Israel’s defense minister has ordered a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip following an unprecedented incursion into Israel by Hamas fighters.
Israel formally declared war on Sunday and gave the green light for “significant military steps” to retaliate against Hamas for Saturday’s surprise attack. More than 1,100 people have been killed and thousands wounded on both sides.
The defense minister’s announcement on Monday came as Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters and guarded breaches in its border fence with tanks while pounding Gaza from the air.
A spokesperson said the Israeli military regained control of border communities taken by Hamas fighters during the attack. But Palestinian militants continued firing barrages of rockets, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
UN AGENCY NEAR CAPACITY FOR DISPLACED PALESTINIANS IN GAZA
The U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, says it is near maximum capacity in accommodating internally displaced people in Gaza.
The agency’s director of external communications, Tamara Alrifai, said Monday that nearly 137,000 people have sheltered so far in over 70 U.N. schools around Gaza. Alrifai said the agency can host up to 150,000 people at up to 79 schools around the territory.
She added there is fuel in Gaza that could last for up to 10 days.
FAMILIES NEAR LEBANON-ISRAEL BORDER FLEE UNDER SHELLING
Families in several border towns in southern Lebanon have started fleeing north as Israeli shelling continues in the area.
An Associated Press team saw several cars packed with people and belongings departing Monday. “We tried to flee Ait el-Shaab to Rmeish, but they told us everyone has to stay in their area,” a man said as he and his family tried to flee.
Israeli shelling intensified after four militants crossed over the border and clashed with Israeli Defense Forces troops on Monday. Several rockets were fired from near the Lebanese border earlier. A Hezbollah spokesperson denied the militant group’s involvement in the operation.
VICTIMS OF HAMAS INCURSION REMEMBERED AT VATICAN
The Vatican secretary of state and Rome’s chief rabbi have presided over a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Hamas incursion in Israel.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin launched a historic conference on the recently-opened archives of the World War II-era Pope Pius XII by expressing solidarity with the Israeli victims and “to those who are missing and kidnapped and now in grave danger.”
He said the Vatican was following the fighting with grave concern and noted that many Palestinians in Gaza were also losing their lives.
Parolin and Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni then led the conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University in a minute of silence in honor of the victims.
ARAB LEAGUE SCHEDULES MEETING AT REQUEST OF PALESTINIANS
Arab foreign ministers plan to convene Wednesday in Cairo for a meeting on the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant groups in Gaza.
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki said the ministers would discuss Arab efforts to “stop the Israeli aggression” on Gaza.
The meeting was called by the Palestinians.
SCOTLAND’S LEADER WORRIES FOR IN-LAWS ‘TRAPPED’ IN GAZA
Scotland’s leader says his Palestinian in-laws are among the civilians caught up in the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf told reporters Monday that the parents of his wife, Nadia El-Nakla, recently traveled from Scotland to Gaza to visit relatives and were there when Hamas launched its attack on Israel and Israel retaliated.
He said his mother-in-law and father-in-law were told by Israeli authorities to leave because “Gaza will effectively be obliterated” — but that they are unable to do so and effectively trapped.
“Despite the best efforts of the British Foreign Office, nobody, nobody can guarantee them safe passage anywhere,” Yousaf said.
FRENCH CITIZENS CONFIRMED DEAD IN ISRAEL-GAZA FIGHTING
Two French citizens have been confirmed dead in the fighting, the French Foreign Ministry said Monday, without elaborating. Several others (or dual citizens) are unaccounted for believed missing or held hostage.
EUROPEAN UNION SUSPENDS PAYMENTS TO PALESTINIANS
European Union Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said Monday that the bloc is suspending “all payments immediately” to the Palestinians because of what he called he called the “scale of terror and brutality” during the attacks of Hamas against Israel.
The surprise announcement by Varhelyi came just hours after EU officials stressed that no EU money had been going to Hamas and that contacts had been frozen for 16 years. The EU considers Hamas a terror group.
US SENATOR WELCOMES CHINA’S NEW STATEMENT ON HAMAS ATTACK
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Schumer says he is grateful for a strengthened statement from China condemning the killing and kidnapping of Israeli and foreign civilians by Hamas.
