Missile war erupts as 5,000 killed but Israeli locals vow to stay put
A ferocious cross-border missile war raged between Israel and Hamas as both sides launched barrages of rockets and tank shells.
Nearly two weeks after Hamas’ massacre of more than 1,300 Israeli civilians sparked all-out war we witnessed the deadly exchanges close up on the frontline. Inside Gaza, a humanitarian disaster is unfolding with hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinians sheltering from air strikes. But in the skies above an horrific duel is being acted out by Israel’s artillery teams and defiant Hamas and Islamic Jihad diehards inside Gaza. We saw two Hamas rockets blown out of the sky above us by the Iron Dome defences and within seconds Israeli troops opened fire on Gaza’s rocket teams with Howitzers.
But not all the Hamas weapons are being shot down and as we talked to two locals refusing to evacuate frontline town Sderot missiles rained down on Israel’s most rocketed town. Most of Sderot’s townfolk have fled the now near-ghost community after it was overrun on Saturday last week by marauding Hamas terrorists hell-bent on slaughter.
Ichye insists he's staying put (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)Achingly cruel moments in war can produce bizarre and unthinkable split-second reactions in people and as we discovered - Sderot is no exception. As we drove into the almost deserted community we saw 61-year-old loner Ichye Katanov, whose Uzbek family moved to Israel 32 years ago. At first, Ichye, who is unemployed and whose wife died some years ago, refused to speak to us, saying: “You are not religious,” but he could not resist telling us how he witnessed the slaughter. Clearly profoundly traumatised he told us: “I am not leaving because God will look after me.
“I was sitting here last Saturday when the gunmen arrived on the back of Toyotas. I didn’t know what they were doing. I was confused and simply put my hand up to acknowledge them. One of them waved back. I don’t know why and as they drove past me one of them said ‘Oh leave him alone.
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“Then down the road, I heard the shooting and the pavement was covered in the bodies of mostly women - their blood stains have not yet gone.” Ichye, looking dishevelled and confused cut a tragic figure as in the distance we heard booms of explosions. Another man, former IDF soldier Oren Elad, 53, an electrician, told us: ”When I saw the gunmen I thought they were Israeli Special Forces, speaking Arabic like in the hit Israeli series Fauda.” Fauda is based on an Israeli undercover Special Forces team that infiltrated the West Bank and has taken the world by storm for its balanced but gritty coverage of the fight against terror. Oren, whose wife and children have fled the area, has stayed in the town to “look after his parrot” he tells us, laughing manically before turning deadly serious.
Oren Clad talks with Mirror's Chris (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)He says: “I heard the shooting but didn’t believe it. I am a soldier and I know what this sounds like but it was different. I went outside and saw these guys, believing they were special forces, like in Fauda, you know - Arabic-speaking Israeli soldiers. But then one dropped into the prone position and was firing at me.” Poor Oren, also apparently deeply affected by what he saw mimes someone firing a machine gun. He says: “He was firing at me so I ran back inside my home, telling my wife to take cover. Ten minutes later I came out to see what had happened. There were 20 bodies lying in line near the bus stop.”
To prove he is not lying he then shows me a grisly video of the corpses taken moments after Hamas slaughtered these innocent civilians. Then suddenly a woman’s voice blared out in a recorded message on the town’s loud tannoy system “Tzeva Adom,” roughly translated as “Code Red.” All of us push our way into a nearby bomb shelter, continuing the interview as both men continue their story, talking over each other. Seconds later five loud booms close by announced the impact of Hamas’ latest barrage, landing somewhere nearby within Sderot. These rockets have become an everyday incident for our interviewees but still, they refuse to leave their home town.
So far the death toll for Palestinians is about 3,478 with 12,065 wounded and for Israel 1,400 with 2,382 wounded, 22 seriously. As we spoke, on the other side of the border, Israeli airstrikes pounded the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including some that Israel had declared as safe zones.
Israeli troops close to Gaza border (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)It has heightened fears among more than 2 million trapped Palestinians. In the nearly two weeks since a vile Hamas rampage in southern Israel, the Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in response. A residential building in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had sought shelter, was among the places hit. Medics said they received at least 12 dead and 40 wounded. The bombardments came after Israel agreed to allow Egypt to deliver limited humanitarian aid to Gaza, the first crack in a punishing 11-day siege. Many of Gaza’s residents were down to one meal a day and drinking dirty water.
The announcement of a plan to bring supplies into Gaza came as fury over a Tuesday night explosion at Gaza City’s al-Ahli Hospital spread. There were conflicting claims of who was behind the blast, but it seems likely it was a misfired militant rocket. Israel has released video, audio and other information that it said showed the blast was caused by a rocket misfire by Islamic Jihad. The White House says analysis of “overhead imagery, intercepts and open-source information” showed Israel was not behind the attack. More than a million Palestinians have fled their homes in Gaza City and other places in the northern part of the territory since Israel told them to evacuate.
Most have crowded into U.N.-run schools-turned-shelters or the homes of relatives. Following airstrikes early Thursday, sirens wailed as emergency crews rushed to rescue survivors from a building in Khan Younis, where many residents were believed trapped. Among the Palestinians injured 70% are children, women and the elderly, Gaza’s health ministry has said.
Israeli tanks patrol forward operating base near border (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)Some 600 children remain under the rubble of Israeli airstrikes, of a total 1,300 people, said spokesperson Ashraf al Qudra. He added: “The ministry believes there are survivors in the rubble, but the process of reaching them is severely hampered due to constant air strikes and poor capacity.” Scotland's first minister Humza Yousaf’s brother-in-law has refused to leave his post as a doctor in Gaza because people “need me”. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Yousaf shared a video of bloodied children being treated by medical personnel, writing: “My brother-in-law, a doctor in Gaza, is spending his seventh consecutive day in hospital. Nadia spoke to him & said he should go home to rest, his response: ‘I can’t leave my people when they need me’.
Israel’s military has suggested the ground offensive on Gaza is imminent. The Israeli Defence Force said: “Now, our manoeuvres are going to take the war into their territory. It's going to be long, it's going to be intense, the best commanders and soldiers are here” The Commanding Officer of the Southern Command, MG Yaron Finkelman, today toured units currently stationed in the south. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops rallying near Gaza: "You see Gaza now from a distance, you will soon see it from inside. The command will come.” But Israel has in the past used press leaks and releases as a deception to enemies.
A British-Israeli man, Yonatan Rapoport, known as Yoni, is now known to have been murdered by Hamas. He was killed in the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October. He had two children, Yosefi and Aluma. He was a big Manchester United fan and planned to take his son to Old Trafford next month, for his son’s first game there. At least eight British nationals were killed in the Hamas attacks. The UK government said last night that nine remain missing. On Thursday, Hezbollah again targeted Kibbutz Manara with anti-tank shells in northern Israel. The IDF fired back amid fears of a wider conflict and a cross-border missile exchange has been underway daily.
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Gaza’s Hamas-led government said several bakeries in the territory were hit in the overnight strikes. The Israeli military said it killed a top Palestinian militant in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, and hit hundreds of targets across Gaza, including militant tunnel shafts, intelligence infrastructure and command centres. And Lebanese Hezbollah fired more than 20 shells into northern Israel, some hitting a Kibbutz, whilst the IDF fired back, sparking fears of a wider Middle Eastern war.
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