By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed victory on the battlefield as Sunday marked 100 days since Israel declared war against Hamas after the deadliest attack in Israel’s 75-year history.
Saturday, October 7, was turned into a ‘Black Sabbath’ as some 1,200 people were killed in Israel by Hamas, designated as an Islamist terrorist group by Israel and its Western allies.
Most of those murdered in the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, were civilians, including raped women, babies and toddlers, according to investigators.
Additionally, roughly 240 were reportedly taken hostage by Hamas in an atrocity that was seen as a threat to Israel’s very existence.
The war is already the longest and deadliest between Israel and the declared Palestinians since Israel’s establishment in 1948, and the fighting shows no signs of ending.
Ahead of Sunday’s 100th war day, Netanyahu promised Israelis to “continue [the war] until victory,” adding that “it is possible and necessary.”
His words raised concerns that the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip was rapidly leading to a regional conflict and even World War III.
ISRAEL BOMBINGS
Israel’s bombardments and raids against what it says are suspected Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip continued Sunday despite growing humanitarian suffering and the looming threat of a regional spillover.
The Hamas-run health ministry said nearly 24,000 Palestinians had been killed in Israel’s war against Hamas, “mostly women and children.”
However, these figures could not be verified independently, and it was unclear how many Hamas fighters were counted among those who died.
As fighting continued, concerns were mounting about the plight of hostages who
were remembered by a massive crowd over the weekend. At least tens of thousands of Israelis gathered at “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv late Saturday to join families of those held captive by Hamas in Gaza for a 24-hour vigil.
They wanted to mark the 100 days since the hostages were abducted and demanded their return. Organizers claimed that an estimated 120,000 people attended the event’s opening hours at the plaza outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
The rally, which began after sundown, included a recorded speech by French President Emmanuel Macron and an in-person address by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew, who pledged to seek the release of all hostages.
“We will do everything to bring everyone home; you can count on me,” Macron stressed. “The French nation is determined that … all the hostages of the October 7 terrorist attacks are freed. France does not abandon its children. That is why we have to resume negotiations again and again for their release.”
FRENCH CITIZEN
Franco-Mexican tourist Orión Hernández Radoux, 32, is said to be among the hostages still held in Gaza. Terrorists kidnapped him from the Supernova music festival on October 7.
“Today, as we mark 100 days since hundreds of innocent men, women, and children were violently seized from Israel. We join as one in demanding their release,” Lew said.
Hundreds of companies on Sunday halted their activities for 100 minutes in solidarity with those held captive for 100 days. Thousands also observed 100 seconds of silence in Tel Aviv for the hostages.
However, there were no signs the hostage crisis would end soon Sunday, with fighting rapidly escalating even beyond the Gaza Strip. And Hamas warned Sunday that “many” of the hostages may have been killed due to “Israeli aggression.”
As Israel mourned its victims and remembered hostages, at least two Israelis were killed by a missile fired from Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, a Hamas-ally, has its base, officials said.
A man in his 40s and a 70-year-old reportedly died after the rocket hit a home in the Israeli town of Kfar Yuval, a few hundred meters (yards) near the border with Lebanon.
They were the latest victims in a war that has killed and displaced many, with Israel accusing Hamas and allies of using civilians as human shields.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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