Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “crush and destroy” Hamas and said every member of the organisation was a “dead man”.
In a televised address on Wednesday night, Mr Netanyahu detailed atrocities that took place during the attack, including boys and girls bound and shot in the head, people burned alive, women raped and soldiers who were beheaded.
It comes as hundreds of thousands of Israeli troops have amassed at Gaza’s border in preparation for a potential ground attack on the besieged enclave.
Jonathan Conricus, a spokesperson for the Israeli military, said up to 300,000 troops had been deployed to the country’s border with Gaza to make sure Hamas won’t have any “military capabilities” in the future.
“What we are doing in these areas close to the Gaza Strip, is that we have deployed… our infantry, armoured soldiers, our artillery corps and many other soldiers from the reserves – 300,000 in numbers – in different brigades and divisions,” he said in a video posted on the social media platform X.
Israeli village near the Gaza border lies in ruin, filled with the bodies of residents and militants