Photo: An Israeli soldier walks by a house destroyed by Hamas militants in Kibbutz Be’eri
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel will “crush and destroy” Hamas in response to the militant group’s bloody weekend attack.
Netanyahu made the pledge during a late-night televised address as Israeli warplanes continued to pound Gaza on the war’s fifth day.
During his address, Netanyahu said that Hamas beheaded soldiers and raped women in their attack on Israel, and shot boys and girls in the head. His claims about the beheadings had not been independently confirmed but rescue workers and witnesses had described horrific scenes.
In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, Palestinian suffering mounted as the enclave’s only power plant ran out of fuel Wednesday. Israel’s bombardment demolished neighborhoods and sent thousands scrambling for shelter.
U.S officials said they are working with Israel and Egypt to secure safe passage for civilians trapped in Gaza.
The war, which has claimed at least 2,300 lives on both sides, is expected to escalate: Netanyahu joined with a top political rival Wednesday to create a war-time Cabinet overseeing the fight to avenge Hamas’ attack.
The Israeli military said more than 1,200 people, including 189 soldiers, have died in Israel since the conflict began. In Gaza, 1,100 people have been killed, including 260 children and 230 women, and more than 5,300 wounded, according to authorities there. Israel says hundreds of Hamas fighters are among them. Thousands have been wounded on both sides.
More than 150 people have also been kidnapped by Hamas and other militant groups, which have fired thousands of rockets into Israel over the past five days.
Here are some key takeaways from the war:
WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN GAZA?
Conditions in the coastal enclave, a crowded, 40-kilometer long (25-mile) strip of land that is home to 2.3 million people, were deteriorating quickly Wednesday as entire city blocks were reduced to rubble and residents scrambled to find shelter.
Gaza’s power authority said its only power plant has since run out of fuel, leaving the territory without electricity, which leaves only private generators to power homes, hospitals and other facilities.
Gaza’s Civil Defense Department warned that there were too few rescue teams to search for survivors buried under rubble, and that teams were unable to reach many places because of damage to roads and constant bombardments.
“There is no safe place in Gaza right now,” said journalist Hasan Jabar after three Palestinian journalists were killed in the bombardment of a downtown neighborhood home to government ministries, media offices and hotels. “I am genuinely afraid for my life.”
More than 250,000 people in Gaza have fled their homes, the U.N. said. Most of them have crowded into schools run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Most of the territory’s residents are unable to leave due to a years-long blockade maintained by Israel and Egypt.
Israel has cut off supplies of food, fuel, electricity and medicine into Gaza, and the sole remaining access from Egypt was shut down Tuesday after airstrikes hit near the border crossing.
WILL ISRAEL LAUNCH A GROUND ASSAULT?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a leading opposition figure on Wednesday created a war-time Cabinet.
The Cabinet will consist of Netanyahu, Benny Gantz — a senior opposition figure and former defense minister — and current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a statement released by Gantz said.
Israel has also started warning civilians in Gaza to evacuate and then inflicting devastation. It’s also mobilized some 360,000 reservists.
The new tactics could point to a new objective. Four previous rounds of Israel-Hamas fighting between 2008 and 2021 all ended inconclusively, with Hamas battered but still in control.
This time, Israel’s government is under intense pressure from the public to topple Hamas, a goal considered unachievable in the past because it would require a reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, at least temporarily.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE RESPONSE FROM THE U.S. AND OTHER NATIONS?
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday sought to connect the Hamas attacks directly to decades of antisemitism and violence endured by Jews around the world.
“This attack has brought to the surface the painful memories and scars left by a millennium of antisemitism and genocide against the Jewish people,” Biden told reporters.
Biden said he and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Britain’s King Charles III on Wednesday condemned the “barbaric acts of terrorism in Israel,” and has asked officials to keep him updated on developments in the Middle East, a palace official said Wednesday.
In a briefing at Buckingham Palace on the king’s upcoming visit to Kenya, a spokesman said the king was extremely concerned about the situation.
The German government held a minute of silence for the Israeli victims of the Hamas terror attacks in parliament.
The president of parliament, Baerbel Bas, vowed Wednesday that Germany will stand unequivocally on the side of Israel and support the country’s right to defend itself and protect its people.
WHAT IS THE STATUS OF FOREIGN CITIZENS IN ISRAEL?
Foreign governments tried to determine how many of their citizens were dead, missing or in need of medical help as many countries arranged evacuation flights.
The number of U.S. citizens confirmed to have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war has risen to at least 22, the State Department said Wednesday. That’s an increase from 14 the day before.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that at least 20 U.S. citizens were unaccounted for.
Russia has reported the deaths of four citizens, while France said at least 11 were killed.
Twenty Thais were feared dead based on reports from employers, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kanchana Patarachoke said Tuesday, while 14 were believed to have been kidnapped.
The Austrian government said three Austrian-Israeli dual citizens may be among those kidnapped by Hamas and Italy’s foreign minister said an Italian-Israeli couple living on the Be’eri Kibbutz had been missing since the incursion and were “probably taken hostage.”
Other countries reporting deaths included the Philippines, Canada and Colombia.
WHAT PROMPTED HAMAS’ ATTACK ON ISRAEL?
Hamas, which seeks Israel’s destruction, says it is defending Palestinians’ right to freedom and self-determination.
But the devastation following Hamas’ surprise attack on Saturday has sharpened questions about its strategy and objectives. Hamas officials have said they planned for all possibilities, including a punishing Israeli escalation.
Desperation has grown among Palestinians, many of whom see nothing to lose under unending Israeli control and increasing settlements in the West Bank, a 16-year-long blockade in Gaza and what they see as the world’s apathy.
In addition to citing long-simmering tensions, Hamas officials cite a long-running dispute over the sensitive Al-Aqsa Mosque that is sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Competing claims over the site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, have spilled into violence before, including a bloody 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2021.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians escalated with recent violent Palestinian protests. In negotiations with Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations, Hamas has pushed for Israeli concessions that could loosen the blockade on the Gaza Strip and help halt a worsening financial crisis.
