Operation Iron Swords - Day 2 - 08 October 2023

Israel's security cabinet on 08 October 2023 officially declared a state of war following attacks by Hamas militants. The declaration allows "far-reaching military steps."

More than 100 people had been kidnapped and 600 killed in Israel in large-scale attacks by the Islamist group Hamas, the Israeli government said 08 October 2023. According to Israeli media reports, there are around 170 Israelis in captivity in the Gaza Strip. In the Egyptian city of Alexandria, two Israeli tourists were shot dead along with their Egyptian guide. US media reports suggest several Americans were among the dead and US nationals among those abducted by Hamas. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said at least 370 people have died there so far as a result of Israeli retaliation. and around 2,200 were injured.

German national Shani Louk was seen in the car of Hamas militants in videos shared on social media. She had been attending a peace festival near Gaza. A video circulating on social media showed a woman’s naked body being paraded in a pickup truck by Hamas terrorists during the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. Some social media users compared the body’s features to those of named Shani Louk. Louk’s mother confirmed that her 30-year-old daughter was indeed German and had been part of a tourist group in Israel. She expressed that she had seen the viral video and appealed to the public for any additional information they might have.

Germany is reviewing its hundreds of millions of euros of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories, Development Minister Svenja Schulze said 08 October 2023. She said although Germany had been careful to check that the donor money was only used for peaceful ends, the nature of the current attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas marked a "terrible turning point." Germany would discuss with Israel how development projects in the region could best be served, but she added it was also in the country's interest for people in the Palestinian territories to be able to live in stability in the long term. "We will now review our entire engagement for the Palestinian territories," Schulze said. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and assured him of German support. Scholz said Israel had the right to defend itself after the "barbaric attacks."

Speaking to reporters at the United Nations ahead of a UN Security Council meeting, Israeli envoy Gilad Erdan also said it was time to "obliterate" Hamas' military infrastructure. "The era of reasoning with these savages is over," he said. "Now is the time to obliterate Hamas' terror infrastructure, to completely erase it, so that such horrors are never committed again."

The Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have destroyed more than 550 Hamas facilities, IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee told Sputnik on Sunday, adding that these included homes, infrastructure and military positions. "Israel launched a series of dense and continuous strikes on the Gaza Strip, destroying more than 550 Hamas targets, including high-rise buildings, homes, infrastructure, positions, residential complexes and other facilities used by Hamas," Adraee said. The IDF air force also carried out strikes against Hamas groups attempting to infiltrate Israeli territory, killing hundreds of fighters in the Gaza Strip and along the border, the spokesman added.

Israeli army spokesperson Richard Hecht said the fence to the Gaza Strip had been breached at 29 points, all of which were now under check. The Israeli military says there are still eight places in southern Israel, on the border with Gaza, where its forces are searching for possible attackers. Masha Michelson, head of the IDF's European press desk, said that hundreds of thousands of reservists had been sent to southern Israel to stabilize the border area with Gaza. "We have struck 426 targets since yesterday" in the Gaza Strip, including 100 strikes from UAVs that have been conducted on the border with Israel, she added, using the acronym for unmanned aerial vehicle. Michelson said there would be an investigation carried out "calmly, without bias and thoroughly" to determine how the surprise attack by Hamas was able to take place.

Palestinians in Gaza have received messages on their phones from Israeli authorities, especially those living near the eastern part of Gaza, to evacuate immediately and move to more central areas.

The Israeli army said it fired artillery on southern Lebanon after coming under fire from militants in the region. "Israeli artillery is in the process of striking the area of Lebanon from which a shot was fired," said a statement, which was issued shortly before 7:30 a.m. (0430 GMT) local time on Sunday. It did not give any further details about the attack. "The IDF is prepared for all scenarios, and will continue to protect the security of the residents of the State of Israel," IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari wrote.

Israel will “obliterate” Hamas, the country’s envoy to the UN Gilad Erdan has said, ruling out any prospects of negotiating with the Palestinian militant group. Speaking ahead of an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday, the diplomat denounced Hamas as “a genocidal Islamist terror organization,” comparing it to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and al-Qaeda. “The era of reasoning with these savages is over,” Erdan announced. “Now is the time to obliterate Hamas terror infrastructure, to completely wipe it out, so that such horrors are never committed again.”

In a wave of night attacks, the IDF attacked more than 500 strategic targets of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip. Among the targets attacked, seven operational headquarters of Hamas and another operational headquarters of the terrorist organization were destroyed. In addition, the IDF attacked a number of high-rise buildings, one of which houses a Hamas military headquarters. From there, terrorism was directed against the State of Israel. Also, a building that was used operationally by a senior naval officer of the terrorist organization Hamas was attacked. As part of the attack wave, three terror tunnels in the Beit Hanon area were destroyed. Two Hamas operational properties were also attacked from the air, one of them located in the heart of a mosque.

