JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas militants fired hundreds of rockets and despatched dozens of fighters into Israeli cities close to the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented shock early morning attack throughout a significant Jewish vacation Saturday, killing dozens and gorgeous the nation. Israel mentioned it’s now at conflict with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”
Hours after the incursion started, Israeli troops had been nonetheless combating Hamas gunmen in 22 areas close to the Gaza Strip, together with cities and different communities, military spokesman Daniel Hagari mentioned — a startling signal of the breadth of the assault.
Israel’s nationwide rescue service mentioned a minimum of 100 folks had been killed and lots of wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years. An unknown variety of Israeli troopers and civilians had been additionally seized and brought into Gaza, an enormously delicate subject for Israel. Hagari mentioned militants had been holding hostages in standoffs in two cities, Beeri and Ofakim, which is 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gaza border.
At least 198 folks within the Gaza Strip have been killed and a minimum of 1,610 wounded in Israel’s retaliation, the Palestinian Health Ministry mentioned. Airstrikes within the night flattened a 14-story residential tower that additionally holds Hamas workplaces in central Gaza City. Israeli fired a warning simply earlier than, and the variety of casualties was not instantly recognized.
The power, sophistication and timing of the attack shocked Israelis. Hamas fighters used explosives to interrupt by means of the border fence enclosing the long-blockaded Mediterranean territory, then crossed with bikes, pickup vans, paragliders and pace boats on the coast.
Bodies of lifeless Israeli civilians and Hamas militants had been seen on streets of Israeli cities. Associated Press pictures confirmed an kidnapped elderly Israeli lady surrounded by gunmen being introduced again into Gaza on a golf cart and one other lady squeezed between two fighters on a bike. Images on social media appeared to point out fighters parading what appeared to be captured Israeli navy automobiles by means of Gaza streets and a lifeless Israeli soldier being dragged and trampled by crowd of Palestinians.
The battle threatened to spiral dramatically additional. Previous conflicts between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas ruler introduced widespread loss of life and destruction in Gaza and days of rocket fireplace on Israeli cities. The combine is doubtlessly extra risky now, with Israel’s far-right authorities stung by the safety breach and with Palestinians in despair over a unending occupation.
“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned in a televised tackle, declaring a mass military mobilization. “Not an ‘operation,’ not a ‘round,’ but at war.”
“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added, promising that Israel would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.”
Hamas militants fired hundreds of rockets and despatched dozens of fighters into Israeli cities close to the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented shock early morning attack throughout a significant Jewish vacation.
The shadowy chief of Hamas’ navy wing, Mohammed Deif, mentioned the assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the previous 12 months, violence at Al Aqsa — the disputed Jerusalem holy web site sacred to Jews because the Temple Mount — rising assaults by settlers on Palestinians and development of settlements.
“Enough is enough,” Deif, who doesn’t seem in public, mentioned within the recorded message. He mentioned the morning attack was solely the beginning of what he known as “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” and known as on Palestinians from east Jerusalem to northern Israel to affix the combat. “Today the people are regaining their revolution.”
At a gathering of prime safety officers Saturday, Netanyahu mentioned the primary precedence was to “cleanse” southern Israel of infiltrators, adopted by a larger retaliation in Gaza.
The Hamas incursion on Simchat Torah, a usually joyous day when Jews full the annual cycle of studying the Torah scroll, revived painful recollections of the 1973 Mideast conflict virtually 50 years to the day, by which Egypt and Syria launched a shock attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, aiming to take again Israeli-occupied territories.
Comparisons to one of the traumatic moments in Israeli historical past sharpened criticism of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who had campaigned on extra aggressive motion towards threats from Gaza. Political commentators lambasted the federal government over its failure to anticipate what seemed to be a Hamas attack unseen in its degree of planning and coordination.
Asked by reporters how Hamas had managed to catch the military off guard, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, replied, “That’s a good question.”
