Tel Aviv on Saturday said it is “at war” after Palestinian
Islamist group Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years that killed
more than 70 people and wounded hundreds.
The surprise attack, which shook the world, combined gunmen
crossing into Israel with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza. In reply,
Israel has launched heavy air raids on Gaza killing at least 198 Palestinians,
medical sources in Gaza told Reuters. Palestinian health officials said Israeli
bombardments hit deep into Gaza City, sending clouds of black smoke spiralling
into the sky. Israel said the Iran-backed group had declared war as its army
confirmed fighting with militants in several Israeli towns and military bases near
Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate. “Our enemy will
pay a price the type of which it has never known,” he said. “We are in a war and
we will win it.”
At least 70 people have been killed in Israel during
fighting with Palestinian militants, the Magen David Adom emergency medical
services said in a statement. “As of now, 5:35 pm (1435 GMT), we can update the
toll to 70 killed and hundreds wounded seriously, moderately and lightly,” it said
in a statement. Hamas, the group running Gaza, said its surprise operation was
in response to the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence.
The Israeli military said it had responded with air strikes into Gaza, where
witnesses reported hearing heavy explosions and multiple dead being carried
into hospitals.
The attack marked an unprecedented infiltration into Israel
by an unknown number of Hamas gunmen crossing from the Gaza Strip, and the
heaviest blow for Israel in the conflict with Palestinians since the suicide
bombings of the Second Intifada some two decades ago. The militant Islamic
Jihad group said it had joined the attacks and was holding several Israeli
soldiers captive and Hamas social media accounts showed footage of what were
said to be Israeli captives being taken alive into Gaza. The Israeli military
has declined to comment on the reports but has not denied them either, saying
it would address the reports later. Israeli broadcaster Reshet 13 TV News said militants
were holding Israelis hostage in the town of Ofakim, and that five Palestinian
militants had been killed in the town of Sderot and homes had been set on fire.
Israeli media reported gunbattles between bands of
Palestinian fighters and security forces in towns in southern Israel. Israel’s police
chief said there were “21 active scenes” in southern Israel.
