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Israel’s military said that it was battling armed Hamas fighters in southern towns and defending breaches in its border fence with Gaza more than two days after an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian militant group killed hundreds of Israelis.
Israel said it bombed more than 1,000 targets in Gaza overnight, deployed four military divisions in the south and took steps to secure its northern border with Lebanon, where militant group Hizbollah fired mortars at an Israeli military base in the occupied Golan Heights on Sunday.
“It’s an all out,” said Lt Col Richard Hecht, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, in a briefing on Monday morning. “Hundreds and hundreds of Hamas warriors came into Israel.”
The outbreak of the worst Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years sent oil prices higher on Monday, after Hamas breached Israel’s high-tech border barrier early hours of Saturday, when some Israeli soldiers had gone home to celebrate the Jewish Simchat Torah holiday.
Hecht said that the military was still focusing on the “first stage” of defending communities near Gaza, the blockaded Palestinian enclave, and holding breach points where Hamas fighters poured into Israel. He said that there were still seven to eight places in Israel’s southern border area with Gaza “where we have still warriors fighting terrorists”.
Hecht added that there was still an active hostage situation inside a kibbutz in southern Israel.
More than 700 Israeli civilians and troops have been killed since Hamas entered Israel through the border fence on foot, in vehicles and paragliders. At least 100 people have been abducted.
After the attack, Israel cut off electricity into Gaza and launched air attacks on the enclave, destroying several high-rise buildings. Palestinian health officials said that as of Sunday evening, more than 400 people, including women and children, have been killed, with more than 2,300 wounded.
UN officials said more than 123,000 people had been displaced in Gaza as of Saturday night following Israeli air strikes, some of which hit residential buildings. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees estimated that more than 73,000 people were sheltering in 64 schools in Gaza.
Oil prices rose as much as 5.2 per cent on Monday to $89 a barrel on concerns that fallout from the conflict could widen across the region.
“Obviously everyone’s reaction was to buy oil given the heightened political risk,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, adding that there were concerns that Iran’s potential involvement in planning the Hamas attack could lead to stronger US sanctions on Iranian oil exports.
Asked on Monday about whether Iran had provided Hamas support for its lightning attack, Hecht confirmed that the Iranians were likely to have been involved, adding that this was “not the story right now”.
“We’re in a different game here,” Hecht said. “The scope of this thing is something completely different.”
The Bank of Israel on Monday announced a plan to sell up to $30bn in foreign exchange to stabilise volatility in the shekel exchange rate and provide liquidity “for the continued proper functioning of the markets”.
Additional reporting by Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv
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