Israel’s military says that it has reasserted full control over communities on the Gaza border two days after Hamas’ large-scale assault, but has warned that some unaccounted-for militants may still be on Israeli territory.
“We are in control of the settlements,” Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said in a statement on Monday. It added that fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants had become “isolated” but that some Hamas militants may still be at large.
He also said “we are now carrying out searches in all of the communities and clearing the area.”
Earlier on Monday, the IDF said that there were about eight areas in southern Israel in which its armed forces were still fighting Palestinian militants. This includes Be’eri, a settlement that was infiltrated by around 70 fighters overnight, possibly with the use of a tunnel to breach the border.
At least 900 people are reported to have been killed in Israel following the surprise attack early on Saturday, according to an IDF spokesperson. A minimum of 560 people have died in retaliatory strikes against Gaza, the BBC said. A Hamas spokesperson said that four Israelis taken hostage during Saturday’s attacks were among those killed in the latest airstrikes.
Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that he had ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza in response to the Hamas incursion, local media reports said. Energy minister Israel Katz has also ordered that Gaza’s water supply be “immediately cut off.”
“There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant said. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose administration has come under fire for an apparent intelligence lapse in advance of the attack, pledged “mighty vengeance” as his government officially declared war on Hamas.
It was also noted by Hagari that Israel’s military has mobilized 300,000 reservists amid reports that a possible ground operation might soon be underway. The Israeli Air Force said on Monday that it has dropped more than 1,000 tons of bombs on Gaza “since the beginning of the war.”