‘We have no choice but to fight’

“We’re in a war that we didn’t choose to be in,” Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Eli Cohen told foreign media on Monday, 9 October. “We’ll continue with all our might to fight for our homeland, and we’ll win. We have no choice. We’re fighting for our home.”

Calling Saturday’s devastation at the hands of Hamas terrorists “the worst massacre in Israel’s history”, Cohen spoke of the massive casualties of the massacre, which now tallies 1 200 murdered, 2 900 injured, and more than 150 taken hostage into Gaza. These include little children and women, many of whom were tortured and raped.

“We have never seen such scenes here. Taking an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair captive? Small children taken captive and put in cages. It’s viciousness and evilness that the world hasn’t seen before. Only the Nazis, or perhaps ISIS.”

Cohen spoke of the horror of 20 young people seeking shelter in a big trash bin. When the terrorists found them, they first threw a grenade in and after it detonated, they shot each person individually. They did the same thing in bomb shelters, he said.

He called those who did this “monsters, inhuman terrorists whose only wish was to murder as many Jews as possible”. Cohen gave his assurance that though it would “take time for us to fight terror, we cannot allow our country to be subjected to this”.

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Major Libby Weiss told the foreign media hospitals were overwhelmed by the number of injured.

“The terrorists went into more than 30 Israeli communities, overtook them, murdered people on the streets, went into homes, and murdered people in their beds. Others they took hostage and dragged into Gaza.

“They assaulted and butchered civilians, parents, grandparents, children, and young people. They attacked a music festival where hundreds of young people were just enjoying music through the night. Only to end this in horror and devastation. More than 270 of them were slaughtered.”

She said the battle was far from over, and Israel was still finding terrorists in the country.

The attack from the air continues as Hamas has launched thousands of rockets into Israel and there has been mortar fire from Hezbollah. “It’s a dire situation, and there’s no justification for any of this,” Weiss said.

“Hamas gets a disgusting pleasure in abusing and desecrating human life,” Weiss said. Those subjected to this “are people who did nothing wrong, just living their lives”.

Israel anticipates that this will be a long process, she said. “We’re in the midst of this. It’s a challenge that breaks all of our hearts.”