MOSCOW, October 10. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the launch of a large-scale operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, while the Palestinian militant group Hamas said it had no plans to negotiate the fate of people it had taken hostage as long as fighting continues.

Meanwhile, Moscow is making efforts to clarify whether there are Russian nationals among the hostages. The Russian Foreign Ministry is also working to evacuate Russians from the conflict zone. According to the Russian embassy, two Russian citizens have been killed in Hamas attacks.

TASS has summarized the key information about the conflict.

Casualties

More than 900 Israelis have been killed and over 2,600 others have been wounded in Hamas attacks. Also, Israel has sustained 123 military casualties since the incursion began, The Times of Israel reported.

According to the latest reports, the clashes and shelling have left more than 780 Palestinians killed, with over 4,000 people being injured. Five Palestinian reporters in Gaza were also killed. The number of people who have been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip has risen to 137,000, according to data from the UN.

Combat operations

The IDF is currently conducting a wide-scale strike on targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. Also, the arsenal and a command outpost had been struck. Sirens sounded again in Beer Sheva and the Negev area.

Also, IDF army aircraft struck the Rafah crossing point on the border with Egypt and Gaza, Al Arabiya reported, citing the Palestinian Interior Ministry.

Hamas official Ali Barakeh told The Associated Press in an interview that, so far, only around 2,000 fighters, out of an army of 40,000, had taken part in the latest fighting in Gaza. The IDF called up 300,000 reservists in a 48-hour-span amid the fighting. In addition, the Israeli Air Force has airlifted hundreds of Israeli troops back from Europe. IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari reported that the IDF had evacuated residents from all settlements adjacent to Gaza and warned that anyone who approaches Israel would be killed. An IDF helicopter destroyed a squad of terrorists who had infiltrated into Israeli territory near Kibbutz Zikim in the country’s south.

Situation in Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that a coordination center be set up to search for missing Israelis following the attack by Hamas fighters.

Shufersal, Israel’s largest retailer, has imposed restrictions on a number of products amid increased demand.

Evacuations of foreigners are ongoing. Thus, Poland has already evacuated more than 600 of its nationals, while Bucharest has evacuated almost 600 Romanian citizens. Italy is evacuating around 200 people, while Kazakhstan has run a flight to evacuate its nationals from Israel.

Third countries threatening to intervene

Israel’s Ambassador to the EU and NATO Haim Regev called on EU countries to make sure Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority stay out of the conflict in an interview with Politico.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Brown warned Iran not to get involved in the conflict. The United Arab Emirates has issued a similar warning to Syria, officials told Axios. An Emirati official refused to discuss private diplomatic conversations with Axios.

Israel has so far deployed tens of thousands of troops to the border with Lebanon, anticipating an attack by the military wing of the latter’s powerful armed group Hezbollah. The IDF also scrambled helicopters as it suspected a violation of its airspace near the Golan Heights and the Upper Galilee region, but these reports were never confirmed.

Situation around hostages

Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniye announced that the movement had no plans to engage in talks about the fate of its Israeli hostages until the fighting ends.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was clarifying whether any Russian nationals may be among the hostages. He confirmed that Moscow was keeping in touch with Palestinians.

Earlier, Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouq told Al Jazeera that there were Russian and Chinese nationals among the hostages in Gaza.

Russia’s stance

Peskov said that Russia intended to contribute to finding ways to settle the conflict. Ensuring the security of Russian nationals in the Middle East is Moscow’s priority, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said as he added that the country was currently working on evacuating its citizens.

In turn, commenting on the situation in the Middle East, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that it was the result of a major failure by US intelligence who had failed to warn of a potential escalation between Palestine and Israel beforehand.

Assistance supplies from US

The United States has already rushed military aid to Israel and will soon announce additional funding.

Washington is weighing linking aid to Israel and more funding for Ukraine in order to curry favor with Republican congressmen who oppose additional assistance for Ukraine.

Support for Palestine

Earlier, Neighborhood Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi announced that the European Commission (EC) would immediately put all its development aid for Palestine, worth 691 mln euros, under review. Later, Janez Lenarcic, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, said that the EC would provide humanitarian assistance to all Palestinians in need.

European Council President Charles Michel urged continued assistance to Palestine in a phone conversation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. France and Spain opposed cutting off assistance.

Against the backdrop of the Gaza blockade by Israel, the World Health Organization called for opening a humanitarian corridor "for critical supplies."

International response

In a joint telephone call, the leaders of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, the United States and France condemned the actions by Hamas as they expressed their full support for Israel.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch accused both Hamas and Israel of military crimes, criticizing Jerusalem for delivering "indiscriminate attacks" and imposing punitive measures on Gaza’s population. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that Israel’s total blockade of Gaza, which endangers "the lives of civilians," was prohibited under international law.