Israel has ignored President Bola Tinubu government Nigeria call for a de-escalation of the latest crisis between the country and the Palestinian as Israeli warplanes struck two mosques in the Gaza Strip that allegedly housed Hamas command centers used to direct the militant group’s ongoing major offensive.
“Fighter jets attacked two operational infrastructures that were located in mosques and were used by the terrorist organization Hamas to direct terror against the state of Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in an operational update posted early Sunday.
The IDF claimed that Hamas was using the holy sites and the civilian population of the Gaza Strip to evade Israel’s response to the surprise attacks launched by the group on Saturday.
Israel has cut off electricity service to the Palestinian territory and carried out dozens of air strikes against Hamas targets after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the country is at war with the militant group. The PM vowed in a televised address on Saturday night to “take revenge for this black day” and turn all of the sites used by Hamas in the Gaza Strip into “ruins.”
All the places that Hamas hides in, operates in, we will turn into ruins,” Netanyahu said. He urged civilians in the area to “get out of there now.”
The fighting began early Saturday, when Hamas launched rockets into Israel and infiltrated villages in the southern part of the country with militants. Local media reports said more than 300 Israelis had been killed, and nearly 1,600 were wounded. Dozens of Israeli civilians and troops were captured and taken to Gaza. Rocket attacks against Israel continued into Saturday night.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hamas killed more than 230 and injured almost 1,800, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera that the group had captured so many Israelis, including senior officers, that it expected to negotiate a prisoner swap for the release of the thousands of Palestinians incarcerated in Israel’s jails. Al Jazeera television showed a residential tower apparently being hit in an Israeli air strike while one of its journalists was doing a live report from the scene in central Gaza City.
IGBERE TV had reported that President Bola Tinubu government Nigeria called for a de-escalation of the latest crisis between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group.
In a statement signed by Yusuf Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, the federal government called on both sides to exercise restraint and prioritise the safety of civilians.
In the early hours of Saturday, the Hamas militant group infiltrated Israel from the Gaza strip, in what has been described as an unprecedented attack.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, has since called the invasion an act of war.
The Israeli death toll from the crisis has surpassed 100, per latest reports, with more than 200 killed in Israeli reprisal attacks in Gaza.
“The federal government of Nigeria is deeply concerned about the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in the early hours of Saturday, 7th October, 2023 and calls for de-escalation and ceasefire,” the statement reads.
“The cycle of violence and retaliation that the current escalation has assumed, only serves to perpetuate an unending cycle of pain and suffering for the civilian population that bear the brunt of every conflict.
“We are therefore calling for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue.”
