about a thousand people -600 on Israeli territory and more than 400 in Gaza- They were killed in the two-day war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which captured 100 hostages in an offensive that took the Jewish state by surprise.

‘The enemy is still on the ground’ The Israeli army indicated this on Sunday evening.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Israelis to prepare for a “long and difficult” war and the army announced the upcoming evacuation of all residents of areas near the Gaza Strip.

The offensive launched on land, sea and in the air on Saturday by Hamas, which rules Gaza, has so far caused more than 600 deaths and 2,000 injuries in Israel, with 200 of them in “critical condition”, according to the official Israeli balance sheet .

The bombings launched by Israel in response to Gaza caused 413 deaths – including 78 children and 41 women – and 2,300 injuries, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said.

At least 198 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,600 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza

The Israeli government also indicated that Hamas captured “more than 100” people and took them as “prisoners.”

‘Kill every terrorist’

Israel has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers on the mission to “liberate hostages” and “kill any terrorist present” on its territory, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

Many Israelis searching for missing relatives claim to have recognized them in videos circulating on social networks.

Yifat Zailer, 37, said he thus identified his cousin and her children, aged 9 months and 3 years, who were allegedly captured by Hamas militiamen.

“It’s the only confirmation we have about them,” she said angrily AFP By phone.

The detainees include several American and German citizens, many of whom have dual Israeli citizenship.

Israel declares a state of war after multiple attacks from Gaza

There are also “three missing Brazilians” and one “hospitalized”, all with dual nationality, who took part in a music festival “less than 20 km from the Gaza Strip”, he told the AFP the Chancellery in Brasilia.

The Hamas offensive killed ten Nepalis and injured four in a kibbutz a few kilometers from Gaza, the Himalayan country’s embassy in Tel Aviv said.

Journalists out AFP They saw bodies of civilians shot in the streets of Sederot, the Gevim Kibbutz and Zikim Beach, north of Gaza.

International airlines have canceled dozens of air connections to Tel Aviv.

International tension

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting this Sunday on the situation in the Middle East, convened by Brazil, which holds the organization’s presidency this month.

The Hamas attack was condemned by the United States and numerous European and Latin American countries.

Washington on Sunday began sending additional military aid to Israel and moved its naval forces closer to the eastern Mediterranean, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

After the announcement, In a statement, Hamas equated US military aid with “aggression” against the Palestinians.

“The US announcement that it will provide an aircraft carrier to support the occupation [de Israel] “It implies real participation in the aggression against our people,” he said.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stated that the Islamic Republic “supports the legitimate defense of the Palestinian nation.”

Pope Francis called for a stop to the attacks because “terrorism and war do not lead to any solution, only to the death and suffering of so many innocent people.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on both sides to “support peace” and offered his good offices to end the conflict.

‘Unprecedented in Israel’

Hamas’s armed wing dubbed its offensive the Al Aqsa Flood, aimed at “ending all crimes of the occupation.” [israelí]”.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, Palestinian territory and East Jerusalem since 1967.

Palestinian fighters fired “more than 5,000 rockets” from the Gaza Strip and managed to infiltrate using vehicles, boats and even motorized paragliders.

The militants reached urban areas such as Ashkelon, Sderot and Ofakim, 22 kilometers from Gaza, attacking military and civilian positions in the middle of the streets.

A former Israeli soldier declared that the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, which remains a national trauma in the Jewish state, was “a trifle” compared to the current Hamas offensive.

“What happened is unprecedented in Israel,” Netanyahu acknowledged, in what is the biggest attack in decades, 50 years after the Yom Kippur War, which killed more than 2,600 Israelis in three weeks of fighting.

“We fear the destruction and the end of civil society in the Gaza Strip,” said Shadi al Asi, a 29-year-old Gazan. “We are entering a phase of destruction,” he warned.

Israeli forces bombed numerous targets in Gaza, including several buildings they presented as Hamas “command centers.”

The UN World Food Program said it was “deeply concerned” about the situation in that impoverished enclave of 2.3 million inhabitants, which has been subject to a strict Israeli blockade for more than 15 years.

To the north, from Lebanon, the pro-Iranian Shiite movement Hezbollah attacked three Israeli positions in a disputed border area with projectiles, in “solidarity,” it said, with the Hamas offensive.

The Israeli army responded by bombing southern Lebanon.

In the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a police officer killed two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide, a local channel and the Israeli Foreign Ministry report. (JO)