100 reservists and soldiers travel from UK to Israel to serve with IDF
At least 100 people are understood to have travelled from the UK to Israel to serve in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the Israeli Embassy in the UK has said.
It is understood those who have travelled are “reservists and active duty soldiers” in the IDF, the embassy said.
It comes as the Israeli military is preparing for a possible ground operation in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attack on Israel over the weekend.
At least 2,300 people have been killed on both sides since Hamas militants stormed through a border fence on Saturday and massacred hundreds of Israelis in their homes, on the streets and at a music festival.
An Israeli military spokesman told reporters on Thursday that forces “are preparing for a ground manoeuvre if decided”, but that the political leadership had not yet ordered one.
In Israel, at least two years’ military service is compulsory for most Israeli citizens over the age of 18. Non-Israeli adults of Jewish descent can also join the army for 18 months as part of the military’s Mahal programme.
A statement from the Israeli Embassy in the UK said: “The Embassy of Israel understands that at least 100 reservists and active duty soldiers have gone back to Israel from the UK to serve in the IDF”.
Around 300,000 reservists have been called up by the Israeli military, with several thousand IDF soldiers already understood to have been gathered at the border with Gaza.
The announcement came as family members of some of those held hostage by Hamas in Gaza gave an emotional press conference in London.
Noam Sagi, 53, a London-based psychotherapist who grew up on Kibbutz Nir Oz, in which hundreds were murdered by Hamas on Saturday, told the conference: “People who survived the Holocaust found themselves facing another one.”
His 75-year-old mother, Ada Sagi, was kidnapped when the terrorists invaded the kibbutz. One of the hostages taken was on the Kindertransport, he said.
“I am here because I need to ask for help to release babies, kids, mothers and old people from their captivity. I am a British citizen and I am one of your own,” Mr Sagi said.
Concerns remain high for the safety of British citizens in the region, with reports that 17 UK nationals are either dead or missing, including children.
On Wednesday it was confirmed that another Briton died in the incursion by Hamas fighters on Saturday. Jake Marlowe, 26, is among three Britons known to have died.
Meanwhile people in Gaza spent the night in darkness on Wednesday, surrounded by the ruins of neighborhoods after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush and destroy” Hamas, with the support of a new war cabinet.
