On Sixth Day of War, Israel Tightens Vise on Gaza, as It Presses Its Campaign To Destroy Hamas and Force the Return of Hostages

The heat is on Gaza, but the electricity is off. On the sixth day of the war between Israel and Hamas following the terrorist group’s attack on October 7, the Israeli energy minister, Israel Katz, has declared that “no electrical switch will be turned on” in Gaza and “no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home.”Mr. Katz stated that on X Thursday morning, adding, “Humanitarianism for humanitarianism. And no one can preach morality to us.” Hamas abducted an estimated 150 persons, both Israelis and nationals of other countries, in a series of attacks starting on Israeli communities close to the border with the Gaza strip on Saturday. Israeli authorities confirmed that the death toll from all the Hamas attacks had risen to 1,300 with more than 3,330 Israelis wounded. There was also rocket fire emanating from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, with reports of four injured in the Israeli city of Sderot. Israel reports that about 1,500 Hamas terrorists were killed inside Israel, according to the Associated Press.The Palestinian health ministry is quoted by the Associated Press as reporting that the death toll in Gaza from Israeli air strikes reached 1,200 early Thursday, including 326 children and 171 women. Israel contends that hundreds of those reported dead in Gaza are members of Hamas, AP reports.Significantly, the IDF’s spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Thursday that the military’s strikes in the Gaza Strip have begun seriously impairing Hamas’s ability to function. At a press conference, Mr. Hagari said, “We are destroying Hamas’s ability to function as a sovereign; it is no longer managing to administer Gaza. Hamas is in anarchy and chaos and we need to increase this.”Admiral Hagari added that Israeli forces have obtained intelligence from Hamas operatives that have been arrested inside Israel and that this information will be used to carry out fresh strikes against Hamas targets inside the Gaza Strip. Israel is now in full counterattack mode. On Wednesday evening, as Prime Minister Netanyahu announced the formation of a national emergency government with the addition of Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, he also addressed the brutal nature of Hamas’s attacks.“How staggering the atrocity. How great the pain,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “We are fighting with full force, on every front, we have gone on to the attack,” he said, adding that “every member of Hamas is a dead man.”Mr. Katz, the energy minister, prefaced his announcement with an earlier explanation of the rationale, writing on X, “For years we supplied Gaza with electricity, water and fuel. Instead of saying thank you, they sent thousands of human animals to slaughter, murder, rape and kidnap babies, women and the elderly.“That’s why,” Mr. Katz continued, “we decided to stop the flow of water, electricity and fuel and now their local power station has collapsed and there is no electricity in Gaza,” He pledged “to continue to tighten the siege until the Hamas threat to Israel and the world is removed. What was will not be.”At a press conference Wednesday night, Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, described the Hamas attacks as “the worst terror attack the world has ever seen.” He spoke of “children bound together and murdered, people burned, barbaric deeds that the Jewish people have not suffered since 1945.”“We will wipe out this thing called Hamas,” the defense minister declared. “Hamas — the Islamic State of Gaza — will be wiped from the face of the earth.”Details of the attacks by Hamas on Israel have left the world aghast, while the anguish of families in Israel intensifies over the fate of hostages held by the enemy. Pressure on authorities has been mounting, as Hamas has threatened to execute Israeli hostages if Israel strikes Palestinian civilians.There were, though, also reports that the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been negotiating with Hamas for the release of hostages. Also, on Thursday, the Israeli website Walla reported that Hamas had released a female hostage and two children, not her own. That event appears to have occurred on Saturday.The hostage situation and risk of regional escalation are certain to be two of the topics highest on the agenda as Secretary Blinken arrives at Tel Aviv today for a brief visit. He will meet with senior Israeli officials before departing for Jordan on Friday.

On Sixth Day of War, Israel Tightens Vise on Gaza, as It Presses Its Campaign To Destroy Hamas and Force the Return of Hostages

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