Israel says it fully controls areas on Gaza border

Israel’s military says troops are in full control of all communities along the border with Gaza, two days after Hamas’s unprecedented assault.

Fighting between troops and Palestinian militants in several areas on Monday morning had become “isolated”, a spokesman told reporters. But he warned that militants might still be at large.

At least 700 people in Israel are reported to have been killed.

Almost 500 people have also been killed in Gaza in retaliatory Israeli strikes.

A Hamas spokesman claimed that four Israelis taken hostage during Saturday’s attack were among those killed in strikes on Sunday and Monday.

Israel’s defence minister meanwhile said he had ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza, cutting off its supplies of power, fuel and food.

The two million Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled territory are also bracing themselves for a possible ground operation, with Israeli forces massing nearby.

At the start of Monday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said there were seven or eight areas in southern Israel where troops were still fighting gunmen.

The included Be’eri, a kibbutz that was infiltrated by about 70 militants overnight, possibly using a cross-border tunnel, it added.

A tunnel exit was also reportedly found near Kfar Aza, another kibbutz where a family was being held hostage.

But a few hours later, the IDF’s chief spokesman Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari declared that security forces had regained control of border communities and killed a number of militants.

“We are now carrying out searches in all of the communities and clearing the area,” he said.

But he added: “It is possible there are still terrorists in the area.”

Adm Hagari said the IDF planned to secure breaches in the Gaza perimeter fence with tanks and aircraft and that it had mobilised a record 300,000 reservists.

He also said that about 4,400 rockets had been fired from Gaza towards Israel since dawn on Saturday, when hundreds of Hamas militants used them as cover to infiltrate Israel.

Not long after the admiral’s briefing ended, rocket sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as fresh barrages were launched. Several people were reportedly injured in the southern cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod.

For Israelis collectively traumatised by the assault from Gaza, the scale of the number of casualties continues to shock.

A volunteer group called Zaka, which helps to recover human remains, says more than 250 bodies have been taken from the scene of an all night rave party and that more are still to be recovered.

The IDF is also focused on rescuing the dozens of Israeli soldiers and civilians, including women and children, being held as hostages by Hamas in Gaza.

“The top officers in the military are currently presenting the political echelon and the security cabinet for the past two days with plausible military options to go forward,” spokeswoman Masha Michelson told the BBC.

“And, of course, the hostages and their possible locations are being taken into account as we decide what our next step is. Israel is a state that holds human life sacred and we will do everything in our power to ensure that they’re coming back home safe.”

Israeli warplanes, helicopters and artillery struck more than 500 targets in Gaza overnight that the IDF said belonged to Hamas and the smaller militant group Islamic Jihad.

They included eight command centres and several multi-storey buildings, including the home of senior Hamas official Ruhi Mashtaa, it added.

The IDF also said it struck three “terror tunnels” in the north-eastern border town of Beit Hanoun as well as a mosque, where it alleged that Hamas operational assets were located.

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza says at least 493 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including more than 90 children, since Israel began its retaliatory strikes.

On Monday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that dozens of people were killed or wounded in a strike on a crowded market in the Jabalia refugee camp and another on a mosque in the Shati refugee camp.

Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif claimed that Israel was “still in a state of shock, losing its mind, and committing crimes against humanity by targeting and killing dozens of innocent civilians, including children and women, and destroying towers and mosques”.

The UN said more than 123,000 people had so far been displaced in Gaza, mostly due to fear or the destruction of their homes. The majority are seeking shelter in schools.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant meanwhile said he had ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza with “no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel”.

“We are fighting animals and are acting accordingly,” he declared.

It was not clear what impact his announcement would have, as Israel’s security cabinet had already decided on Saturday to cut the same supplies.

Gaza has been under a tight Israeli-Egyptian blockade since the Hamas takeover 16 years ago. The two countries say it is for security reasons.