The killing has intensified along the road to peace
By I have little expertise to contribute here, but the horrifying war that is going to get much worse obviously merits discussion:
More than 40 hours after the initial surge of armed militants across the border, Israel’s military remained mired in battles with gunmen from Gaza on Sunday evening. As the death toll climbed, leaders worldwide positioned themselves for the war ahead and civilians sought refuge from ongoing attacks.
The continued fighting came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a “long and difficult war” ahead, saying in a statement that Israeli forces were moving into an “offensive phase, which will continue with neither limitations nor respite until the objectives are achieved.”
The Israeli foreign ministry said on Sunday night that 700 Israelis had been killed in the attacks. An additional 2,243 were injured, according to the health ministry.
The land, sea and air assault on Israel launched by Palestinian militants on Saturday — the broadest invasion in 50 years — prompted Israel to respond with heavy strikes on Gazan cities, which continued into Sunday. At least 413 Palestinians have been killed, including 78 children, and 2,300 others have been wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.
The Israeli military reported fighting in seven border communities and an army base, and tanks were seen crossing farmland in parts of southern Israel, heading south toward Gaza.
It is not surprising that Iran was heavily involved in planning the Hamas invasion, although it further underscores the scope of the failure of Israeli intelligence:
Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.
Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions—the most significant breach of Israel’s borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War—those people said.
Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon, they said.