Israel Vows ‘Complete Siege’ of Gaza as Israeli Death Toll From Terror Attacks Rises to 900

Israeli security forces take part in a search operation for Hamas operatives near Ashkelon, Israel, on Oct. 8, 2023. Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Oct. 9 that his country would impose a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, from where Hamas terrorists launched a shock attack in which more than 900 Israelis were killed and many more injured.

Mr. Gallant said that authorities would cut off electricity and block the entry of food and fuel to Gaza, while labeling as “human animals” the terrorists who two days earlier launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel and massacred scores of Israeli civilians.

In a televised address to the nation on Oct. 9, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the perpetrators of the attacks were “monsters.” He said that not since the Holocaust had so many Jews been killed in one day.

At the time of writing, the Israeli death toll had risen to 900.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the war was forced upon Israel by a “horrendous enemy.”

“Citizens of Israel, we are in the third day of this war. We are fighting for our home and for our existence,” he said, while vowing that Israel would prevail.

Israeli Infrastructure Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the cutoff of water supplies from Israel to Hamas-controlled Gaza.

“What was in the past, will no longer be in the future,” he said, as some 2 million Palestinians who live in the Hamas-ruled territory brace for a possible Israeli ground operation.

Hamas has said it’s ready for a long battle to end what it calls an intolerable Israeli occupation.

Smoke plumes rise over Gaza City during Israeli air strikes launched in retaliation for attacks on Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023. Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, told The Associated Press he was concerned that Israel’s siege would spell “utter disaster” for the people in Gaza.

“There is no doubt that collective punishment is in violation of international law,” he told the outlet. “If and when it would lead to wounded children dying in hospitals because [of] lack of energy, electricity, and supplies, it could amount to war crimes.”

The Attack

On Oct. 7, after breaking through Israeli barriers with explosives at daybreak, some 1,000 armed Hamas terrorists went on an hours-long rampage, gunning down some civilians while kidnapping others and dragging them to Gaza.

Authorities from each side said that about 900 Israelis, including 73 soldiers, had been killed in Israel, while about 490 people had been killed in Gaza.

Palestinian groups said they were holding more than 130 people hostage after abducting them in Israel and forcibly taking them to Gaza, with The Epoch Times unable to verify the claims.

Palestinians transport a captured Israeli civilian (C) from Kibbutz Kfar Azza into the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023. AP Photo/Hatem Ali

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that at least four Americans were killed in Israel in the attacks.

“The administration told us that they know of four [Americans who were killed] thus far, but, sadly, we know the toll will rise,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement released on the evening of Oct. 8.

He said he had received a Pentagon briefing on the situation, adding that the Hamas terror group was targeting “innocent civilians—children, families, seniors.”

The State Department raised the number to nine on the morning of Oct. 9.

Israeli police officers evacuate a family from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023. Tsafrir Abayov/AP Photo

‘We Are Going to Change the Middle East’

The Israeli military—which was caught off guard by the multi-pronged assault that came by air, land, and sea—said on Oct. 8 that it had mostly gained control in Israel’s southern towns where it had been battling Hamas terrorists.

Israeli Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters on Oct. 8 that Israeli bombardment was moving from district to district to destroy buildings used by Hamas terrorists.

Mr. Hagari said that Israel plans to hit thousands of targets and that hundreds of Hamas members were buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed since the terror group launched its attack.

On Oct. 8, the Israeli prime minister told officials in southern Israel to brace for a sweeping military campaign targeting Hamas.

“I ask you to stand firm because we are going to change the Middle East,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “I know you have been through terrible and difficult things. What Hamas will go through will be difficult and terrible. ... We have only just begun.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks from Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023. Israeli Ministry of Defence/Video keyframe via Reuters

Ground Operation to Come?

The Israeli military said it had already mobilized some 300,000 reservists, while tanks and drones were deployed to guard the breaches in the Gaza border wall that terrorists blew holes in days earlier to enable their bloody assault.

Thousands of Israelis were evacuated from more than a dozen towns near Gaza. Israel’s moves, which include a formal declaration of war against Hamas, point to a massive operation meant to degrade—perhaps permanently—the terror group’s ability to launch attacks from the neighboring enclave.

Fire and smoke rise following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City on Oct. 8, 2023. Fatima Shbair/AP Photo

The Hamas terror group has ruled Gaza since 2007, when it drove out forces loyal to the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.

The group’s rule has gone unchallenged since then.

A key question is whether Israel will launch a ground assault into Gaza, a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. Israeli authorities warned Gaza residents to leave as they prepared to bombard sites used by Hamas to plan attacks against Israel.

Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua told The Associated Press that its operatives had abducted more Israelis as recently as the morning of Oct. 9 as some of its fighters continued to operate outside Gaza territory.

Meanwhile, neighboring Egypt fears an exodus of people from Gaza streaming to its border as the conflict intensifies.

The United Nations said more than 123,000 people had already fled their homes in Gaza.