ISRAEL has vowed to raze Gaza to the ground as it launched 250 airstrikes in just one hour into its “Nest of Terror”.
It comes amid fears the Middle East is on the brink of an all out war as a barrage of missiles were fired from Lebanon and Syria into Israel.
APFlames and smoke rise following Israeli shelling in Jal al-Allam village, south Lebanon[/caption]
EPAMissiles launched from the Gaza Strip toward the Israeli city of Ashkelon[/caption]
ReutersSmoke billows following Israeli strikes in Gaza City[/caption]
More than 2,000 people have been killed since Hamas terrorists staged a surprise attack on Israel on Saturday.
Israel has now promised an even more punishing escalation as dozens of fighter jets hammered neighbourhood after neighbourhood overnight.
Forces unleashed 250 airstrikes in just one hour early on Wednesday, Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported.
The IDF said the area hit is a “Nest of Terror” used by Hamas miltants to launch attacks against Israel.
Dozens of buildings were reduced to rubble – leaving unknown numbers of bodies beneath mounds of debris as residents scrambled to find safety.
An Israeli defence official told Channel 13 News that Gaza would become a “tent city” after Hamas fighters broke through the border fence and stormed into the country’s south at the weekend.
Hundreds of Israelis were gunned down in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival.
They dragged an estimated 150 people soldiers, men, women, children and the elderly into captivity in Gaza.
Hamas chillingly warned on Monday they would kill a hostage for each new Israeli attack.
As the battle rages into its fifth day, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 950 people have been killed and 5,000 injured in the crowded coastal enclave.
In Israel, the death toll reached 1,200 and more than 2,700 people were wounded, with several Brits killed and others missing.
It’s now feared it could trigger war in the whole of the Middle East as fresh exchanges of fire over Israel’s northern borders with militants in Lebanon and Syria erupted on Tuesday.
Israel has stopped entry of food, fuel and medicines into Gaza in response to Hamas’ bloody incursion into Israel – which Iran is understood to have helped plot.
The under-fire nation has now stepped up its offensive, expanding the mobilisation of reservists to 360,000.
It comes as…
Israeli troops are massing on the border with Gaza ready to ‘execute’ as 300,000 ready for a ground invasionHorrific details continue to emerge after Hamas terrorists mass attack on Israeli civilians over the weekendBabies and young children were reportedly slaughtered, with some beheaded, in the kibbutz of Kfar Aza1,200 people have been killed in Israel – while the death toll in Gaza hit 950Strikes on Gaza continue – with reports of rockets also being fired into Israel from Lebanon and SyriaIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dubbed Hamas ‘worse than ISIS’ in a phone call with US President Joe BidenFamilies are still desperately waiting for news on hostages captured by Hamas – including tattoo artist Shani Louk
In one town, Hamas terrorists are claimed to have massacred at least 40 babies and kids in a sickening rampage.
Israeli soldiers discovered scenes of unimaginable horror in Kfar Aza – a village close to the Gaza border that was captured for two days by the Hamas militants.
The Israeli army took back control of the besieged village on Tuesday and its soldiers were faced with the gut-wrenching task of recovering the bodies of dozens of victims.
Armed with guns, grenades and knives, Hamas terrorists beheaded men, women, children and babies in their beds early on Saturday morning after storming over the border.
In a new tactic, Israel is warning civilians to evacuate neighborhood after neighborhood, and then inflicting devastation, in what could be a prelude to a ground offensive.
On Tuesday, the military told residents of the nearby al-Daraj neighborhood to evacuate.
New explosions soon rocked it and other areas, continuing into the night.
Fighter jets returned multiple times to another neighborhood, al-Furqan, striking 450 targets in 24 hours, the Israeli military said.
It comes as local media reports suggest that Israel was in fact warned about the Hamas attack by Egyptian intelligence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denied having any prior knowledge of the attack, which has been dubbed a “complete intelligence failure”.
ReutersPalestinians gather on rubble in the aftermath of Israeli strikes[/caption]
GettyIsraeli forces transport military equipment, armored vehicles and artillery to the Gaza border[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
