Published October 21, 2023
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SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/israel/video-3042881/Video-Israeli-troops-perform-drills-preparing-state-war.html
RELATED: Kibbutz Beeri near Gaza a symbol of Israel’s trauma
Two weeks after Kibbutz Beeri lost 10 percent of its population in the bloody Hamas attack, Israeli soldiers are stationed within sight, primed for a looming ground invasion of Gaza.
A volunteer of the Zaka emergency response team searches through the debris in Kibbutz Beeri near the border with Gaza on October 20, 2023 © RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP
Published October 21, 2023
The small community — traumatised by the bloodshed, grieving its dead and fearful for friends taken hostage — has become a symbol of the horrors Israel suffered in the October 7 onslaught.
Residents say some of the Hamas militants’ guns still lie amid the rubble of Beeri, where one third of houses were destroyed and the survivors are wracked by doubts about the future.
In all, 108 of Beeri’s 1,100 residents died when Hamas launched its attack from the Palestinian territory of Gaza, just four kilometres (2.5 miles) away, said resident Romy Gold.
More than 1,400 died in Israel in the deadliest attack in the country’s history, which prompted it to launch a withering bombardment of Gaza, where more than 4,300 have died, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
In tiny Beeri, nine kibbutz members were buried on Saturday, even though Jewish law normally forbids funerals on the sabbath, the day of rest.
Gold, 70, who served as a paratrooper in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, said that on Sunday he will attend the burials of five members of one Beeri family.
An Israeli Merkava tank drives past a fence near Kibbutz Beeri, close to the border with Gaza on October 20, 2023 © RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP
“I am not sure that any of us is in a condition that we can absorb, understand what happened,” said Gold, who was carrying an M16 assault rifle.
The kibbutz is now in a closed military zone as Israel builds up to the expected invasion that seeks to uproot Hamas. But the army briefly opened up parts of Beeri for journalists.
Gold said a machine gun and other weapons carried by the Hamas militants remained scattered around some of the houses that reporters were not allowed into.
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SOURCE: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231021-kibbutz-beeri-near-gaza-a-symbol-of-israel-s-trauma
RELATED: Trapped in Gaza: Hundreds of foreign passport holders hoping to escape to Egypt are not allowed through border as Israeli tanks line up ready to plough into besieged Palestinian enclave after Hamas attacks
The Rafah crossing opened this morning to let desperately needed aid flow to Palestinians running short of food, medicine and water. Pictured: First trucks cross into Gaza
Published October 21, 2023
- The Rafah border crossing has opened to allow the first aid trucks into Gaza
- US Embassy urged foreign nationals to make their way to vital Egypt border
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Hundreds of foreign passport holders trapped in Gaza who were hoping to escape to Egypt have not been allowed to evacuate despite the Rafah border being opened up this morning to allow humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave.
The US Embassy had earlier urged foreign nationals to make their way to the Gaza-Egypt border to flee as Israeli tanks prepare to launch a ground invasion in retaliation to the despicable terror attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7.
Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers are readying themselves for battle while scores of tanks are lined up ready to plough into Gaza.
The Rafah border opened just after 10am local time (8am BST) to let the ‘life-saving’ aid in to Palestinians running short of food, medicine and water. The convoy of 20 trucks is the first to enter Gaza since the war erupted two weeks ago.
Urging foreign nationals to escape Gaza if they can, the embassy warned: ‘If the border is opened, we do not know how long it will remain open for foreign citizens to depart Gaza.’ It has since emerged foreign nationals were denied access to Egypt.
Authorities had told trapped US nationals to expect a ‘potentially chaotic and disorderly environment on both sides of the crossing’. There are an estimated 600 Americans in the enclave.
The opening of the Rafah crossing comes after more than a week of high-level diplomacy by various mediators, including visits to the region by US President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the aid was a ‘lifeline’ for those suffering in the territory.
