12 October 2023 , 20:00
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Israeli troops bracing to launch a bloody ground attack on Hamas militants have stepped up devastating artillery strikes on Gaza.
Every 30 seconds 155 mm Howitzers are being blasted into the Palestine enclave as thousands of soldiers muster for the assault. Members of terror-organisation Hamas are still being hunted five days after the horrific bloodbath in which more than 1,000 Israelis were killed, including women and children.
It is now feared that Palestinian civilians are losing their lives in Gaza, from the blasts and a total blockade on food, water and energy which threatens to starve locals and shut down hospitals. Israel’s energy minister Israel Katz, insisted: “Not a single electricity switch will be flipped on, not a single faucet will be turned on, and not a single fuel truck will enter, until the Israeli hostages are returned home.”
On Thursday we saw heavily armed troops combing hedge rows and culverts for Hamas gunmen who may remain outside Gaza. From as close to the front as it is possible to get, we watched the Israeli Defence Forces pummel Hamas targets with self-propelled Howitzers.
The US-made killing machines are placed in fields close to the border and surveillance drones and spotters are used to pick out terrorist targets. Deafening booms rang out as targets were called in, each explosive shell carrying enough punch to smash down a house.
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Mirror Defence Editor Chris Hughes in Ashdod, Israel (Tim Merry)Huge clouds of smoke wafted across the fields close to where Hamas slaughtered 260 people at an Israeli music festival on Sunday. There have already been hundreds of Palestinian civilians killed, including children, and hospitals in Gaza are overflowing with casualties.
But it seems, innocents on both sides will continue to die after the attacks by Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years. What we witnessed are the opening salvos of war, softening up Hamas as thousands of infantry lie in wait to storm the hellscape their guns and planes have left.
lsrael’s forces are gathering despite fears that Lebanese Hezbollah fighters to the north are preparing for battle, possibly putting Israel in a three-fronted war. At least 100 “reservists and active duty soldiers” are understood to have travelled from the UK to serve in the IDF, the Israeli Embassy in the UK said.
Every 30 seconds 155 mm Howitzers are being blasted into the Palestine enclave (Tim Merry/Mirror)Israeli strikes have also hit airports of the Syrian capital Damascus and its northern city of Aleppo, damaging their runways a day before Iran’s foreign minister was scheduled to visit Syria. Israel has targeted airports and sea ports in Syria in an apparent attempt to prevent arms shipments from Iran to militant groups backed by Tehran, including Hezbollah.
UK citizens have been advised to flee Israel, with organised flights to help British nationals leave. The first flight is expected to leave the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Thursday, the Foreign Office said, with more in the coming days subject to the security situation.
The UK has also sent a rapid deployment team to assist British citizens on the ground. Family members of British diplomats are leaving Israel as a “precautionary measure”, and the Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to Israel.
UK citizens have been advised to flee Israel (Tim Merry/Mirror)The war has so far claimed at least 2,400 lives, among them at least 17 UK nationals reported dead or missing, including children, with Jake Marlowe, 26, the latest to be named. It is believed more than 300,000 Israeli reservists have been called up but it is not known how many have been deployed for the conflict around and in Gaza.
It is believed they will bolster an army of more than 100,000 troops. Many will be deployed to flashpoints such as the northern front with Lebanon and securing places such as areas close to the West Bank. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said Israel has “the right to do everything it can” to rescue hostages in Gaza.
Mr Barclay said: “We think international law obviously should be followed and civilian casualties should be minimised. “But we should also be very clear that the reason for this situation is because Hamas has taken hostages into Gaza and the Israeli Government has the right to do everything it can to rescue those hostages.”
A ground offensive in Gaza would be Israel’s first since the 2014 war (Tim Merry/Mirror)The former head of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, urged Israel not to do “what your enemy wants” and warned violent retaliation could create more terrorists. International aid groups said people could die in Gaza with the passage of food, water, fuel and medicine halted.
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International Committee of the Red Cross senior official Fabrizio Carboni said: “As Gaza loses power, hospitals lose power, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. Kidney dialysis stops, and X-rays can’t be taken. Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues.”
Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, has only enough fuel to keep power on for three days, said Matthias Kannes, an official for Doctors Without Borders. There have been calls for corridors to be established to allow aid in and civilians out.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi yesterday and offered the UK’s support to try to keep the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza open for aid.
Thousands of people, both Israeli and Palestinians have died (AFP via Getty Images)Palestinians in Gaza lined up outside bakeries after spending the night in pitch darkness surrounded by the ruins of destroyed neighbourhoods. People fleeing air strikes could be seen running through the streets carrying their belongings. Hundreds of thousands have crowded into UN-run schools while others are staying with relatives or even strangers who let them in.
A ground offensive in Gaza, whose 2.3 million residents are densely packed into a strip of land only 25 miles long, would be Israel’s first since the 2014 war and would likely result in a surge of casualties on both sides. Military spokesman Lt Col Richard Hecht said forces “are preparing for a ground manoeuvre if decided”, but claimed the political leadership has not yet ordered one.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush and destroy” Hamas with the support of a new war cabinet formed this week. The tough-talking right-winger, claimed: “Every Hamas member is a dead man.”
Militants in Gaza are holding an estimated 150 people snatched from Israel (Tim Merry/Mirror)The Israeli military said overnight strikes targeted Hamas’s elite Nukhba forces, including command centres used by the fighters who attacked Israel on Saturday. The home of a senior Hamas naval operative was also hit. Lt Col Hecht said: “We are focused on taking out their senior leadership. Not only the military leadership, but also the governmental leadership, all the way up to top Hamas leader Yehiyeh Sinwar. They were directly connected.”
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said Israeli strikes demolished two multi-storey houses on top of residents without warning, killing and wounding “a large number” of people, mainly civilians. Hamas has threatened to kill Israeli hostages if Israel strikes Palestinian civilians without warning.
Militants in Gaza are holding an estimated 150 people snatched from Israel - soldiers, men, women, children and older adults - and have fired thousands of rockets into Israel. Israel says roughly 1,500 Hamas militants had been killed outside Gaza, and that hundreds of the dead inside Gaza are Hamas members.
As we watched the artillery barrage, more troops arrived for the secret staging position ahead of a ground attack. It seems impossible that the offensive will not happen. And the world will watch nervously for the reaction of the rest of the Middle East – particularly Lebanon, Syria and Iran.