The Israeli military on Tuesday announced that it had retaken full control of the border with Gaza.
This was as the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening vowed that what Hamas will face will be so harsh and terrible, stressing that the State of Israel was only at the beginning.
These followed the breaching of defence at the weekend by members of the Hamas militants that later went on a rampage through nearby communities that left hundreds of Israelis dead.
Richard Hecht, spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), who stated the position of the Israeli military, said that no militant had entered from the Gaza Strip since Monday night, adding however that there could still be some Palestinian attackers on the move inside Israel.
Hecht said that the bodies of 1,500 Hamas militants had been found in Israeli territory so far adding that hundreds of others of attackers had been captured.
He therefore cautioned that the exchanges of fire that had taken place in areas along the border since Hamas’ surprise multi-pronged assault on Israel on Saturday have still continued, saying that clashes have taken place in recent hours in the communities of Sa’ad and Kissufim in the Negev desert, near the Gaza Strip.
In the meantime, Israel has continued its relentless retaliatory airstrikes on the territory. This was as the Israeli Health Ministry said that since Saturday, some 900 people have been killed in Israel by Hamas fighters with more than 2,600 others injured.
The Health Ministry further said that massive Israeli counter-attacks have killed at least 687 people and injured more than 3,800 in the Gaza Strip.
Israel called up on Monday about 300,000 reservists ahead of a potential ground invasion of the densely populated Palestinian enclave.
The Israeli Defence spokesman said; “We are now concentrating on our offensive in Gaza. The military has set up “infrastructure for future operations”.
