New Delhi:

Hamas has threatened to execute one hostage every time Israel drops a bomb, without warning, on a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip, Reuters said Tuesday, as the increasingly bloody war between the two sides rolls into a fourth day with no end in sight. The group has 150 hostages – including children and a Holocaust survivor – grabbed from border towns and kibbutzim in attacks that began early Saturday.

Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida said, “Every targeting of our people without warning will be met with the execution of one civilian hostage”. AFP reported that four hostages have already died (it is unclear if they were Israelis or other nationals) but also that they were killed during Israeli air strikes.

The hostages present a significant problem for an Israeli government that has vowed to respond to Hamas’ attacks with a “massive” assault and “unprecedented force”; Palestinians are bracing for a vicious response after Tel Aviv called up over three lakh soldiers, including reservists, ahead of a ground assault.

READ | NDTV Explains Why Gaza Is An ‘Open-Air Prison’ With No Escape

Public opinion has, so far been firmly with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He has the full support of the opposition too; ex-PM and current Leader of the Opposition, Yair Lapid, told NDTV Monday, “Nobody cares about politics right now… it doesn’t matter.”

READ | “Nobody Cares About Politics Right Now”: Israel Opposition Leader To NDTV

However, some experts feel Israelis will not “forgive” their leader if ensuring hostages’ safety, and rescuing them, is not a priority. “The citizens’ attitude would be ‘you have failed to ensure our security, bring us the hostages back’,” Sylvaine Bulle, a French sociologist studying Israel, told AFP. 

Ms Bulle also predicted tension between politicians and the military if hostages were killed.

Will the Israel government risk public sentiment in its bid for revenge for Hamas’ attacks? 

According to Kobi Micheal, a researcher from the Tel-Aviv based Institute for National Security Studies, “Hostages cannot be first priority. With all the sorrow… Israel will (address the) hostage issue only (when it has) the upper hand and when Hamas (is) defeated… not a second before.”

Reuters has also said Qatari mediators are negotiating the hostages’ release in exchange for 36 Palestinian women and children being held in Israeli prisons. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry confirmed to Reuters it is involved and sources told the news agency talks are “moving positively”.

There are contradictory reports, though; Hamas sources in Qatar told AFP there is “currently no chance for negotiation on the issue of prisoners or anything else”.

LIVE COVERAGE | Bodies Of 1,500 Hamas Operatives Found Near Border: Israel

On Monday Mr Netanyahu declared war on Hamas and said, “Hamas terrorists bound, burned and executed children. They are savages. Hamas is ISIS…” Israel Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, on Monday ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza; “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas…”

The Gaza Strip – 365 sq km large and home to 2.3 million people – is already one of the world’s most locked-down places. It is also the third most densely populated space in the world.

READ |Hamas Outmaneuvered Israel’s Surveillance Prowess By Going Dark

Over 1,600 people have died, more than 6,000 have been injured since the war began on Saturday. Fifteen deaths have also been reported from the West Bank, where Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces. The United Nations has said over 1.3 lakh have been displaced so far.

With input from agencies

New Delhi:

High-altitude footage released by the Israel Defense Forces – and shared online by an open-source intelligence handle Monday evening – spotlighted devastating aerial strikes on Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip. The 14-second clip begins with multiple rocket missile strikes on what seem to be residential colonies. At least six explosions are recorded – flashes of orange followed by plumes of ominous and slow-spreading dark grey smoke that blanket the surrounding areas.

The camera then seems to pan and zoom in to show smoldering concrete shells that were once houses and apartment blocks. The centre of the neighbourhood appears to have been completely levelled.

There is absolutely no movement of sign of life.

Footage released by the IDF showing Simultaneous Strikes on Hamas Positions in the Gaza Strip and the Aftermath and Damage that followed. pic.twitter.com/ZUXbvlTBJM

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 9, 2023

Multiple reports indicate that over 1,300 people have been killed in a bloody and brutal war after Hamas fighters took Israel by surprise and stormed past one of the world’s most fortified borders.

So far more than 800 people have died in Israel and around 560 in Gaza. Several thousands more have been injured and, according to the United Nations, 1.23 lakh have been displaced so far. There is no estimate of property damage yet but this likely to run into the billions by the time the dust settles.

An Israeli government bent on revenge has vowed to obliterate the Hamas; Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza, which is home to 2.3 million people and is already a heavily blockaded strip of land. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas. It’s all closed,” he said.

READ | Israel Orders “Complete Siege” On Gaza, Cuts Off Food, Water: 10 Points

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared war on Hamas and has vowed to reduce to rubble all of the group’s hideouts in Gaza. He has warned civilians to stay away from such structures

However, as ex-PM Yair Lapid told NDTV, Israel appears less concerned about the death of civilians and non-combatants; “We are going to do our best to avoid killing bystanders and collateral damage, but there will be (collateral damage) because this war is in a very densely populated area,” he said.

READ |“There Will Be Collateral Damage…”: Ex-Israel PM’s Warning To Hamas

On Day 3 of the war, Israel fighter jets and attack helicopters continue to pound the Gaza Strip. The IDF said over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Strip had been attacked since Sunday night.

Tel Aviv has also massed tens of thousands of troops along the Gaza border.

Meanwhile, Hamas has kept up a steady barrage of rocket strikes while hundreds of its gunmen engage Israeli ground forces in border towns. Israeli officials have accused the Hamas of going door-to-door to take hostages back to Gaza, and that these include children and elderly people.

READ | Video: How Party Turned Into Tragedy As Hamas Gunmen Storm Israeli Music Festival

The war – the bloodiest in nearly five decades – broke early Saturday morning after an estimated 1,000 Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli border posts under the cover of a barrage of rockets that proved too much even for that country’s famed Iron Dome, or all-weather aerial defence system.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has vowed to continue “the battle to liberate our land…”, and has called on “resistance fighters in the West Bank” as well as in “Arab and Islamic nations” to join the war.

The attack has also prompted questions over the failure of Mossad and Israel’s much-vaunted intelligence network to raise a red flag. Experts suggest this means Hamas is evolving as a military outfit – into one capable of conducting top-secret long-term strategic operations.