Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday declared Israel at war after the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a pre-dawn surprise attack, launching a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip as scores of gunmen crossed into Israeli territory during a major Jewish holiday.
Israeli media said at least 250 Israelis were killed and 1,500 wounded in the deadliest attack in the nation in decades. At least 232 people were dead in Gaza and another 1,700 were wounded in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Hamas, the militant and political group that rules Gaza, has also taken dozens of “hostages and prisoners of war,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari confirmed, adding that the exact number is unclear.
Hamas rocket strikes hit four cities, including attacks on Tel Aviv and one of its suburbs that seriously hurt two people. Israeli officials said through the day, Hamas fired more than 3,500 rockets.
Israeli’s response will unfold on several fronts, Netanyahu said.
“Our first goal is first of all to cleanse the area of the enemy forces that have infiltrated and restore security and peace to the towns that were attacked,” Netanyahu said. “The second goal, at the same time, is to exact a huge price from the enemy, also in the Gaza Strip. The third goal is to fortify other arenas so that no one makes the mistake of joining this war.”
The prime minister concluded: “We are at war. In war you have to keep calm. I call on all citizens of Israel to unite, to achieve our highest goal — victory in the war.”
American officials offered support for Israel in the conflict. “The United States stands with Israel,” President Biden proclaimed.
“There is never justification for terrorist attacks,” Biden said in remarks delivered from the White House. “We will make sure that they have the help their citizens need, and they can continue to defend themselves. The world is watching.”
Scores of Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israeli by air, land and sea — moving on motorcycles and in pickup trucks, and aboard speedboats and paragliders.
Israeli TV broadcast footage of the explosions blasting through the Gaza-Israel border fence, and then what appeared to be Palestinian gunmen riding into Israel on motorcycles and in pickup trucks.
Videos of the violence and chaos cropped up on social media.
One clip showed a group of men being held at gunpoint. Hamas said they were Israeli soldiers, though their claims have not been verified. Another captured Hamas fighters parading what seemed to be Israeli military vehicles through the streets and at least one dead Israeli soldier within Gaza being dragged and trampled by an angry mob.
Smoke plumes of smoke filled the skies and the bodies of dead Israeli civilians and Hamas militants lined the streets.
Israeli Defense Forces battled in 22 locations spanning the southern part of the country. a military spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News. At nightfall, militants held hostages in two Israeli towns and held a police station in a third, the AP reported.
“There are communities that have been rid of terrorists, but we want to finish additional scans of the area before declaring so,” an Israeli miliary spokesperson said, adding that there were “live fire fights” in the town of Ofakim and the Be’eri kibbutz.
Hamas military commander Mohammad Deif, who rarely appears in public, announced the start of the offensive — dubbed “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” — in Hamas media.
Deif said the pre-dawn assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, which limits the movement of people and goods in and out of the territory and has been blamed for devastating its economy.
Deif also cited the Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the last year, violence at Al Aqsa — the disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount — increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians, and growth of settlements.
“Enough is enough,” Deif said in the recorded message, calling on Palestinians everywhere to join the fight. “Today the people are regaining their revolution.”
The attack is one of the biggest blows against Israel in its ongoing conflict with Palestinians since the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada in the early 2000s.
Saturday’s blitz unfolded on Simchat Torah, a typically joyous holiday when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll. It also also marked the 50th anniversary of the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, during which Arab states attacked Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
The invasion and its timing drew swift condemnation from many leader’s around the world.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the escalation of violence between the groups “terrifying,” while Egypt warned of “grave consequences” and called for “exercising maximum restraint and avoiding exposing civilians to further danger.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken added that the U.S. “unequivocally condemns the appalling attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israel, including civilians and civilian communities.”
With News Wire Services
