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Israel announced Tuesday it had secured its border after Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into nearby Israeli towns in an unprecedented surprise attack on Saturday, killing dozens and kidnapping others. On Sunday, Israel declared war, ordering a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Israel halted entry of food, fuel and supplies for 2.3 million people.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to punish Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza. Casualties on both sides are expected to keep rising, as clashes continued in several Israeli towns where pockets of Hamas fighters were holding out.
Here’s the latest:
Israeli counteroffensive
Israel amassed about 360,000 reservists near Gaza ahead of an expected invasion of the narrow and densely populated strip. Hamas, meanwhile, continued to fire rockets at Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. There has been an intense wave of more than 1,000 Israeli air strikes since Saturday, which is expected to precede a ground assault and an attempt to liberate hostages.
- Explainer: What we know so far about Hamas’s attack, Israel’s response and international reaction
- The Decibel podcast: War erupts between Israel and Hamas
Hostages and victims
Hamas says it is holding more than 100 hostages in Gaza, a number that reportedly includes three Canadians. One of them is believed to be Vivian Silver, a 74-year-old peace activist whose family hasn’t heard from her since her last text messages from a hiding place in a closet.
Hamas said yesterday that it would start executing hostages if Israel didn’t halt its attacks on Gaza’s civilians. Earlier, Hamas had said four of the Israelis it had taken hostage had died because of the air strikes.
Islamic Jihad, a separate militant formation that joined Hamas in the assault, has said it is separately holding 30 hostages. The two groups have said they would trade their hostages for the thousands of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson said yesterday it was not at the moment negotiating for the release of hostages. But Foreign Affairs Minister Eli Cohen acknowledged that many people from various countries were among the hostages: “We are committed to bring them back, in the spirit of mutual responsibility.”
International reaction
U.S. President Joe Biden said yesterday that an unspecified number of U.S. citizens are still unaccounted for as he reiterated his vow to back Israel in the fight and promised help to end the hostage crisis. His administration has scrambled warships and planes to the region, announced further military aid for Israel and pressed other regional countries to denounce the attack in a bid to contain the fighting.
- At least 11 U.S. citizens killed in attack on Israel, Biden says, as Washington risks further entanglement in war against Hamas
Over the weekend, both the U.S. and Canada condemned Hamas’s attack and backed Israel’s right to defend itself.
- Trudeau condemns rallies in support of Hamas as Ottawa probes reports of three missing Canadians
- Analysis by David Shribman: U.S. Jewish community sets aside differences over Israel and rallies behind government after Hamas attack
- Opinion: The Israel-Gaza war will have grave repercussions in the Middle East and beyond
- EU reverses earlier announcement that it was suspending development aid to Palestinians
Total deaths and injuries so far
Saturday’s surprise attack killed more than 900 people in Israel and wounded 2,400 others. Authorities in Gaza say at least 704 people had been killed and close to 3,700 wounded within the territory in airstrikes since Saturday. At least one Canadian has been killed, a 33-year-old Montreal man who was attending a music festival. Israeli rescue service Zaka says more than 100 bodies have been recovered from a small farming community called Beeri, which was the scene of a hostage standoff. In the Hamas attack on Israel, at least 11 Americans are dead, along with 12 from Thailand and 10 from Nepal.
- Video shows Hamas attack on Israeli festival and people fleeing
- Editorial: Canada must stand by Israel
- Opinion: The heinous attack on Israel is yet another war crime perpetrated by Hamas
- Marsha Lederman: No, your Jewish and Palestinian friends are not doing okay
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Rescuers search for survivors days after earthquake hits Afghanistan
A 6.3-magnitude quake killed and injured thousands in Afghanistan’s Herat province on Saturday. A spokesperson for Afghanistan’s national disaster authority, Janan Sayiq, told reporters in Kabul that at least 2,400 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured. With winter fast approaching, aid groups are warning that this new disaster is likely to exacerbate Afghanistan’s existing challenges and make it even harder for people to meet their basic needs, like adequate shelter, food, and medicine.
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Morning markets
Global markets gain: Global stocks moved higher on Tuesday, in line with a retreat in bond yields after Federal Reserve officials signaled the recent yield surge could justify caution on interest rates, while oil eased, but violence in the Middle East made for nervy trading. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 1.49 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 added 1.55 per cent and 1.35 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei ended 2.43-per-cent higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.84 per cent. New York futures were modestly positive. The Canadian dollar was little changed at 73.54 US cents.
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by David Parkins
A new true-crime podcast: In Her Defence
Illustration by Katherine Lam/The Globe and Mail
Everyone knew bad things were happening on the Naslund farm. Then, in the fall of 2017, Miles’s body was found welded into a box at the bottom of a pond, and his wife and son were charged with first-degree murder. Jana G. Pruden tells the story of Helen Naslund, who got 18 years in prison for killing the man who violently abused her for three decades.
In Her Defence is available now on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Living better
Eating the right diet can help stave off sarcopenia when you’re older
A healthy diet has many benefits but what is lesser known is that a healthy eating pattern in midlife can help preserve muscle mass and muscle strength as you grow older. That’s important because the gradual loss of both can lead to sarcopenia, a skeletal-muscle disorder that can significantly impact the quality of life.
Read more about why nutrition matters in preventing sarcopenia here.
Moment in time: Oct. 10, 1967
The ratification of the space treaty that, among other things, prevents a big power from annexing the moon, takes place at the foreign office in London.PA Images/Getty Images
The United States can plant all the flags it wants on the moon, but it will never own the orb. And Elon Musk can fire all the SpaceX rockets he wants; he, too, will never own anything extraterrestrial. That’s because the Outer Space Treaty, which officially came into effect on this day in 1967, bans ownership of the region beyond Earth and its atmosphere. The official name – the UN’s Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies – also bans the weaponization of space. The UN had been talking about a peace treaty for space since the 1950s and in 1960, U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower proposed that the principles of the Antarctic Treaty be applied to outer space and celestial bodies. The Antarctic and outer space were similarly remote, extreme and with potentially commercial resources. After a great deal of negotiating, especially between the United States and the Soviet Union, the treaty was signed. There are now 114 countries that are parties to the treaty – including all major spacefaring countries and 22 others are signatories. Even without a space cop to enforce the pact, it has never been violated. Philip King
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