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Israel death toll rises to 1,200: military
"The death toll is a staggering 1,200 dead Israelis," IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said in a video message, adding that "the overwhelming majority of them" were civilians.
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Israeli army soldiers carry the coffin with the remains of their comrade Noam Elimeleh Rothenberg during his funeral at Mount Herzel Cemetery in Jerusalem on October 10, 2023. Fighting between Israel and Hamas entered fourth day, after the Palestinian militant group launched a massive surprise assault from Gaza that precipitated mass mobilisation on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli divide.
(AFP/Yuri Cortez)
M
ore than 1,200 Israelis have been killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict, an Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson said Wednesday, up from 1,000 previously reported.
"The death toll is a staggering 1,200 dead Israelis," IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said in a video message, adding that "the overwhelming majority of them" were civilians.
Israel vowed to escalate its response to an attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas with a ground offensive, while US President Joe Biden pledged support for Israel and issued a warning to anyone who might seek to take advantage of the situation.
Israel said dozens of its fighter jets struck more than 200 targets overnight on Wednesday in a neighbourhood of Gaza City that it said had been used by Hamas to launch its unprecedented wave of attacks.
Gaza's health ministry said at least 900 people have been killed and 4,600 wounded in the crowded coastal enclave.
On Saturday, Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip rampaged through parts of southern Israel, in the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israel's history.
Hamas militants holding Israeli soldiers and civilians hostage on Monday threatened to execute a captive for each home in Gaza hit without warning, but as night fell on Tuesday there was no indication they had done so.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, speaking to soldiers near the Gaza fence, said: "Hamas wanted a change and it will get one. What was in Gaza will no longer be."
"We started the offensive from the air, later on we will also come from the ground. We've been controlling the area since Day 2 and we are on the offensive. It will only intensify."
Israel withdrew troops from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation, and has kept it under blockade since Hamas seized power there in 2007. The siege it announced on Monday would keep out food and fuel.
