Israel starts Gaza assault, approves West Bank plan

The Israeli Defense Forces “have begun preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack on Gaza City” and Hamas’ “battered and bruised” fighters, Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin told reporters. But Israel’s “exhausted military may face a manpower problem,” CNN said. In a “country of fewer than 10 million people,” The Associated Press said, the large call-up of reservists “carries economic and political weight.”

Israel is “bucking international criticism” and “growing support” for Palestinian statehood in moving ahead with its Gaza City invasion and West Bank settlements, The New York Times said. The two moves suggest that Netanyahu is “bending to the ideologies of extremists” in his government, “even at the cost of isolating Israel internationally.” In a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, 58% of Americans said they believed every country in the United Nations should recognize Palestine as a nation.

In Gaza, residents are “bracing for the worst,” said Al Jazeera. Israel’s assault “will just create another mass displacement of people who have been displaced repeatedly,” U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters. The situation in Gaza is “nothing short of apocalyptic reality for children, for their families and for this generation,” Save the Children regional director Ahmad Alhendawi told the AP.