Hezbollah said it fired at Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms along the border with Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah claimed responsibility, saying it had fired "large numbers of artillery shells and guided missiles" at Israeli positions "in solidarity" with Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is in a “difficult position” because it is betting on a political process that does not exist, a Palestinian analyst told Al Jazeera. “The PA was hoping to maintain the status quo, but this operation has ensured that Hamas’s popularity will increase, especially if, once the fog of war clears, Hamas still has Israeli POWs,” said Esmat Mansour, a Ramallah-based journalist specialising in Israeli affairs. Israel has not engaged in peace talks with the PA since 2014 and successive opinion polls show that a majority of Palestinians want its president, Mahmoud Abbas, to resign.

Jordan’s King Abdullah said there was a need to intensify diplomatic efforts to prevent escalating Israeli-Palestinian violence with “dangerous repercussions” for the region’s security. In comments made on state media, Abdullah said contacts with regional and international parties were under way to discuss “urgent international action to avoid an escalation and prevent the region from the consequences of a new round of violence”.

Washington ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford, an aircraft carrier, and its accompanying warships to the eastern Mediterranean, the Pentagon said, adding that it was increasing fighter aircraft squadrons in the region. The Ford carrier strike group has around 5,000 sailors and deck of warplanes. The carrier will be accompanied by cruisers and destroyers.

A statement from US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that the US would provide munitions and equipment to Israel and boost American forces in the Middle East. "The United States government will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions," Austin's statement said.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia’s 14th District, who, in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack, Tweeted/Xeeted “We need to work with Israel to track serial numbers on any US weapons used by Hamas against Israel. Did they come from Afghanistan?” the Congresswoman asks. “Did they come from Ukraine? Highly likely the answer is both.”

Republican candidates hoping to unseat President Joe Biden quickly blamed him for the crisis. "Sadly, American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks, which many reports are saying came from the Biden Administration," former President Donald Trump said in a statement. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who's running for president, said in a statement, “This is what happens when America’s president projects weakness on the world stage, kowtows to the mullahs in Iran with a $6 Billion ransom, and leaders in the Republican Party signal American retreat as Leader of the Free World. Weakness arouses Evil."

Vivek Ramaswamy, said in a post on the social platform X, "America’s broken foreign policy establishment knew they were funding Hamas & went ahead with it anyway. The unprecedented $6BN in ransom paid to Iran last month worsened it: our taxpayer dollars are funding Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. This will end on Day 1 of my administration."

"All of the money held in restricted accounts in Doha as part of the arrangement to secure the release of 5 Americans in September remains in Doha. Not a penny has been spent," tweeted Treasury undersecretary Brian Nelson. "These restricted funds cannot go to Iran — it can only be used for future humanitarian-related purposes. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and misleading."

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson also said in a post on X that none of the funds has been spent yet. "I can’t comment on 2024 because of the Hatch Act. But I can clarify the facts: Not a single cent from these funds has been spent, and when it is spent, it can only be spent on things like food and medicine for the Iranian people. These funds have absolutely nothing to do with the horrific attacks today and this is not the time to spread," she wrote.

In Germany, it was striking who did not comment: There was no prominent voice from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on the matter and barely any comments from the socialist Left Party. The leaders of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), as well as the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) made a rare joint statement expressing solidarity with Israel. "The security of the State of Israel is our obligation," they said, stressing that the two countries were joined in "in a democratic community of values."

Polish President Andrzej Duda believes the extremist group Hamas' attack on Israel will aid Russia in its war against Ukraine as it draws away attention from the conflict, he said on Polish television. "This certainly helps Russia and Russian aggression against Ukraine, it distracts the world's attention," he said.

Sergey Mardan, one of Russia’s best-known propagandists and host of the eponymous show on the state channel Solovyov Live, wrote on his Telegram channel that “This mess is beneficial for Russia, because the globalist toad will be distracted from Ukraine and will get busy trying to put out the eternal Middle Eastern fire.” Mardan explained, “Iran is our real military ally. Israel is an ally of the United States. Therefore, choosing a side is easy!”

Host of the show “Morning Z” on Solovyov Live, Boris Yakemenko, blamed the violence on gender issues (presumably a reference to LGBT+ debates in the West), stating, “What is happening today in different corners of the world shows that the world has come to a dangerous point, beyond which lies the new world. Crossing into it will be preceded by horrendous casualties, because of a feeling of total injustice, insanity, a total lack of understanding of what is happening, with all of these genders, with all of these strange phenomena!”

Putin’s former advisor, Sergey Markov, said “The Soviet Union has been helping Palestinians for many years. The main ally of Israel is the United States, which is also Russia’s main enemy right now. Russia’s ally, Iran, is an ally of Hamas. Russia will benefit from the rising oil prices as a consequence of this war . . . Any conflicts on which the US and the EU have to expend resources are beneficial for Russia because this lessens the resources sent to the Russophobic regime in Ukraine.”

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said on X (formerly Twitter): “Clashes between Hamas and Israel on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War come as an expected development. This is what Washington and its allies should be busy with. The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on for decades, with the US the key player in it.” Medvedev added: “But instead of actively working at Palestinian-Israeli settlement, these morons have interfered with us, and are providing the neo-Nazis with full-scale aid, pitting the two closely related peoples against each other.”