At least The fighting and shelling left 198 Palestinians dead and more than 1,600 injured. Israelis in Gaza, as the intense armed conflict that broke out this morning as a result of a surprise offensive against Israel by land, sea and air by the Islamist group Hamas continues.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health 198 people from the coastal enclave died and 1,610 were injured ‘as a result of Israeli aggression’ while airstrikes by Israel in Gaza and rocket fire by Palestinian militias continue in Israeli territory, where it is estimated that many Gaza militia members are still fighting with Israeli forces.

According to Palestinian sources in the Strip, At least five buildings in Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli bombardments, and hospitals are in a state of emergency due to the situation.

In turn, thousands of Gazan civilians were evacuated from cities in the northern Gaza Strip, such as Beit Hanoun, Jabalia or Beit Lahia, and fled to Gaza City to be housed in schools run by the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, due to the harshness of the fight against the Gaza Strip. confrontations.

Israel declares a state of war after multiple attacks from Gaza

So too, as he could observe EFEThe victims are said to include at least twenty Palestinian militia members who were killed in the fighting in Israel after their raid this morning and whose bodies have been returned.

According to local estimates It is estimated that the number of militants currently still in Israel is much higher than the figure reported by Israeli authorities. and it could be hundreds or even more than a thousand troops from the Al Qasam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, or the armed wing of the Islamist group Islamic Jihad.

The militants killed Israeli soldiers, took residents hostage in Israeli towns near the Strip and kidnapped about 50 people, according to Gaza sources and videos circulated on social networks capturing soldiers, civilians and military personnel, including Asian immigrants.

Saleh al Arouri, a senior official of the Islamist movement Hamas, assured that the militants had managed to capture “senior officials of the Israeli army”, including a general, according to images released have been circulated on networks in which he is seen from the inside of Gaza.

“What has begun is not an operation, but a struggle that will expand, intensify and deepen,” Al Arouri warned. (JO)