After Hamas launched a massive, unexpected attack against Israel on Saturday, killing and kidnapping troops and civilians with thousands of missiles fired from Gaza, gun engagements continued into the night throughout the country of Israel.
li Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced to the shocked public, “We are at war,” as the army replied by hammering targets in the blockaded enclave, resulting in the destruction of numerous residential tower blocks.
In the deadliest escalation of the battle in years, hundreds were murdered on both sides, including about 80 people killed in Israel according to medical services and 232 people killed in Gaza according to the government there.
In response to Hamas’s first such ground, air, and sea attack, Netanyahu warned, “The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” exactly 50 years after the start of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
As darkness fell, the Israeli military reported that the ongoing operation codenamed “Swords of Iron” saw its forces engaged in live gun fights in 22 places around Israel.
Army spokesman Richard Hecht described a “robust ground invasion” in which “we are engaging with terrorists that came into Israel, from the sea, from the land, and from the air” in 22 different sites.
Several Israelis have been kidnapped, and Hamas has distributed photos of some of them. Another army official, Daniel Hagari, has acknowledged that “there are kidnapped soldiers and civilians.
I don’t have any numbers to share at this time. Hamas has committed a war crime, and they will be punished.
In addition, Hecht reported a “severe hostage situation” in Beeri and Ofakim, two towns in the Negev desert east of Gaza. In another quick TV statement, Netanyahu pledged that Israel will “use all its force to destroy Hamas’ capabilities.”
“We’ll strike them to the bitter end and avenge with force this black day they brought on Israel and its people.”
Around 6:30 am (0330 GMT), the terrorists launched their coordinated onslaught, firing thousands of missiles in the direction of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Some of these rockets were able to get through the Iron Dome defensive system and hit their targets.
Hamas fighters infiltrated Gaza’s security barrier in vehicles on the ground, motorised paragliders, and boats to launch attacks on Israeli cities and military sites, killing civilians and soldiers in the process.
Reporters from AFP saw armed Palestinians congregating around a blazing Israeli tank and others returning to Gaza in a captured Israeli military Humvee to the applause of applauding crowds.
Major General Ghasan Alyan of the Israeli Defence Forces made the statement that Hamas had “opened the gates of hell.”
Smoke was seen billowing from the rubble of a residential skyscraper in Gaza that the AFP reported housed 100 flats before it was destroyed. Israel’s military said it gave civilians notice to leave before bombing Hamas’s high-rise headquarters.
Doctors Without Borders reported many casualties after an airstrike targeted an ambulance near Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza and the Indonesian hospital in the enclave.
As Israeli army flares lit up the night sky, Israel’s state-run electrical utility cut power to Gaza.
Months of growing violence preceded this escalation, primarily in the occupied West Bank, but also along Gaza’s border and around contested holy sites in Jerusalem.
Israeli and Palestinian authorities report that as of Saturday, at least 247 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, and 2 foreigners had been killed this year.
As part of its preparations for the attack, Hamas dubbed it “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” and it issued an appeal for “resistance fighters in the West Bank” and “in Arab and Islamic nations” to join the fight. “We decided to put an end to all the crimes of the occupation (Israel),” its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, claimed after launching over 5,000 missiles.
Hecht said that more than 3,000 missiles were fired at Israel that day.
Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas, said his organisation was “on the brink of a great victory.” “The cycle of intifadas (uprisings) and revolutions in the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons must be completed.”
Incoming missiles were intercepted by air defence systems, but air raid sirens sounded throughout southern and central Israel and in Jerusalem.
Rockets hit Ashkelon, north of Gaza, while a building was blown apart near Tel Aviv, forcing people to take a bus to safety. Many airlines cancelled flights out of Tel Aviv Airport as a result of the violence.
On this Sunday, the first day of the new Israeli week, there will be no classes.
