9 #UScitizens have been killed in the fighting between #Hamas & #Israel, State Dept spox Miller said.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the victims & to the families of all those affected”
Miller also said that “there are unaccounted-for U.S. citizens, & we are working w/our Israeli ptnrs to determine their whereabouts.”
Secy of State Tony #Blinken said Sunday it was possible that U.S. citizens are among the #hostages being held by Hamas in the #Gaza Strip.
Dozens of rockets rained down on the city of #Askhelon in south #Israel Monday though most were intercepted by the nation’s #IronDome antimissile system. 2 however hit the city.
Israeli #security forces declared all Israeli communities back under their control Monday. But residents are skeptical, & many neighborhoods remain on edge or largely evacuated.
In the town of Sderot Israeli troops took up positions on rooftops after clearing the area.
#Iran’s #UN mission denies #Tehran involvement in #Hamas coordinated attack on #Israel, saying in a statement that the “response” was “taken solely by #Palestine itself.”
“The decisions made by the Palestinian resistance are fiercely autonomous & unwaveringly aligned w/ the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people,” the statement said. It emphasized Iran’s “unflinching support of Palestine.”
#Iran’s statement cont: The #Hamas operation was successful because it came as a surprise, marking “the biggest failure of the Israeli regime’s #security organizations” ever. It said #Israel is attempting to attribute this security failure to Iranian intelligence because the state is struggling to accept that its intelligence was “defeated by a Palestinian group.”
#Germany’s Ministry of Economic Cooperation (#BMZ) announced the suspension of all development #aid for the #Palestinian territories while the funds are being “comprehensively examined.”
“But that doesn’t mean it will stop. It is being checked & temporarily suspended,” #Germany’s #BMZ spox said.
“These are commitments, which means it is not money that has flowed, but rather money that has been allocated. And these funds are now being comprehensively examined. That means at the moment it is not flowing while it is being checked.” #PalestinianAid#Israel#Palestine#Gaza#Hamas#MiddleEast#geopolitics#war
The #Palestinian Ministry of Health said repeated Israeli strikes on the surroundings of Beit Hanoun #Hospital have knocked the building out of service. Personnel are unable to enter or leave the hospital, the ONLY ONE in the city, & large parts of the hospital have been damaged.
The Israeli military announced that its aircraft were engaging targets in #Lebanon following the infiltration attempt on the northern border. It reported that three Israeli soldiers were wounded in the shootout. Residents in the largest city near the border, #KiryatShemona, have been told to shelter in place. The UN peacekeeping force in the area reported explosions.
Israeli soldiers killed 2 of 5 militants who crossed into #Israel from #Lebanon, IDF spox said. There was no word on the fate of the other 3.
Israeli helicopter gunships were deployed to Lebanese territory, & the IDF reported destroying a #Hezbollah position. The Hezbollah-linked al-Manar TV channel reported that an empty home was hit. #UNIFIL reported hearing explosions & said it was monitoring the situation.
The #Hezbollah told The Washington Post via Telegram that “we have nothing to do w/ this. It’s not us. And we don’t know if there was an infiltration or not.” #Israelis living in northern #Israel have been told to report to #BombShelters.
The incidents raise fears of an #escalation along Israel’s northern border & confrontation w/ Hezbollah. Israel fought a #war w/ the militant group in 2006 that killed >1 thousand people.
The spox for Hamas's military wing, Abu Obeida, has threatened to #execute a #civilian#hostage every time an #airstrike hits "our civilians in their homes without warning."
#Hamas is believed to be holding about 150 Israelis hostage.
#Rockets have fallen in parts of #Jerusalem, #Israel’s largest city & the seat of government, where sirens went off & loud booms were heard Monday.
The Magen David Adom (#MDA) #EmergencyServices confirmed that the barrage hit at least 3 points & wounded at least 7 people.
#Hamas’s armed wing, the #IQB, said earlier Monday that it had struck the city w/a rocket barrage in response to the bombardment of #civilian houses in the #Gaza Strip.
Rear Adm Hagari, Israel’s chief military spox, said that the army had a full list of #hostages being held in the #Gaza Strip & that it had notified 30 families of missing relatives. He said #Israel has killed hundreds of #Palestinian militants inside Gaza & Israel, & that it was holding hundreds of Palestinian captives. “We have regained control of the Israeli areas near the border,” Hagari said. He added that no more Palestinian militants have crossed Israel’s barrier fence.
In a fiery speech Monday, Israeli #PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would intensify its operations against Hamas, adding that “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate w/ them for generations.”
Earlier, a spox for #Hamas’s military arm, the #IQB, warned #Israel that attacks “without prior warning” on people sheltering in their homes in the #Gaza Strip would result in retaliatory #executions of captured Israeli civilians. The threat came after Israel announced a siege of Gaza on the third day of fighting since Hamas’s attack began, w/ #MOD Minister #YoavGallant saying there would be “no #electricity, no #food, no #fuel.”
President #Biden said Monday afternoon that the number of #UScitizens killed in the fighting had risen to 11. He also hinted that the number could climb.
“It’s heart-wrenching. These families have been torn apart by inexcusable hatred & violence,” Biden said in a statement released by the #WhiteHouse. “We also know that #American citizens still remain unaccounted for.”
