Leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States expressed their “steadfast and united support” for Israel and condemned Hamas and its “appalling acts of terrorism” in a joint statement issued on Monday evening, October 9th. While they recognised “the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people,” and supported “equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” they stressed that “Hamas does not represent those aspirations, and it offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed.”
On Saturday, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launched a large-scale offensive against Israel from the Gaza Strip, dispatching thousands of rockets and starting an armed incursion into Israeli territory. Hundreds of Hamas gunmen poured through holes blown in the border fence and rampaged through several towns, killing hundreds of soldiers and civilians, and capturing scores of others. Israeli TV channels said the death toll from the Hamas attack has climbed to 900 Israelis, with at least 2,600 injured and dozens taken captive. Gaza’s Health Ministry on Tuesday said at least 770 Palestinians had been killed and 4,100 wounded in retaliatory Israeli air strikes.
Israel said on Tuesday it had re-established control over the Gaza border and was planting mines where Hamas militants had toppled the barrier during their bloody weekend assault. The Israeli military also called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists and imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said more than 100 people had been taken captive by Hamas. Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida said the group would execute an Israeli captive for every Israeli bombing of a civilian house without warning, and broadcast the execution.
A senior Hamas official, Ali Barakeh, told AP on Monday that the operation had been planned for more than a year and only a small number of top commanders inside Gaza knew about it. He denied reports that Iranian security officials helped plan the attack but acknowledged that Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group have helped Hamas in the past.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. hasn’t “seen hard, tangible, evidence that Iran was directly involved in participating in or resourcing, planning these sets of complex attacks”, nonetheless, General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned Iran not to get involved in the crisis. “We want to send a pretty strong message. We do not want this to broaden and the idea is for Iran to get that message loud and clear,” Brown told reporters. On Sunday, the Pentagon announced that it was sending an aircraft carrier strike group closer to Israel, as a “very strong message of support”.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected allegations on Tuesday about his country’s role in Hamas attacks but said Iran will continue supporting Palestinians. The de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia—Iran’s biggest rival in the region—Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said that his country will continue “to stand by the Palestinian people to achieve their legitimate rights to a decent life, achieve their hopes and aspirations, and achieve just and lasting peace.” He also said that he was working with all international and regional parties to prevent an expansion of the conflict, BBC reported.
With the war in Ukraine raging on, world leaders are attempting to stop the Middle Eastern crisis from spreading. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on Hamas and Israel to immediately end violence and protect civilians.
