Israel-Hamas. Bloody Conflict Spreads Like Wildfire

Hundreds of people are killed and thousands injured in Israel and the Gaza Strip. Artillery battles and missile launches at Israel are also coming from Lebanese territory. This is the tragic news of the second day of the bloody armed conflict between Hamas, Hezbollah, and Israel, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately called “war.” As part of Israel’s Iron Swords military operation, tens of thousands of reservists were called up to respond “to war with a speed and scale never before known to the enemy.”

The conflict has already crossed the borders of Israel. On Sunday, an Egyptian police officer in Alexandria, Egypt, opened sporadic fire on a bus full of Israeli tourists arriving to visit the Temple of the Serapeum museum. According to preliminary information, the crazy attack cost the lives of at least two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian escort, while several other people were injured. The policeman was immediately arrested by the police.

Lebanese Hezbollah also entered the battlefield, saying it has carried out “artillery fire and missile launches” at Israel from Lebanese territory. The Israeli army’s response was immediate: it fired warning shots at “a group of suspects located in the Shebaa Farms area,” which had previously been fired upon near the border with Lebanon. Tel Aviv military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that “since the start of Iron Swords operation, the Israeli army has carried out 500 attacks on the Gaza Strip and killed at least 400 Hamas militants.”

Although the Jerusalem Post cited an “unofficial report” stating that “about 750 Israelis were missing on Saturday, October 8,” the Gaza Ministry of Health said that “the death toll in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war stands at 256,” of which 20 were identified as minors; about 1,800 people were wounded.”

Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad told BBC radio that “the resistance received support from Iran in its attack on Israel.” Iran previously condemned the peace talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which Tehran called a “betrayal of the Palestinians.” Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, at the recent UN General Assembly in New York, warned that “any normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia would constitute a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.”

Thus, after the Hamas attack, the peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel is “virtually dead.” This was stated in an interview with American television channel CNN by President of Eurasia Group Ian Bremmer, according to whom the agreement “was close, with a lot of trust.”

“At this point, I believe the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israeli is dead, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be renewed at another time,” Bremmer said.

“I am following with alarm and pain what is happening in Israel, where violence is escalating even more furiously, causing hundreds of deaths and injuries,” Pope Francis said on Sunday in the Angel of the Lord prayer. “Please stop the attacks with weapons,” he added, “and understand that terrorism and war do not lead to any solution, but only to the death of many innocent people.”

“War is a conflict, it is always a defeat,” the Pontiff emphasized. “Let us pray for peace in Israel and Palestine.”