Israel pounds Gaza by air; Biden condemns ‘evil’ Hamas attacks. President Joe Biden of the United States offered solidarity for Israel and cautioned anybody trying to take advantage of the situation. Israel threatened to intensify its reaction to a ground battle launched in response to an attack by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Over 200 targets were reportedly hit by over a dozen Israeli fighter planes overnight on Wednesday in a Gaza City neighborhood that Israel said Hamas had chosen to conduct its unprecedented surge of strikes.

According to the health ministry of Gaza, the cramped coastal territory has seen at least 950 fatalities and 5,000 injuries.

In history’s bloodiest Palestinian militant attack on Israel, Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip rampaged over portions of southern Israel on Saturday. According to the Israeli military, 1,200 people have died, and more than 2,700 have been injured in Israel.

In a video briefing on X, formerly known as Twitter, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus stated, “We have sustained extremely heavy casualties.”

Most casualties were civilians shot dead in their houses, on the streets, or dancing outside. Numerous Israelis and people from other countries were held captive and transferred to Gaza; some were seen being paraded around the streets on social media.

As night struck on Tuesday, there was no sign that the Hamas terrorists holding Israeli troops and civilians hostage had carried out their promise to execute one captive for every home in Gaza that was suddenly attacked.

Speaking to soldiers near the Gaza line, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared: “Hamas sought a change, and it will get one. What existed in Gaza won’t exist anymore. We began the onslaught from the air, and we’ll also attack from the ground later. Since Day 2, we have been in charge of the area and are now taking the initiative. It will only get worse.

According to the Israel Hayom daily, at least 1,000 gunmen who had crossed the border from Gaza had been slain. After 38 years of occupation, Israel withdrew its soldiers from Gaza in 2005. Since Hamas’s takeover of that territory in 2007, Gaza has remained under embargo. It proclaimed a siege on Monday that would keep out food and gasoline supplies.

Three security sources said a volley of rockets fired from southern Lebanon at Israel on its northern border prompted Israeli bombardment in retaliation. More shells fired from Syrian territory fell in Israel’s open spaces, adding to worries that the violence would escalate into a larger conflict.

“We do not yet know if these rockets were fired by the Syrian armed forces, by any of the many Iranian militias that exist and are welcomed by the Syrian regime, or Hezbollah or any other action,” stated Lieutenant Colonel Conricus of Israel.

“What we do know is that we retaliated fire toward the sources of fire, and currently the situation there is quiet.”

Overnight, Israeli towns near the Gaza border heard sirens warning of approaching rocket fire.

WORLDWIDE REACTION

Biden described the Hamas strikes as “an act of sheer evil” at the White House and said that Washington provided extra military help to Israel, including ammunition and interceptors to restock the Iron Dome aerial defense system. He urged Israel to respond by the “law of war.”

According to him, the U.S. has “enhanced our military force posture in the region to strengthen our deterrence,” which included relocating a strike group of aircraft carriers and fighter jets.

In an apparent allusion to Iran and its regional allies, Biden stated, “Let me say again to any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation, I have one word: don’t.”

Although U.S. authorities claim they lack proof Iran planned the assaults, they note Iran’s ongoing backing for Hamas.

In a taped address heard by Reuters, former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called for demonstrations in favor of the Palestinians on Friday around the Arab world. Meshaal, presently in charge of the Hamas diaspora office, declared that on Friday, the Al Aqsa Flood, “[we] must go to the squares and streets of the Arab and Islamic world.”

To send “a message of solidarity and support,” Antony Blinken, the vice president’s senior diplomat, was sent to Israel, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor for the United States, claimed that Washington was in discussions on establishing a safe exit for people from Gaza with Israel and Egypt as well. Right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and the opposition leaders were almost ready to establish an emergency unity administration.

Many people were stranded as major airlines canceled flights, so nations including Fiji, South Korea, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Canada hurried to remove individuals.

No location is secure.

According to Palestinian media, Israeli airstrikes reportedly targeted residences in Gaza City, Khan Younis in the south, and the Bureij refugee camp in the center of Gaza.

According to sources, one of the homes that were hit belonged to the father of Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza. According to the accounts, Deif’s brother and other family members perished.

According to residents who posted pleas for assistance on social media, many buildings had fallen, trapping up to 50 people inside when rescue services couldn’t get to them.

According to the U.N., more than 180,000 people in Gaza were left homeless, many taking refuge on the streets or in classrooms.

Bodies on stretchers with names printed were lying on the ground in the mortuary of Gaza’s Khan Younis hospital. There was no more room for the dead, so medics asked the family to pick up the remains.

A public structure that was used as an emergency shelter was struck. There, survivors mentioned several deaths.

“No place is safe in Gaza, as you can see, they hit everywhere,” said Ala Abu Tair, 35, who had fled Abassan Al-Kabira near the border with his family and sought refuge there. Jawad Abu Shammala and Zakaria Abu Maamar, two members of Hamas’ political office, were murdered in an airstrike in Khan Younis, according to a Hamas spokesperson.

According to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, Israeli airstrikes since Saturday have damaged 48 schools, demolished ten hospitals, and destroyed more than 22,600 residential units.

“Such blatant dehumanization and attempts to bomb a people into submission, to use starvation as a method of warfare, and to eradicate their national existence are nothing less than genocidal,” wrote Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations, in a letter to the Security Council on Tuesday that Reuters saw.

In a statement condemning the Hamas assaults, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stated: “International humanitarian law is clear: the obligation to take constant care to spare the civilian population and civilian objects remains applicable throughout the attacks.”

Additionally, there was violence in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, where Israeli police claimed to have killed two Palestinians on Tuesday night after they fired fireworks at them.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, since Saturday, there have been skirmishes with Israeli troops in the West Bank, resulting in 21 Palestinian deaths and 130 injuries.