Israel, Gaza toll mounts; Civilians pay staggering cost

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 8, (Agencies): Forty-five members of the Kuwaiti National Assembly signed a joint statement to reaffirm support for the Palestinian people’s right to respond to the recurrent Israeli aggressions and violations. The Zionist entity escalated their vandalization of the Islamic sanctities in Jerusalem and incursions into the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque in the last few weeks, reads the statement posted to the social media accounts of the signatories.

“Thousands of Jewish extremists repeatedly broke into the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque yards under the patronage of the police forces and the right-wing government of the Israeli occupation. “The Israeli occupation forces also have taken part in the attacks on Palestinian male and female worshippers, and in the desecration of the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque as well as Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi (Sanctuary of Abraham) in Al-Khalil (Hebron) town in the West Ban,” according to the statement. The Israeli occupation forces have also escalated their incursions into the Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank since the beginning of this year, which left hundreds of casualties among the Palestinian residents.

Anger
“All of these crimes took place under the eye of the international community which failed to respond, thus fueling anger among the Palestinian people. “The Palestinians had no choice other than to defend themselves against such aggressions and violations with all means at their disposal, using their right to self-defense enshrined in all international laws and conventions,” the statement noted. Accordingly and based on the firm popular and official stance of the State of Kuwait, the National Assembly members affirm support for the right of the brotherly people of Palestine to respond to the malpractices of the Zionist entity.

The ongoing incidents are a normal response to the crimes of the Israeli occupation and a legitimate act of self-defense, the parliamentary statement argued. The Kuwaiti MPs urged the Arab and Muslim nations to shoulder their responsibilities for backing up the Palestinian people’s struggle against the repeated crimes of the Zionist entity. Appealing for the governments of the Arab and Muslim countries to support Palestine and boycott Israel, they concluded by saying, “We, as representatives of the Kuwaiti people, are firmly opposed to normalization of relations with the Zionist entity, for Jews usually renege promises.”

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel on Sunday and launched retaliation strikes that leveled buildings in Gaza, while in northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict. There was still some fighting underway more than 24 hours after an unprecedented surprise attack from Gaza, in which Hamas militants, backed by a volley of thousands of rockets, broke through Israel’s security barrier and rampaged through nearby communities. At least 600 people have reportedly been killed in Israel - a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades - and more than 300 have been killed in Gaza.

The militants also took captives back into the coastal Gaza enclave, including women, children, and the elderly, whom they will likely try to trade for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the U.S. is working to verify reports that “several” Americans were killed or are missing.

The high death toll, multiple captives, and slow response to the onslaught pointed to a major intelligence failure and undermined the long-held perception that Israel has eyes and ears everywhere in the small, densely populated territory it has controlled for decades. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was at war and would exact a heavy price from its enemies. His Security Cabinet officially declared the country at war in an announcement on Sunday, saying the decision formally authorizes “the taking of significant military steps.”

The implications of the announcement were not immediately clear. Israel has carried out major military campaigns over the past four decades in Lebanon and Gaza that it portrayed Yohanan Plesner, the head of the Israel Democracy Institute, a local think tank, said the decision is largely symbolic, but “demonstrates that the government thinks we are entering a more lengthy, intense and significant period of war.”

A major question now was whether Israel would launch a ground assault into Gaza, a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. Netanyahu vowed that Hamas “will pay an unprecedented price.” But, he warned, “This war will take time. It will be difficult.” Civilians paid a staggering cost for the violence on both sides. Several Israeli media outlets, citing rescue service officials, said at least 600 people were killed in Israel, including 44 soldiers, while officials in Gaza said 313 people had died in the territory. Some 2,000 people have been wounded on each side. An Israeli official said security forces have killed 400 militants and captured dozens more. Israeli TV news aired a stream of accounts from the relatives of captive or missing Israelis, who wailed and begged for assistance amid a fog of uncertainty surrounding the fate of their loved ones.

In Gaza, residents fled homes near the border to escape Israeli strikes, fleeing deeper inside the territory after warnings in Arabic from the Israeli military. In neighboring Egypt, a policeman shot dead two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian at a tourist site in Alexandria, the Interior Ministry said. Egypt made peace with Israel decades ago, but anti-Israel sentiment runs high in the country, especially during bouts of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The flare-up on Israel’s northern border also threatened to draw into the battle Hezbollah, a fierce enemy of Israel which is backed by Iran and estimated to have tens of thousands of rockets at its disposal.

Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets and shells on Sunday at three Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border and Israel’s military fired back using armed drones. Two children were lightly wounded by broken glass on the Lebanese side, according to the nearby Marjayoun Hospital. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military official, told reporters the situation at the northern border was calm after the exchange. But he said fighting was still underway in the south and that there were still hostage situations there. He said troops had moved into every community near the Gaza frontier, where they planned to evacuate all civilians and scour the area for militants. “We will go through every community until we kill every terrorist that is in Israeli territory,” he said. In Gaza, “every terrorist located in a house, all the commanders in houses, will be hit by Israeli fire. That will continue escalating in the coming hours.” Hamas said that overnight it had continued to send forces and equipment into “a number of locations inside our occupied territories,” referring to Israel.