The abduction of Israeli civilians and troopers additionally raised a very thorny subject for Israel. Israel has a historical past of constructing closely lopsided exchanges with the intention to deliver captive Israelis home.
Their quantity was not instantly recognized. Videos launched by Hamas appeared to point out a minimum of three Israelis captured alive, and AP pictures confirmed a minimum of three civilians introduced in Gaza, together with the 2 ladies. Israeli tv confirmed photos of a young man stripped right down to his pants being led on foot in a chokehold and reported that elderly ladies with dementia in addition to staff from Thailand and the Philippines had been among the many captives.
The Israeli navy confirmed that numerous Israelis had been taken captive. A prime Hamas official, Saleh Arouri, instructed Al-Jazeera TV that his group is holding “a large number” of Israeli prisoners together with senior officers including that they are going to be utilized in a prisoner trade to free Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails. Neither facet mentioned what number of.
The assault introduced scenes of bloodshed into cities of southern Israel.
In the city of Sderot, the our bodies of a minimum of six folks gunned down at a bus shelter had been laid out on stretchers on the road. The luggage they’d been carrying sat on the curb and unmatched sneakers had been scattered on the sidewalk. Elsewhere, an Israeli lady knelt on the street and embraced a lifeless member of the family whose physique was stretched out subsequent to a pink bike that lay on its facet. The rider’s hand with a glove and a foot in a racing boot prolonged out from below the sheet.
In the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, simply 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Gaza Strip, terrified residents who had been huddled indoors mentioned they might hear fixed gunfire echoing off the buildings as firefights continued.
“With rockets we somehow feel safer, knowing that we have the Iron Dome (missile defense system) and our safe rooms. But knowing that terrorists are walking around communities is a different kind of fear,” mentioned Mirjam Reijnen, a 42-year-old volunteer firefighter and mom of three in Nahal Oz.
In a televised tackle, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Hamas had made “a grave mistake” and promised that “the state of Israel will win this war.”
U.S. President Joe Biden condemned “this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza.” He spoke with Netanyahu and mentioned Israel “has a right to defend itself and its people.” based on a White House assertion.
Saudi Arabia, which has been in talks with the U.S. about normalizing relations with Israel, launched a press release calling on either side to train restraint. The kingdom mentioned it had repeatedly warned about “the dangers of the situation exploding as a result of the continued occupation (and) the Palestinian people being deprived of their legitimate rights.”
Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group congratulated Hamas, praising the attack as a response to “Israeli crimes.” The group mentioned its command in Lebanon was involved with Hamas concerning the operation.
The attack comes at a time of historic division inside Israel over Netanyahu’s proposal to overtake the judiciary. Mass protests over the plan have despatched lots of of hundreds of Israeli demonstrators into the streets and prompted lots of of navy reservists to keep away from volunteer obligation — turmoil that has raised fears over the navy’s battlefield readiness and raised issues about its deterrence over its enemies.
It additionally comes at a time of mounting tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, with the peace course of successfully lifeless for years. Over the previous 12 months Israel’s far-right authorities has ramped up settlement building within the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced lots of of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared round a flashpoint Jerusalem holy web site.
Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas seized management of the territory in 2007. The bitter enemies have fought 4 wars since then.
The blockade, which restricts the motion of individuals and items out and in of Gaza, has devastated the territory’s financial system. Israel says the blockade is required to maintain militant teams from building up their arsenals. The Palestinians say the closure quantities to collective punishment.
Nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli navy raids within the West Bank, which has seen heavy combating. Israel says the raids are geared toward militants, however stone-throwing protesters and folks uninvolved within the violence have additionally been killed. Palestinian assaults on Israeli targets have killed over 30 folks.
The tensions have additionally unfold to Gaza, the place Hamas-linked activists held violent demonstrations alongside the Israeli border in recent weeks. Those demonstrations had been halted in late September after worldwide mediation.
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Adwan reported from Rafah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press author Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
