Operation Iron Swords - Day 5 - 10 October 2023

Palestinian armed group Hamas launched thousands of missiles at Israel and deployed its militants to infiltrate Jewish settlements near the country’s border with Gaza on 07 October 2023. The 1,200 Israelis killed on the first day would be the equivalent of 36,000 Americans killed in an attack, as a proportion to Israel’s population of 9.3 million people (compared to 332 million in the USA). Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated: “Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day".

By the fifth day over 1200 Israelis had been killed, 3007 wounded. At Kfar Azza, removal of the dead began only on 10 October 2023, with Army officers unable to say how many died, because finding them all would take days. Israeli forces said Hamas fighters massacred more than 100 civilians during the weekend's shock assault. Dozens more were dead and missing in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Israel's UN envoy said 100-150 were kidnapped to Gaza, including dozens of foreign nationals kidnapped. Palestinians said 1055 had been killed in Israeli airstrikes, and at least 5184 were wounded. IDF said it was holding 1,500 bodies of terrorists.

An "imminent" land attack was anticipated on Gaza as there were reports of an apparent build-up of Israeli forces on the borde, amid concerns that the situation could cause a broader regional conflict. Israel appeared to be preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza, which could pose a risk to the lives of hostages being held in the area. Although the country had not officially announced ground operations, Israeli citizens were told on Monday night to prepare to stay inside a safe shelter and gather enough food, water and other supplies to last 72 hours. The Guardian reported this was a clear sign that a ground assault in Gaza is imminent, adding that Israeli tanks and military helicopters were seen on an Israeli highway that runs parallel to the Gaza Strip. Citing Israel's chief military spokesperson, the Wall Street Journal also stated that Israel has called up 300-thousand reservists, noting the number suggests preparations for a possible invasion.

Opposition leader Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White alliance will form an emergency government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,who belongs to the conservative Likud. Gantz and Netanyahu will be a part of a "war Cabinet" directing operations against Hamas, the Islamist militant organization in charge of the Gaza Strip. Hamas is deemed a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and the EU. "Following a meeting... held today, the two agreed on establishing an emergency government and war cabinet," a joint statement read. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will also be a part of the war Cabinet. Gadi Eisenkot, a member of the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, who earlier served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), will be an observer in the Cabinet, along with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer.

Yair Lapid, a member of the centrist Yesh Atid party, has not yet signed onto the war Cabinet, but a seat will be left open for him. Lapid is a frequent critic of Netanyahu and the far-right and orthodox religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition. The decision to form a unity government and war cabinet between Netanyahu and Gantz is significant, as Gantz had previously chided Netanyahu over his judicial reform plans. The unity government means that for the duration, there will likely be no movement at all on the judicial reform issue, which had divided Israel and led to massive protests in Tel Aviv and other cities.

Nicholas Grossman wroted that "U.S. policy, especially the Trump administration’s, contributed to the unsustainable situation that made an outbreak of violence more likely. Claims that “Trump brought peace to the Middle East” are almost an inversion of reality. He shifted U.S. policy fully in Israel’s favor—reducing support for the Palestinians and treating their quest for statehood as something that could be ignored—and shaped the regional context by heightening confrontation with Iran without strategic benefit.... He threw America’s weight behind Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s squeeze-and-ignore approach to the Palestinians as if the fundamental problem of people displaced and living under occupation would just go away.... Jared Kushner put out a “peace plan” that mostly just proposed giving Israel what it wants and dismissing Palestinian concerns."

With the enclave’s sole power plant running out of electricity, its people will now rely solely on backup fuel-run generators. However, the Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila announced that “the fuel stock to operate the generators in the Gaza Strip hospitals will end tomorrow, Thursday, which will exacerbate the disastrous conditions in the hospitals.”

Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel’s blockade and bombing of the besieged Gaza Strip. “Preventing people meeting their most fundamental needs and bombing housing where civilians live – in short, conducting a conflict using every sort of shameful method – is not a war, it’s a massacre,” he said, referring to Israel cutting off electricity and water to Gaza and destroying infrastructure. “We openly oppose the killing of civilians on Israeli territories. Likewise, we can never accept the massacre of defenceless innocents in Gaza by indiscriminate, constant bombardments,” Erdogan said. Turkiye, which has backed Palestinians in the past and hosted members of Hamas, has been working to mend ties with Israel after years of animosity. Unlike the European Union and the United States, Turkiye does not consider Hamas a “terrorist” organisation.

According to local sources, the Israeli Air Force resumed its old practice of warning "knocks" with inert bombs containing no explosives on targets targeted for destruction. First, an inert bomb flies into the facility, signaling to local civilians that they should urgently leave the area, and after some time a “full-fledged” bomb filled with explosives arrives. And yes, of course, an inert bomb can also lead to casualties among civilians who happen to be nearby - a direct hit or secondary fragments formed after it. This method of “warning” only reduces the risk for local residents, but does not eliminate it altogether.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant: “We have taken control of the situation and are moving on to a full-scale offensive . I have given instructions to lift all restrictions in the fight against Hamas,” said the head of the Israeli Ministry of Defense during a meeting with soldiers on the border with Gaza. "Those who came to behead, kill women, kill those who survived the Holocaust - we will destroy them all. We will destroy them with all our might and without pity... We will make sure that what was in Gaza no longer exists " - Gallant added.

The representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, Andrei Chernyak, issued a statement that the Russian leadership allegedly knew about the impending attack by Hamas militants on Israel. Moreover, judging by Chernyak’s words, Hamas was also allegedly given in advance captured weapons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces captured during the fighting in Ukraine, and Russian PMCs not only trained the Palestinians, but are also operating in the battle zone right now.

Haaretz reported that on Saturday morning, 11:31 local time, a European Space Agency satellite passed over Israel and documented how Hamas torched Israeli homes with their residents inside and slaughtered hundreds of innocent civilians. "The satellite images show smoke and fire rising from sites where rockets and mortars landed, from combat, from kibbutz homes torched with their residents inside and from the parking lot at Kibbutz Re’im, where hundreds of Israelis were slaughtered while attending a rave."