A member of the Palestinian civil defence carries a wounded boy rescued from the rubble of the Tattari family home which was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on Monday — AFP 
JERUSALEM, Oct 9, 2023 (Agencies): Israel said on Monday its troops backed by helicopters had killed armed infiltrators entering the country from Lebanon, raising fears war could spread to a second front two days after Hamas gunmen burst in from Gaza on a deadly rampage.
The Israeli military said it had called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists and was imposing a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, signs it could be planning a ground assault there to defeat Hamas.
In a further sign of Israel's rapid shift onto a war footing, a cabinet member from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party said it could set up a national unity government joined by opposition leaders within hours.
Israel imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip Monday and cut off the water supply as it kept bombing targets in the crowded Palestinian enclave in response to the Hamas surprise assault it has likened to the 9/11 attacks.
Reeling from the Islamist group's unprecedented ground, air and sea attacks, Israel has counted over 700 dead and launched a withering barrage of strikes on Gaza that have killed 560 people there.
The skies over Gaza were blackened by plumes of smoke from deafening explosions as Hamas kept launching rockets as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where missile defence systems fired and air raid sirens blared.
Hamas fighters were still holed up in several locations inside Israel two days after they killed hundreds of Israelis and seized dozens of hostages in a raid that shattered Israel's reputation of invincibility.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday to "change the Middle East" in Israel's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas, as the army pounded the Gaza Strip with air strikes.
"What Hamas will experience will be difficult and terrible... we are going to change the Middle East," Netanyahu told officials visiting Jerusalem from the country's south, where Hamas militants carried out a surprise attack on Saturday morning.
Report from Cairo adds: Arab League foreign ministers will meet Wednesday to discuss "Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip" following a surprise assault by Hamas on Israel, the regional bloc announced.
The "extraordinary meeting" in Cairo will seek to find "avenues of political action at the Arab and international level", as Israel keeps pounding targets in Gaza following Saturday's attack, Arab League deputy chief Hossam Zaki said in a statement.
Report from London adds: World oil prices spiked Monday after Hamas launched a shock attack on Israel.
Benchmark oil contracts Brent and WTI soared more than five percent in earlier Asian deals before easing back somewhat.
The worsening crisis sent shockwaves through global equity markets, although energy companies were boosted by higher oil prices which lift their profits and revenues.
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