Israel formally declared war on Hamas on Sunday, setting the stage for a major military operation in Gaza as fighting rages on Israeli soil. The declaration comes after Hamas, an Islamist militant group, launched a surprise assault this weekend that has so far killed over 600 Israelis.
Saturday was the deadliest day in decades for Israel and came after months of surging violence between Palestinians and Israelis, with the long-running conflict now heading into uncharted and dangerous new territory. Questions remain over how the Israeli military and intelligence apparatus appeared to be caught off guard in one of the country’s worst security failures.
Over 400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as Israel responds with airstrikes in the densely-inhabited enclave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed retaliation, warning his country would take “mighty vengeance” and was readying for “a long and difficult war.”
He urged Palestinians living in Gaza to “leave now.”
Okay “Bibi”? Where are they supposed to go? Are you going to let Palestinian civilians enter Israeli territory? Is the border crossing with Egypt open? Will Egypt let them in? Or do you just want to say this so the thousands of dead civilians get blamed for not leaving?
They’ve been pushed to evacuate to shelters further south from Gaza, which is kind of the only option aside from Egypt opening up. Given that this is all caused by Palestinian terrorists entering Israel, I don’t think anyone can blame them for not opening up their border to let more in
And obviously there’s plenty of innocent civilians who could be admitted no problem, but Hamas is still the governing party with majority support and would undeniably use that as an opportunity to sneak more militants in