The Prime Minister of Israel called for the creation of a government of national unity

At the end of the third day of armed confrontation between Israel and the radical Palestinian group Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation. He said that today’s strikes by the Israeli air force on the Gaza Strip are “only the beginning” of a powerful military operation in the region. “They wanted war – they will get it,” the prime minister said.

Netanyahu also called on Israel’s opposition parties to turn away from political differences and form a government of national unity, as was done at the beginning of the Six-Day War in 1967.

The prime minister described five steps that the Israeli armed forces should take. First, it will neutralize those militants who are still on the territory of the country and will not allow others to enter the country – this operation is already underway. Secondly, to move to massive combat operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Thirdly, it will protect the country’s northern borders from radical groups from Lebanon – Israeli troops are already deployed there. Fourth, attract international support and preserve freedom of action for Israel. And, fifthly, to support the unity of the Israeli people as a key to victory.

Netanyahu emphasized that he is constantly in touch with US President Joe Biden, who promised to support Israel “in word and deed”.

By the evening of October 9, according to the Haaretz newspaper, the number of Israelis killed in Hamas attacks exceeded 900 people. These are civilians as well as servicemen of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the police. About 2,400 Israelis were wounded. At least hundreds were taken hostage and taken to Gaza, their exact number is unknown, but it is known that among them there are children and old people.

On Monday, 108 dead bodies were removed from the Israeli Kibbutz Beera near the border with the Gaza Strip. The kibbutz became one of the first targets on the path of Hamas. A total of 1,047 people lived there.

In the Gaza Strip, according to the local Ministry of Health, since the beginning of the invasion, 687 people have died, and at least 3,700 have been wounded.

On Monday afternoon, Hamas announced that in the event of an attack by the Israeli army on residential facilities in the Gaza Strip, it would begin killing hostages – one for each rocket strike.

The situation on Israel’s border with Lebanon remains tense, with reports of shelling from both sides. Earlier it was reported about the infiltration of subversive groups from Lebanon into Israel. At least two saboteurs were killed by Israeli forces.

The international community has for the most part condemned the aggression of Hamas against the residents of Israel. Only Iran spoke directly in support of Hamas. Moscow has not expressed an unequivocal position regarding the conflict. In its statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences to the relatives of those killed on both sides and recommended that Russian citizens refrain from visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories. However, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, addressed the international community on Monday evening and said that “We support Palestine”, and also offered to use his units as peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Monday that, according to his information, Russia is interested in igniting a war in the Middle East in order to destabilize the situation in the world. “We see how Russian propagandists are gloating, we see how Iranian friends of Moscow are quite openly supporting those who attacked Israel. And all of this is a much greater threat than the world perceives now,” he said.

The representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, reacted to Zelensky’s words in her Telegram channel indistinctly: “The cleanest data was brought to Bankova. Zelensky hasn’t had such obtrusive data for a long time.”