More than 350,000 reservists have joined the forces massed in southern Israel and awaiting orders
- Israel and Hamas at war – live updates
The double line of Israeli tanks stretched to the horizon. About 100 were visible, low-slung hulks quickly taking on the colour of the pervasive desert dust. This was just a small part of Israel’s coiled military might ranged along the borders of Gaza, waiting for the order to move. Israel has about 2,200 tanks, a massive force, 10 times the British army’s tank fleet, and many of them are here, fuelled up and pointing west.
About 20 miles (30km) to the north, near the border town of Sderot, huge self-propelled guns have been dug into the earth, angled towards Beit Hanoun and Gaza City, which lie just over the crest of a hill. Lorries and tankers carrying fuel and water run in convoys along the Israeli roads that run north to south, parallel to the Gaza border, and reservists fill the streets, cafes and petrol stations of the border towns that absorbed the brunt of the 7 October Hamas attack that ignited the current war.
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