During a bipartisan congressional visit to Beijing, Schumer had said earlier Monday that he was very disappointed by China’s failure to strongly condemn the militant group’s attack on Israel or to express sympathy for the country and its people.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday that China is “deeply saddened by the civilian casualties caused by the conflict between Palestine and Israel.”
STATE DEPARTMENT: 9 AMERICANS ARE AMONG THE DEAD IN ISRAEL
The U.S. State Department said Monday that at least nine American citizens have been killed in the weekend Hamas attacks on Israel, raising the toll from four.
The State Department says an undetermined number of American citizens remain missing and unaccounted for. It is not clear whether the missing had been taken hostage, were killed or are in hiding.
The State Department is in touch with families “and providing all appropriate consular assistance,” spokesman Matthew Miller said.
ISRAEL REPORTS KILLING GUNMEN WHO CAME FROM LEBANON
Israeli troops shot and killed several gunmen who crossed into the country from Lebanon, the Israeli Defense Forces said without specifying the number of people killed nor their alleged affiliation.
Local media quoted Hezbollah officials on Monday as denying their involvement in the border incident. Iran-backed Hezbollah has praised key ally Hamas for its unprecedented weekend incursion into Israel but not said if it would attempt to join forces.
According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, four gunmen crossed Lebanon’s southern border into Israeli territory from the border town of Dahaira before coming across an IDF position.
Israeli and Lebanese troops deployed in large numbers over the weekend along the U.N-demarcated Blue Line that separates the two countries.
Hezbollah fired rockets Sunday at Israeli positions in disputed territory in southern Lebanon. Senior Hezbollah official Hashim Safieddine later said the volley was intended to “send a message.”
RUSSIAN MINISTER AND ARAB LEAGUE CHIEF MEET IN MOSCOW
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit met Monday in Moscow but did not announce any immediate steps in response to the violence in Israel and Gaza.
“As for mediation efforts, first of all the parties themselves must stop hostilities. Everything else can be decided later in a normal, non-military situation,” Lavrov said following the meeting.
Before speaking with Russia’s top diplomat, Aboul Gheit said: “We completely reject violence from both sides. … We demand the creation of political perspectives and fair solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES SUSPEND FLIGHTS TO ISRAEL
Major U.S. airlines have suspended flights to Israel after the nation declared war following a massive attack by Hamas.
American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines suspended service as the U.S. State Department issued travel advisories for the region, citing potential for terrorism and civil unrest.
American suspended service to Tel Aviv through Friday after allowing two scheduled flights out of Tel Aviv late Saturday and early Sunday. Delta said its Tel Aviv flights have been canceled into this week.
EgyptAir, Egypt’s national carrier, suspended its flights to Israel until further notice, Cairo airport officials said. EgyptAir normally operates a daily flight between Cairo International Airport and Ben Gurion International Airport, just outside Tel Aviv.
Germany’s Lufthansa and its subsidiaries also suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until Saturday as fighting between Israel and Hamas continued.
SURVIVORS RECOUNT HORROR OF ATTACK AT ISRAELI MUSIC FESTIVAL
An open-air electronic music festival will go down in Israeli history as the site of the country’s worst civilian massacre after paramedics recovered at least 260 bodies from a field near the border with Gaza.
The Tribe of Nova festival brought together thousands of young people to dance and revel in the swirl of bass-heavy beats. Dozens of Hamas militants who had blown through Israel’s heavily fortified separation fence and crossed into the country from Gaza opened fire on the Israelis.
“We were hiding and running, hiding and running, in an open field, the worst place you could possibly be in that situation,” said Arik Nani from Tel Aviv, who had gone to the party to celebrate his 26th birthday. “For a country where everyone in these circles knows everyone, this is a trauma like I could never imagine.”
REPORT: EGYPT SEEKS ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PRISONER TRADE
Egypt has engaged in negotiations with Israel and Palestinian militant groups to release Palestinian women in Israel’s prisons in exchange for Israeli women captured by Hamas militants, the state-owned Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported Monday.
