According to several sources, Israel carried out attacks on hundreds of targets in the Gaza Strip on October 8.
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| Israel launched attacks on Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip on the night of October 8 and early morning of October 9. (Source: AFP) |
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its air force and artillery attacked more than 500 targets of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip on the night of October 8.
As of October 9, more than 700 Israelis have been killed and about 1,200 others injured in Hamas attacks. In retaliation, Israel has struck about 800 targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 413 Palestinians.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, an IDF spokesman, about 1,000 Palestinian gunmen participated in the Hamas attacks on October 7. Shortly after, more than 100,000 Israeli reservists were deployed to the southern region, as IDF units fought to push Hamas gunmen out of the country and evacuate civilians from the border area.
On the same day, October 8, according to the Washington Post (USA), the Israeli government called on the US to provide machine gun ammunition and missiles for the "Iron Dome" missile defense system, after the attack by Hamas gunmen.
The source said that in addition to the request for ammunition and missile support, the Jewish state government asked the US to increase cooperation in exchanging intelligence information about possible military actions in southern Lebanon. Accordingly, Washington may combine military support for Israel and Ukraine and the proposal on this issue will soon be submitted to the US Congress.
Regarding the request to transfer missiles for the "Iron Dome" system, the Israeli government explained that this measure is to prevent future rocket attacks from Hamas, and does not indicate that the country is about to run out of weapons.
Israeli intelligence agencies are closely monitoring the situation in southern Lebanon for possible attacks by the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. At the same time, Israeli intelligence has called on the United States to provide more intelligence on the possibility that Hezbollah or other groups may be involved in the conflict.
Meanwhile, Le Figaro newspaper (France) commented on October 8 that Israel may be viewed differently in the Middle East than before the current conflict escalates.
According to the authors of the article, after the conflict escalated, people in the Middle East were “stunned” by the image of Palestinian gunmen infiltrating Israel and being able to stay there. The newspaper emphasized that this was “unexpected” and “unprecedented” because it contradicted the image of “Israel’s invincible fortress”.
Last weekend, Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel and announced the start of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation. In response, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir declared a state of emergency in the country on the same day.
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