Hamas is "expanding its incursions into southern Israel," a military affairs think tank has said after Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced they have pushed militants who staged a large-scale offensive on Israeli settlements back over the border into Gaza.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed on Monday evening that Israeli forces were facing a triple threat, with Hamas launching an attack on the town of Rahat, 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) to the east of the Gaza Strip, while Hezbollah rocket fire was recorded from the northern border with Lebanon and militias thought to be linked to Hamas in the West Bank attacked Israeli settlements in the region.
"The Al Qassam Brigade [Hamas' militant wing] also fired rockets into Israeli territory on October 9, including into Jerusalem as Hamas called on people in the city to attack Israelis and be at the forefront of resistance," ISW noted.
Amid the violence that has engulfed the region since Saturday, there is a spiraling death toll in both Israeli and Palestinian territories as fighting continues. More than 1,600 people have been confirmed killed and thousands wounded, including civilians from various nations, including the U.S, according to the Associated Press.
Israel's military said it had regained control of the south and "restored full control" of the Gaza border. It also said that the bodies of around 1,500 Hamas militants were found in its territory. Some 300,000 reservists have been called up after Israel declared war on Hamas, and the Israeli Air Force has launched numerous airstrikes on targets within Gaza.
"We have only started striking Hamas," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address on Monday. "What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations."
After video footage appeared to show an amassing of Israeli military equipment near the border with Gaza, Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a "complete siege" of Gaza.
During the infiltration of Israeli settlements near the border, Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants took civilian hostages, demanding the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Since then, Hamas has warned it would kill civilians if Israel conducted airstrikes without warning civilians first.
Israeli officials said it had sent messages to civilians in the areas telling them to leave prior to the strikes, and that Hamas often chose to house military sites within civilian populations.
As the war enters its fourth day, the ISW said Hezbollah in Lebanon conducted artillery strikes on northern Israel, while at least six members of Islamic Jihad attempted to cross into Israel from Lebanon, prompting official warnings to four border towns of attempted infiltrations.
"The situation could expand the war to a second front," analysts at the think-tank said.
Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed, Lebanese Islamist Shiite militant group that has called for the obliteration of Israel, previously clashed with Israeli forces during the war of 2006.
On Sunday, the Pentagon ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group into the Eastern Mediterranean in a bid to deter a further escalation, referencing Hezbollah among the groups the signal was aimed at. The ISW said the head of the Iranian-backed Badr Organization threatened to attack U.S. forces if it intervened in the war on Israel's side.
"The Israeli government threatened to attack [Hezbollah] with the assistance of the US carrier strike group if [Hezbollah] continued to engage in the war with Hamas," the think tank said.
ISW also reported attacks on at least 13 Israeli settlements within the West Bank, following calls for violence from The Lions' Den, a local militia group that Israel Hayom, a newspaper, claims has received funding from Hamas.
Unlike the Gaza Strip, the West Bank is controlled by the Palestinian Authority but occupied by the Israeli military. Israel has raised tensions in the region by building settlements there, which many see as an encroachment on Palestinian territory.
Newsweek approached the Israeli Ministry of Defense via email for comment on Tuesday.