The daily paper quoted an unnamed source as saying that the negotiations were aimed at finalizing an agreement on the trade.
“The Egyptian government is presently awaiting responses from both parties regarding the proposed prisoners exchange and a temporary cease-fire,” Al-Ahram said.
Palestinian militant groups have claimed to be holding over 130 people who were captured in Israel in the past two days. Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua told The Associated Press by phone that the group’s fighters had captured more Israelis as recently as Monday morning.
He said the group aims to free all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
LEBANON URGES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO PRESSURE ISRAEL
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Monday that the tiny country’s priority is to maintain stability along its southern border with Israel following an exchange of attacks between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants over the weekend.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing rockets at three Israeli positions Sunday in a disputed territory along the border of the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, before Israel returned fire.
Mikati called on the international community to “take responsibility” in pressuring Israel to return to peace talks under the Arab Peace Initiative. “Anything other than that is a further spiraling of violence that will not benefit anyone,” he said.
EUROPEAN NATIONS REPATRIATE CITIZENS WITH FLIGHTS FROM ISRAEL
Governments and airlines in Europe are conducting emergency and regular flights from Israel to bring back European citizens who were in the country when Hamas fighters attacked.
Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says nearly 600 Romanian citizens, including two groups of pilgrims, were repatriated from Israel on commercial flights over the weekend.
A spokesman for Greece’s government, Pavlos Marinakis, says 81 of the 149 Greeks registered as having been in Israel over the weekend returned to Athens on Sunday night.
Two Hungarian air force planes carrying 215 people from Israel arrived in Budapest early Monday, according to posts by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Facebook.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said he expected all Spaniards wishing to leave Israel will have been brought back by later Monday.
RUSSIA EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER ‘SPIRAL OF VIOLENCE’ IN ISRAEL
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.
EUROPEAN UNION CONVENES EMERGENCY MEETING
The European Union is convening an emergency meeting of its foreign ministers to assess the developing violence in Israel, while stressing that the nation had every right to defend itself against the unprecedented incursion by Hamas fighters.
The ministers will organize the Tuesday meeting in Oman, where EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and some EU delegations are attending an EU-Gulf Cooperation Council joint meeting. Others will join by video conference.
“The priority right now is for the aggression by Hamas to stop. The hostages need to be released and we need to see the overall deescalation of the situation,” EU spokesman Peter Stano said.
ZELENSKYY COMPARES HAMAS TO RUSSIA
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has drawn a parallel between Russia’s invasion of his country and the Hamas militant group’s incursion into Israel, saying only “rules (and) international law” can ensure peace around the world.
“The same evil, and the only difference is that there is a terrorist organization that attacked Israel, and here is a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a video address Monday to a NATO parliamentary assembly in Copenhagen.
“Our unity must and can stop the evil,” Zelenskyy said. “Let everyone who sponsors terror feel the power of our wrath. And let everyone who needs help defending themselves against terror feel the power of our solidarity.”
US ENVOY LEADS MOMENT OF SILENCE AT HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
The top U.S. envoy to the Human Rights Council has led a moment of silence to honor the victims of Hamas’ attacks against Israeli civilians and the people killed in an earthquake in Afghanistan over the weekend.
Ambassador Michele Taylor spoke Monday with a “heavy heart,” she said, following the “horrific attacks carried out by Hamas terrorists on Israeli civilians” starting on Saturday.
“The United States unequivocally condemns these heinous acts of terrorism. We extend our deepest condolences to the families affected and express our solidarity with the people and government of Israel in these trying times,” she told the council, the U.N.’s top human rights body.
PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS GATHER IN SYDNEY
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered at the Sydney Opera House and police are advising the Jewish community to stay away.
Around 1,000 protesters on Monday marched 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Sydney Town Hall to the harborside landmark chanting: “Free, free Palestine!” They were surrounded by a heavy police presence. One protester at the town hall rally briefly waved an Israeli flag before fleeing.
The opera house is among several public buildings in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra that were to be illuminated in blue and white — the colors of Israel’s flag — on Monday night in solidarity with the Israelis.
ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER ORDERS ‘COMPLETE SIEGE’ ON GAZA STRIP
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said authorities would cut electricity to Gaza and block the entry of food and fuel there as part of a “complete siege” he ordered.
The announcement on Monday came as Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters and guarded breaches in its border fence with tanks, while it pounded the Gaza Strip from the air.
Israel and Egypt have imposed various levels of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.
22 FILIPINOS RESCUED IN ISRAEL; 6 STILL MISSING
Twenty-two Filipinos have been rescued in Israel and seven others are still missing following the Hamas militant group’s attack, the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv said Monday. Two of the rescued Filipinos were treated in hospitals for injuries.
The embassy said it is working “non-stop” with Israeli authorities and community contacts to get more details on the missing citizens.
EGYPT AND UAE LEADERS DISCUSS NEED FOR ‘JUST AND PERMANENT PEACE’
The leaders of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates on Monday discussed the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan agreed on “the importance of … advancing diplomatic efforts that aim to de-escalate violence, protect civilians, spare blood,” a statement from the Egyptian president’s office said. Such efforts should include establishing “a comprehensive, just and permanent peace,” it added.
Egypt was the first Arab country to establish diplomatic ties with Israel in the 1970s, and shares borders with both Gaza and Israel. The UAE normalized ties with Tel Aviv as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020. The Arab Gulf nation has frayed ties with Hamas.
12 THAI NATIONALS KILLED IN ISRAEL FOLLOWING HAMAS ATTACK
Twelve Thai nationals have died in Israel following Hamas’ attack, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kanchana Patarachoke said Monday. Eleven others were taken hostage and eight were injured. The numbers, based on reports from workers and employers in the area, were still awaiting confirmation from Israeli authorities, Kanchana said.
Around 5,000 Thai workers are in the areas around the Gaza Strip, and some have been evacuated to safer areas, the spokesperson said, adding that Thailand’s air force is preparing planes for an evacuation whenever the situation allows. Many Thais work on farms in Israel.
ISRAEL MOVES TO PROP UP ITS CURRENCY AMID MARKET UNCERTAINTY
Israel’s central bank says it will sell up to $30 billion in foreign exchange to prop up the country’s shekel currency following market uncertainty in the wake of Hamas’ incursion from the Gaza Strip.
The central bank issued a statement Monday morning announcing the plan, saying it “will operate in the market during the coming period in order to moderate volatility in the shekel exchange rate and to provide the necessary liquidity for the continued proper functioning of the markets.”
It added it would provide additional liquidity of up to $15 billion in the market as well.
The shekel has fallen to a near eight-year low against the U.S. dollar in early trading Monday.
EL SALVADOR’S PRESIDENT, WHO HAS PALESTINIAN ANCESTRY, CALLS HAMAS ‘CRIMINALS’
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who has Palestinian ancestry, decried Hamas on Sunday after its attack on Israel.
“The best thing that could happen to the Palestinian people is for Hamas to completely disappear. Those savage beasts do not represent the Palestinians,” Bukele said on the social network X, previously known as Twitter. “Anyone who supports the Palestinian cause would make a great mistake siding with those criminals.”
He also compared Hamas to the MS-13 gang, which has terrorized El Salvador for years.
10 NEPALIS KILLED IN VIOLENCE IN ISRAEL
Ten Nepali nationals have been killed in fighting in Israel and at least one more is missing, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry said. An unknown number of others were wounded in the violence, it added. Efforts were being made to return the bodies to Nepal and embassy officials were also trying to help citizens who want to leave the country.
ISRAEL WANTS TO REMOVE HAMAS FROM POWER, MILITARY SPOKESPERSON SAYS
One of Israel’s goals as it battles Hamas fighters is to remove the militant group from power in the Gaza Strip, a military spokesperson said Monday.
Jonathan Conricus made the statement in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. His words appeared to go further than those of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu said Sunday that his security cabinet had made the decision to destroy Hamas’ ability to govern in a way that posed a threat to Israeli civilians.
A thousand Hamas militants took part in the initial, unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday, Conricus said.
“It is by far the worst day in Israeli history,” Conricus said.
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