US ofcls expect #Israel to launch a #ground incursion into densely populated #Gaza early this week. Israel maintains a complete air & sea #blockade of the Gaza Strip & allows only a small flow of goods & people through 2 land crossings, which have been cut off amid the fighting. Israel had also provided the enclave w/electricity.
In the absence of a govt response, they’re dreading the one most likely: a massive #MilitaryOperation, which they fear could put targets on their loved ones.
#Israel has a long & controversial history w/ #hostage taking, hostage swaps & hostage rescues — sometimes deadly ones.
In 1976, Israeli commandos stormed an airport in Uganda, freeing >100 Israelis held by #Palestinian hijackers. (3 of the captives were killed, as was Netanyahu’s commando brother.)
In 2011, #Netanyahu agreed to release 1,027 #Hamas prisoners from Israeli prisons in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who had been held in #Gaza for >5 yrs.
But none of the previous episodes, experts say, compares w/the mass kidnapping of children, grandparents & whole families, much of it captured on video & shared on social media. None of the options the govt may be considering are likely to end w/o more bloodshed.
#Hamas has said the #hostages are being held in tunnels & other secure locations. Ahmed Abdul Hadi, Hamas’s representative in #Lebanon, denied reports that the group was in talks w/Qatar over a prisoner exchange.
A spox for the military wing of #Hamas told Al Jazeera on Monday that the group would begin publicly executing a #civilian#hostage each time Gazan homes were hit “without prior warning” by Israeli airstrikes.
“The public wants to go into #Gaza & attack Hamas. The public also wants the #hostages to be safely rescued. I don’t think they’ve come to terms w/the inherent contradiction.” Danny Orbach, a military historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said.
A video filmed ~8AM on Oct7, ~1½hrs after the attack began, shows armed men in military clothing carrying AR-style weapons moving ≥5 people in plain clothes w/their hands tied through a residential area in Be’eri, near #Gaza. The video… was among the 1st pieces of evidence showing #Hamas militants taking Israeli #civilians captive.
A 2nd graphic video shared on Oct8, & independently verified…was recorded just yards from where the Israeli #hostages had been seen on Sat. The end of the footage shows multiple bodies on the ground. Their clothing appears to match that of the hostages.
The 2 videos were filmed just feet from each other on the same street, ID’ed by burned cars, a distinctive curb & houses. At the end of the 1st, the hostages are alive …at the end of the 2nd, they appear dead. #Hamas#Israel#Palestine
#Misinformation about the #war in #Israel spread widely Monday on #X, #TikTok & other #SocialMedia#platforms, some w/faked videos drawing millions of views apiece. #NewsGuard Technologies researchers identified 4 major themes of the falsehoods: that the attack against Israel was a false flag instead of by #Hamas, that Israel faked footage of dead children, that #Biden approved an $8B aid package for Israel & that #Ukraine sold weapons to Hamas.
Weapons said to be American-made were shown in videos released by Hamas, but there was no evidence that they came from Ukraine.
NewsGuard said accounts on X, formerly #Twitter, appeared to have the most traction, including some that are verified by the company & therefore show up in a users’ feed more often.
A video making the Ukraine weapons claim shared by “JoeyMannarinoUS” racked up 6.9M views by midday Monday.
Dozens of other fake videos included video game footage passed off as #Hamas shooting down helicopters, videos from Azerbaijan purporting to show capture of Israeli military ofcls, & paragliders from an Egyptian military demo instead of Hamas attackers.
“The level of #disinformation on #israel-hamas #war being algorithmically promoted on #twitter is unlike anything I’ve ever been exposed to in my career as a political scientist,” posted Eurasia Grp Pres Ian Bremmer.
An acct impersonating the JerusalemPost, called out Sun by WaPo, was suspended; one of the supposedly open-source intelligence accts that #X owner #ElonMusk touted, @sentdefender, acknowledged misreporting that a USAF C-17 had landed in TelAviv.
A new network of 67 fake accts found by #disinformation researchers at Alethea promoted videos of #Putin speaking about unrelated issues while the accts claimed he was saying Russia would back the Palestinians if America supported #Israel.
#Republican Sen. Tommy #Tuberville to continue his block on military confirmations which impacts senior #military appointments in the #MiddleEast, as the #Pentagon moves to bolster its presence in the region amid the ongoing crisis in #Israel.
Tuberville says he won’t relent until the Pentagon revokes its policy of reimbursing service members for #HealthCare-related travel, which the senator has argued facilitates #abortions.
#SecDef Lloyd Austin announced that he ordered the #Navy’s Ford carrier strike grp to the eastern Mediterranean, near #Israel. The USS Gerald Ford is the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier & it is being deployed to the area, along w/a guided missile cruiser & 4 destroyers, as a deterrence measure.
#Tuberville’s blockade means the current commander of the Navy’s 5th fleet – which is responsible for US naval ops in the #MiddleEast – is still awaiting promotion to deputy commander of #CentCom.
The deputy commanders of both #5thFleet & #USAF Central are also included in #Tuberville’s hold, as well as CENTCOM’s deputy dir of #strategy, plans & policy.
#Pentagon leadership roles have had to be significantly reshuffled because of Tuberville’s hold. Many snr military officers are performing 2 jobs as they await promotion, & some key positions are being held by more junior officers because a more senior officer has not yet been confirmed by the #Senate.
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