Israel continued attacks on Gaza, overnight on Monday, vowing, following Iran’s attack on Israel, not to be distracted from its goal of rescuing the hostages and destroying Hamas.
Israel launched dozens of airstrikes on Gaza overnight, Hamas said Monday, as the army stated it will not be distracted from the war after Iran’s unprecedented attack heightened fears of wider conflict.
World powers have urged restraint after Iran late Saturday launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel, though the Israeli military has said the vast majority were intercepted.
Tehran’s first direct assault on Israel, in retaliation for a deadly strike in Damascus earlier this month, followed months of violence across the region involving Iranian proxies.
“Even while under attack from Iran, we have not lost sight, not for one moment, of our critical mission in Gaza to rescue our hostages from the hands of Iran’s proxy Hamas,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said late Sunday.
As mediators eye a deal to halt the fighting, triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack, fears grew over Israeli plans to send troops into Rafah, a far-southern city where the majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have taken refuge.
The army said it was “calling up approximately two reserve brigades for operational activities on the Gazan front,” about a week after withdrawing most ground troops from the territory.
The Hamas media office said Israeli aircraft launched “dozens” of strikes overnight on central Gaza.
Rumors of a reopened Israeli checkpoint on the coastal road from the besieged territory’s south to Gaza City sent thousands of Palestinians heading north on Sunday, despite Israel denying it was open.
The Israeli army however told AFP that reports the route was open were “not true.”
Retaliation Fears
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Sunday following the Iranian attack, where Israel pressed for new sanctions against Tehran and Secretary-General António Guterres warned the region was “on the brink” of war.
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G7 leaders also condemned Iran’s attack and called for “restraint” on all sides, European Council President Charles Michel wrote on X after a video conference on Sunday.
Israel’s top ally the United States also urged caution and calm.
After the attack, US President Joe Biden reaffirmed the United States’ “ironclad” support for Israel, but a senior US official said the President had also told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington would not offer military support for any retaliation on Iran.
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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday cautioned Israel against a “reckless” retaliation, warning it would spark “a decisive and much stronger response.”
Truce Deal ‘On the Table’
Late Saturday, Hamas said it had submitted its response to a truce plan presented by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators at talks that started in Cairo on April 7.
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Hamas said it was sticking to its previous demands, insisting on “a permanent ceasefire” and the withdrawal of the Israeli army.
But the United States said mediation efforts continue.
“There’s a new deal on the table… it is a good deal” that would see some hostages released, fighting halted and more humanitarian relief into Gaza, said the National Security Council’s Kirby.
Mohammed Abed and Ilan Ben Zion, with AFP
