Israel-Palestine war: First week ends with over 2,500 Palestinians, 1,400 Israelis killed

An Israeli army spokesman has said that “it is possible” that there are still Palestnians inside Israel. 

The Israeli army estimates that there were around 800 and 1,000 Palestinians who entered Israel on Saturday. 

Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister says that he has “ordered a complete siege on Gaza. We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly.”

He also said that there will be “no power, no food, no gas, everything is closed,” in Gaza.
 

A Palestinian man in Gaza says that people will remain steadfast and strong, despite the heavy Israeli bombing that occurred overnight. 

The bombardment destroyed entire neighbourhoods, leaving tens of thousands of people displaced. 
 

Images show the widespread destruction in Gaza following Israel's largescale bombardment which occurred overnight. 

Many residential areas have been affected, while tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes.

Rocket sirens have been heard in central Israel and Jerusalem, according to Haaretz. 

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanani, has told reporters that claims that Iran had a role in Hamas’ assault  on Israel were not true. 

“The accusations linked to an Iranian role… are based on political reasons,” he said. 

Palestinians had “the necessary capacity and will to defend their nation and recover their rights” without any help from Tehran, Kanani added.

Yesterday evening, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran helped Hamas plan its surprise attacks in August. 
 

Countries are continuing to evacuate their nationals from Israel as fighting continues between Israeli forces and Palestinians for a third day.

Hungary announced that it will be evacuating 110 more people from Israel, bringing the total number of people it has brought out of the country to 325 including 46 children, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a Facebook post on Monday.

Romania also evacuated 245 citizens from Israel using four planes that contained two groups of pilgrims.

A total of 800 Romanians have left Israel over the past two days, and an approximately similar number remains there, Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu said.
 

Abdallah Rashid Bouhabib, Lebanon's Foreign Minister, announced that his government received assurances from Hezbollah that it would not intervene in the fighting, unless "Israel bullies and harasses Lebanon."

The comments were made to the Al-Sharq al-Awast newspaper on Saturday. 
 

The Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said "isolated" clashes between troops and Palestinians are still ongoing along the boundary with Gaza. 

He claimed the army has "regained control of all towns" but fighting continues in some pockets. 

He added that the army is preparing to regain control of the barrier separating Gaza and Israel, and plans to secure the breaches in the fence with tanks. 

At least 300,000 reservists have been mobilised, Hagari said, as 15 out of 24 towns along the frontier have been evacuated 

Middle East Eye’s correspondent on the ground, Mohammed al-Hajjar, has been speaking to residents in Gaza following the heavy overnight shelling. 

One man, named Abu Mohammed, says their homes were bombed just after dawn this morning, with no prior warning. 

“The mosque next to us was hit, and all of our windows smashed. Until now we don't know who has died and who is alive, there is total destruction,” he added.

Civil defense crews have not been able to reach residential neighbourhoods due to the scale of destruction and blocked roads. 

“We had just finished praying and the children were falling asleep when the bombing happened,” Abu Mohammed added.

“It's been very difficult circumstances, we did not have any time to take anything with us from the house. All I managed to do was take my daughters into my hands and my brothers daughters and leave the house,” he said. 

Another resident, called Amir, says that the bombing occurred from 12am to 6am in the Beit Hanun neighbourhoods of Gaza. 

“We still don’t know who made it out of the bombing alive and who didn’t,” he told MEE. 

The bombing took many of the residents by surprise, who say they did not have time to take cover or find safety. 

“We all felt like we were going to die in that second, no money or possession mattered, we just wanted to get out alive. We don't care about material things, we just want to make sure people are alive,” Abu Mohammed says. 
 

Austria says it will be suspending aid to Palestinians, which amounts to around $20m, following the attacks on Israel which started on Saturday morning. 

"The extent of the terror is so horrific ... that we cannot go back to business as usual. We will therefore put all payments from Austrian development cooperation on ice for the time being," Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told ORF radio in comments confirmed by a spokeswoman.
 

An emotional Israeli father of a girl who was shown in video footage being taken hostage on a motorbike following the attacks on Israel has called for “peace.”

In a video widely circulating online, he says “Gaza also has casualties, mothers who cry, let’s use this emotion, we are two nations from one father. Let’s make peace, a real peace,” he says. 

Thousands of people in the Yarmouk neighbourhood in Gaza have been forced to evacuate their homes following a heavy Israeli overnight air raid.

Reporters on the ground describe “complete destruction” of the neighbourhood. 

Four mosques inside Gaza have now been destroyed in the raids.  
 

The Palestinian death toll from Israeli air strikes has jumped to 493, including 91 children and 61 women, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday morning. 

At least 2,750 more people have been wounded, including 244 children and 151 women. 

Another 15 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank since the flare-up started on Saturday, bringing the total Palestinian death toll to 500.

Nepal says that 10 of its nationals have been killed in Israel after Hamas launched its attack on Israel early on Saturday morning. 

The foreign ministry said four Nepalis were also wounded in Saturday's attack. 

An additional 12 Thai nationals were killed in Israel, the Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kanchana Patarachoke says.

Around 11 others have been taken hostage, workers and employers inside Israel state, however, this is yet to be confirmed by Israeli authorities. 
 

Arab, Israeli and American sources and officials have all but agreed that Iran did not have a role in the Palestinian daring and surprise assault, despite reports suggesting otherwise. 

Speculation has been rife on whether Palestinian groups had outside help to launch the attack that blindsided Israel - despite having one of the world's largest armies and vast intelligence services.

Earlier on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal claimed Hamas and Hezbollah sources said Iran had spent months helping Hamas prepare its daring assault.

The report claimed senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) met with Palestinian groups in Beirut to refine the plan, with the IRGC allegedly giving Hamas and Islamic Jihad the final green light last Monday to commence the mission.

It also alleged that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian attended at least two of these meetings.

But since the WSJ report came out, Israeli analysts, the US, Hamas and even Iranian officials have denied these claims and said the Iranians had nothing to do with the execution of the attack.

One senior Arab source told Amwaj Media that IRGC officials are “very, very cautious” and would not attend bi-weekly meetings due to fears their plans would be leaked.

“They won’t risk making their plan known...and the idea of Amir-Abdollahian taking part in several meetings…defies logic,” said an Arab security source.

Iran’s mission to the UN also denied claims that Tehran had any involvement and said Israel was making these claims to “justify their failure” in stopping the assault.

Israel army spokesperson Brigadier-General Danny Hagari said there was no indication of Iranian involvement in the war in Gaza.

Late on Sunday, US Secretary Antony Blinken told reporters that there was “no evidence” that Iran had any involvement in the Hamas offensive.