Israel on Saturday placed its forces on alert ahead of the first anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack, after a military official said the country was preparing its retaliation for Iran’s missile attack.
Ahead of the Monday anniversary, Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a televised briefing, “We are prepared with increased forces in anticipation for this day” when there could be “attacks on the home front.”
Meanwhile, Israeli President Issac Herzog said that his country’s October 7 “wounds still cannot fully heal”.
The deaths on both sides in Gaza war
The unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians. Israel struck back hard at the Gaza Strip, killing more than 41,000 people of which the majority were civilians.
Ahead of the October 7 anniversary, thousands joined pro-Palestinian rallies in London, Paris, Cape Town and other cities.
US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators tried unsuccessfully for months to reach a Gaza truce and secure the release of 97 hostages still held in the Hamas-ruled territory.
The anniversary coincides with a time when there is a lingering fear over whether an all-out war will break out with Israel’s attack on Lebanon and the escalating conflict.
18 killed in air strike on Gaza mosque
In the latest news from the Gaza war, at least 18 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a Gaza mosque early on Sunday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
The strike occurred near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Reports said the number of casualties could rise as the mosque was being used to house displaced people.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said in a statement it “conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded in a structure that previously served as the ‘Shuhada al-Aqsa’ Mosque in the area of Deir al Balah.”
Since October 7, 2023, when Palestinain Hamas militants attacked Israel, as many as 1,200 Israelis have been killed and 250 have been held hostages, as per Israeli tallies while nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the attacks by Israel, as per Gaza’s health ministry. About 2.3 million people have been displaced in the war-torn regions causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which the Israel has denied.
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