Palestinian group Hamas threatened Tuesday to execute some of the around 150 hostages if Israel kept up its deadly bombardment of Gaza without warning.
The Hamas warning comes as the Israeli military claimed it regained “full control” of the Gaza fence that was breached by the Hamas gunmen who infiltrated into southern Israel on Saturday, according to Al Jazeera.
Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israeli military, said no Hamas fighter had crossed the fence over the past 24 hours, but did not discount the possibility that some of the gunmen were still within the Israeli-controlled areas.
The military is now planting mines in the parts where the barrier was toppled to prevent further infiltrations, the spokesperson added.
Israel already imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip on Monday, cutting off food, water and electricity supplies, and sparking fears that an already dire humanitarian situation will swiftly deteriorate.
Israel has been left reeling by Hamas´s unprecedented ground, air and sea assault, likening it to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
The death toll rose to more than 900 in Israel, which has retaliated with a withering barrage of strikes on Gaza, raising the death toll there to 687.
Around 1,500 bodies of Hamas fighters have been found in Israel around the Gaza Strip, the army said Tuesday, as it pummelled the Palestinian enclave with air strikes.
“Approximately 1,500 bodies of Hamas (fighters) were found in Israel around the Gaza Strip,” military spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters, adding that security forces had “more or less restored control over the border” with Gaza.
“Since last night we know that no one came in — but infiltrations can still happen.”
The army had “nearly completed” evacuation of all the communities around the border, he added.
Hecht said the military had deployed 35 battalions to the border area.
“We are building infrastructure for future operations,” he said.
Israel is reeling under a deadly attack by Hamas fighters who stormed the border fence under a barrage of rocket fire on Saturday morning and killed more than 900 people inside Israel.
In response, Israel is carrying out a massive air and artillery bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip that has so far killed at least 687 people in the coastal enclave.
