Israel at war after Hamas launches land, sea and air invasion from the Gaza Strip
Israeli forces are trying to free hostages taken in Gaza as PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge after the Hamas militant group launched a massive attack that left hundreds dead.
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Israel is vowing “mighty vengeance” against the Hamas terrorists who launched a terrifying and unprecedented assault on the Jewish state, with at least 300 Israelis killed, 1590 wounded and dozens taken hostage in what has been described as Israel’s 9/11.
On the country’s darkest day in half a century, hundreds of Iran-backed Hamas fighters crossed the Gaza border and rampaged through at least 20 Israeli communities in a combined land, air and sea operation that caught Israel off guard.
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Israel responded with heavy air strikes targeting Hamas compounds in Gaza, killing at least 234 Palestinians and injuring more than 1600, while reservists were called up for what was expected to be a full-scale ground operation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a protracted military campaign to turn Hamas’s hiding spots “into rubble”.
“What happened today has never been seen before in Israel and I will make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said in an address to the nation.
“This war will take time. It will be difficult … We will win this war, but the price is unbearable.”
Hamas fired more than 3500 rockets, striking deep into Israel including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, while ground forces penetrated at least four Israeli military bases and invaded towns and villages where fighters gunned down civilians and took hostages.
Gun battles raged into the night between Israeli forces and hundreds of Hamas fighters in at least 22 Israel locations, including at least two where gunmen were holding hostages, the army said.
“Terrorists rampaged and broke into homes, massacring civilians,” the army said, adding that more than 1,000 people in Israel were wounded by gunshots or the more than 3,000 incoming rockets.
Harrowing videos on social media showed women and children being dragged into Gaza.
Israeli forces are desperately trying to free them as the race is on to rescue Israeli and Palestinian civilians trapped under rubble from air strikes that hit major buildings.
Dozens of people were killed, according to Israeli media reports, when Hamas fighters opened fire at a dance festival and sent hundreds of youths running for their lives,
In a recorded message, Hamas military commander Muhammed Deif said: “The people are regaining their revolution … We must set the earth on fire under the feet of the occupiers.”
Mr Netanyahu said that “Hamas wants to murder us all” as he vowed to “take mighty vengeance for this black day”, which came 50 years and a day after invading forces from Eygpt and Syria started the 19-day Yom Kippur War.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Gilal Erdan added: “This is our 9/11 … These animals will pay a heavy price.”
In the early hours of Sunday, after the assault began at dawn on Saturday, Israeli soldiers continued searching for fighters who had crossed from Gaza – some even by hang glider.
Israel Defence Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus said Israeli troops had killed more than 200 terrorists but that the situation was “still not fully under control” in southern Israel, with soldiers going house to house to confirm civilians were safe.
He promised “an unprecedented Israeli response against Hamas” which would be shaped by their decision to take hostages into Gaza.
Saleh al-Arouri, another Hamas leader, claimed they had captured enough people to free all Palestinian prisoners in Israel, as he threatened to take even more hostages.
“We started an all-out battle … We will continue to fight until we are rewarded with victory, freedom and independence,” he told Al Jazeera.
US President Joe Biden blasted the “unconscionable” terrorist attack and said his administration’s support for Israel was “rock solid and unwavering”.
“We will not ever fail to have her back,” he promised.
A senior White House official flagged imminent American support for Israel’s response.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that while it was “too early to say … if the state of Iran was directly involved”, Hamas was funded, equipped and armed by Iran.
Amid fears Hezbollah could enter the war, Mr Biden warned: “This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. The world is watching.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the “abhorrent attack on Israel” and urged Hamas fighters to stop the “indiscriminate” assault.
As of Sunday morning, he said the government’s advice was that all Australians in the area were safe after a “very dark 24 hours”.
WORLD LEADERS SLAM ATTACK
Bodies of Israeli civilians were strewn across the streets of Sderot in southern Israel, Reuters reported.
“I went out, I saw loads of bodies of terrorists, civilians, cars shot up. A sea of bodies, inside Sderot along the road, other places, loads of bodies,” Shlomi from Sderot told Reuters.
World leaders condemned the attack that Hamas’s military commander in Gaza, Mohammad Deif, said was just the first phase of “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, launched to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
It comes months after Mr Biden released US$6 billion in frozen assets to Hamas’s main benefactor, Iran, leading to outrage over both the funding of the attack and what experts are calling an “embarrassing intelligence failure” is Israel’s security state.
The Islamist group started the attack around 6.30am on Saturday local time (2.30pm Saturday AEDT) with thousands of rockets aimed as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some bypassing the Iron Dome defence system and hitting buildings.
“Send help, please!” one Israeli woman sheltering with her two-year-old child pleaded as militants outside opened fire at her house and tried to break into their safe room, Israeli media reported.
As night fell, Israel had ordered its state-run electricity company to stop the power supply to Gaza, said Energy Minister Israel Katz.
The escalation follows months of rising violence, mostly in the occupied West Bank, and tensions around Gaza’s border and at contested holy sites in Jerusalem.
Some regional leaders urged restraint after Saturday’s deadly Hamas attack targeting Israel and the retaliation that followed, but others blamed Israel itself and some celebrated the surprise assault.
Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned “against the danger of the situation deteriorating and sliding into more violence”.
A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei voiced support, calling it a “proud operation”, while Britain’s foreign minister James Cleverly condemned the attacks.
ISRAEL HIT BY SURPRISE ATTACK
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a public statement saying: “Citizens of Israel, we are at war. And we will win.
Mr Netanyahu said he instructed the military to clear Israeli villages of Hamas militants who had crossed into Israel.
“I instructed a wide-scale call for reserves to respond militarily at an intensity and scale that the enemy has not known before. The enemy will pay a price they have never paid before.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin issued a statement saying it condemned the unprovoked attack from the air and on the ground on sovereign Israeli territory by Hamas terrorists.
“In addition to a massive rocket barrage targeting Israel’s metropolitan areas, Hamas forces have infiltrated into Israel with the clear aim of murdering civilians and taking hostages,” he said.
“These acts constitute egregious war crimes in their targeting of civilians and are an armed attack against a sovereign state.
“We expect the State of Israel to take all necessary measures to defend itself and to defeat the terror forces of Hamas and restore peace for Israel’s citizens.
“We call upon the Australian Government to condemn without equivocation these flagrant crimes.
“Any calls for de-escalation by “both sides” or attempts to draw equivalences between the crimes of a terrorist organisation and the defensive measures of a sovereign and democratic state are misconceived and only play into the hands of the terrorists.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Israel at this time.”
The Australian Government issued information for those in need of emergency consular assistance to contact the Australian Government’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 (within Australia) or +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas).
– with AFP
Originally published as Israel at war after Hamas launches land, sea and air invasion from the Gaza Strip
Read related topics:Israel Conflict
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