent attack”.
The UN estimate a million Palestinians have now been displaced by Israel’s bombardment.
Thousands of panicked families travelling in trucks, donkey carts and on-foot have been streaming down roads attempting to get to safety.
It comes as…
- More than 2,329 have been killed in Gaza, while 1,300 were killed in terrorist attacks in Israel
- Israeli military prepares for ‘coordinated attack’ by land, sea and air and says Gaza is surrounded
- IDF confirmed troops and tanks have already conducted raids inside Gaza
- Hamas terrorists’ twisted battle plans revealed
- UK to send warships, marines & spy planes to help Israel
- Around 10 Britons being held as hostages by Hamas
- The US is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Med
- More UK evacuation flights are expected to leave Tel Aviv today
For days on end, Israel has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes in revenge for Hamas’s unprecedented cross-border attack, resulting in the slaughter of over 1,300 Israelis.
On Saturday, the IDF announced that they had killed two senior Hamas commanders in air and drone strikes.
They claimed both Murad Abu Murad, who headed Hamas’s aerial operations in Gaza and Ali Qadhi, a key commander who led the cross-border attack on Israel, had been assassinated.
Israel has today warned civilians not to go near the Lebanese border after a deadly attack by Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah on the Israeli border village of Shtula.
Meanwhile, the UN has warned that Gaza is descending into a “hellhole” and is on the “brink of collapse”.
The Palestinian health authority said that at least 300 people have been killed in the enclave in the last 24 hours, adding that most of them were women and children.
A convoy of over 70 evacuees was blown up yesterday allegedly in an air strike, with 12 children killed in the explosion, reported.
The IDF has since claimed that a Hamas booby trap was responsible.
Israel halted all deliveries of food, water, fuel and medicine to the tiny enclave since Monday.
On Wednesday, Gaza’s only power station ran out of fuel and shut down – leaving only lights powered by scattered private generators.
And now the UN states that the enclave has run out of clean drinking water, making the situation a “matter of life or death”.
Harrowing photos showed blooded babies and children crammed into hospital wards as medics struggled with demand.
A doctor told the BBC today: “we feel so helpless”.
Dr Muhammad Ghuneim, 28, reported that 60 per cent of casualties were women, children and elderly and that the hospitals were running out of medical supplies.
“That means no surgeries, no oxygen for patients. We feel so helpless, like we can’t do anything.”
Over the last 24 hours, up to a million residents of Gaza’s north have attempted to flee to safety under both heavy bombardment and an Israeli blockade.
“No safe corridors were initially provided for people to safely comply with the orders to move southwards. Hundreds of people, including families, had to flee on foot,” the UN said.
The full electricity blackout has brought essential health, water and sanitation services “to the brink of collapse”, and exacerbated food insecurity, it said.
Over 120 civilians – including foreign nationals – are still being held inside besieged Gaza by Hamas, the IDF has said.
Hamas claimed on Friday that 13 of them had been killed in Israel’s retaliatory air strikes.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly estimated today that roughly 10 British hostages are being held by Hamas.
He told Sky News that Israeli authorities have the “terrible job” of identifying which hostages have been killed and which are still missing.
Thousands of the Islamist militants are thought to be hiding inside miles of secret tunnels underneath Gaza – having taken hostages as a shield and laid the ground above with booby traps.
The terrorists and their allies stormed across Israel’s border in last week’s surprise attack that has been dubbed Israel’s 9/11.
They slaughtered 1,300 Israelis in their homes, in the street and at a music festival before dragging 150 hostages into Gaza to be absorbed into their tunnel matrix.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said the attack was the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to crush Hamas and declared every member is “marked by death”.
In a TV address on Friday, he said Israel will “never forget these horrific acts of our enemies.”
“We are striking at our enemies with unprecedented might – this is just the beginning. We will end this war stronger than ever.”
Podcast: Israel's War on Terror Explained
The Sun has launched a brilliant new podcast 'Israel's War on Terror Explained'.
In the first episode, we talk to the Israel Defense Force about tactics in their Hamas offensive and the fraught mission to rescue hostages.
To listen, click if you’re on mobile – or simply scan the QR code with your phone if you’re reading on a computer.
