Benjamin Netanyahu warns of long, difficult war after Hamas attacks from Gaza
Fighting between Israeli forces and the Palestinian militant group continues to rage, with hundreds killed on both sides after a surprise attack on Israel.
Fighting between Israeli forces and the Palestinian militant group Hamas continued to rage on Sunday, with hundreds killed on both sides after a surprise attack on Israel prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn they were “embarking on a long and difficult war”.
The conflict’s bloodiest escalation in decades saw Hamas carry out a massive rocket barrage and ground, air and sea offensive early Saturday that Israel’s army said had killed more than 300 Israelis and wounded 1000.
Gaza officials said intense Israeli air strikes on the coastal enclave had brought the Palestinian death toll to at least 232, with nearly 1700 wounded.
Gun battles raged into Sunday morning 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.
“We are embarking on a long and difficult war that was forced on us by a murderous Hamas attack,” Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter, early Sunday.
“The first stage is ending at this time by the destruction of the vast majority of the enemy forces that infiltrated our territory.
“At the same time, we have begun the offensive phase, which will continue with neither limitations nor respite until the objectives are achieved. We will restore security to the citizens of Israel and we will win.”
The broad Hamas assault caught Israel’s military and security establishment off-guard. Militants invaded by air, land and sea, according to the Israeli military, penetrating at least four military bases along Israel’s border with Gaza.
The Israeli military estimated that 3500 rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel.
Across the country, shaken Israelis sought refuge in safe rooms and bomb shelters. Explosions boomed across Tel Aviv as the country’s Iron Dome air-defence shot down a fusillade of rockets from Gaza on Saturday night, although some fell on the city and injured civilians.
Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, said the group had abducted dozens of people, including Israeli army officers. He didn’t share the exact number of hostages. “They are all around the Gaza Strip,” he said, adding a warning to Israel: “It’s better not to take any irrational decisions.”
The Israeli military said soldiers and civilians had been captured and taken into Gaza, and that most of its casualties weren’t due to rockets but close-contact fighting and “cold-blooded killings” by Hamas. Militants held hostages in at least two Israeli towns, the authorities said.
“As we’re speaking, the situation in Israel is still not fully under control,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus said in a live briefing on X, formerly Twitter, around 1.30am Tel Aviv time (9.30am Sunday AEDT). He said Israeli soldiers were still going house-to-house in the southern part of the country near Gaza, in an effort to clear the area of a “high number of hundreds” of Hamas militants who crossed over during the day.
Meanwhile, Israel hit back with air strikes that it said targeted Hamas leaders and militants.
“What happened today has never been seen before in Israel and I will make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Netanyahu in a night-time address to the nation. “This war will take time. It will be difficult. Difficult days are ahead of us, but we will win.”
The prime minister followed up later in the night, posting on X that Israel had started an offensive and “will continue without hesitation and without respite — until the goals are achieved.”
Netanyahu is in discussions with opposition leaders about forming an emergency unity government. The invasion by Hamas comes amid political turmoil in Israel over a plan by Netanyahu and his far-right allies to weaken the country’s Supreme Court.
The broad attacks unleashed at dawn on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah threaten to derail U.S.-brokered talks to normalise relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel and come at a time of significant domestic political turmoil and division within Israel.
In Washington, President Biden said he spoke to Netanyahu and told him the U.S. stands ready to offer all appropriate means of support.
“The United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza,” he said. “The United States warns against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation. My administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering.”
Hamas’s attack also caught the Biden administration by surprise, several senior U.S. civilian and military officials said. These officials said they hadn’t seen any intelligence reports in recent days alerting Washington that the audacious assault was in the works.
Hamas has called on other Palestinian groups and Arabs more broadly to join its campaign against Israel, saying Saturday’s attacks were just the beginning, raising the spectre of a broader conflict. There were limited clashes in the West Bank between Palestinians and Israeli settlers and soldiers.
“We are on the verge of a great victory and clear conquest on the Gaza front,” said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a video.
In neighbouring Lebanon, the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah said it was watching the battle play out “with utmost interest” and that it was in direct contact with Gaza’s rulers. “It sends a message to the Arab and Islamic world, and the international community as a whole, especially those seeking normalisation with this enemy, that the Palestinian cause is an everlasting one, alive until victory and liberation,” said Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog blamed Iran for co-ordinating the attack by Hamas, calling on the international community to support Israel in condemning the Palestinians militants and Tehran.
Iran didn’t take responsibility for the attack but Yahya Rahim-Safavi, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said Iran would stand by the Palestinian fighters until they had liberated Palestine and Jerusalem, according to a statement on the state-run ISNA news agency.
“We congratulate the Palestinian fighters for this operation,” he said. In response to the attacks, the Israeli military said it launched strikes against 17 military compounds and locations connected to Hamas’s leadership in Gaza. The army released videos of strikes on cars, Palestinian militants and other targets. Dozens of air force jet fighters launched the attacks, the Israeli military said.
The army also flooded southern Israel with ground troops to manage the incursion, it said. The Israeli military said it had named the counter offensive against Hamas Operation Swords of Iron.
Palestinians in Gaza fled their homes by the thousands in anticipation of Israeli retaliation, seeking shelter in schools.
Some Hamas militants used paragliders to enter Israel as others came by land and sea, said Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman.
Yoni Asher, 37, said his wife, Doron Asher, 34, went missing along with their two daughters, ages 5 and 3, while she was visiting her mother in Nir Oz, an Israeli village near the border with Gaza. He said no one from the military has been in contact with him formally.
“I need help in trying to locate her,” he said. Later Saturday, footage emerged of his wife and children being held by Hamas militants.
Residents in the south said they heard gunshots and were sheltering. “We are in a bad situation,” said Yahaloma Zechut, a resident of Ofakim, a city near the Gaza border.
“During all the previous rounds of fighting I was in the shelters and supporting people but the situation now with infiltration into our homes is unbearable. It is very hard.” The military called up reservists and braced its citizens for more conflict. It warned residents to stay near bomb shelters and obey orders from authorities. Hecht said that the military would take time to decide how to respond to what he called a “dire situation.” “Hamas made a grave mistake this morning and started a war against the State of Israel,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. “The State of Israel will win this war.” Videos shared on social media by Israeli news organisations showed cars burning and smoke rising from buildings in the southern city of Ashkelon.
In another southern city near the border, Sderot, Natan Flyer first heard about a group of militants inside his city from his neighbourhood WhatsApp group. “The photos started coming in and it was hard to believe but I recognised it was in Sderot,” he said. “Later, photos of bodies started coming in.” Tensions at the Gaza-Israel border have been heightened in recent weeks, with Palestinians sending incendiary balloons and the Israeli military conducting air strikes. But there had been no indications that the tensions would break out into full-scale conflict.
Israel’s military has engaged in on-and-off confrontations with Hamas — which the U.S. considers a terrorist organisation — since the group took over the Gaza Strip after a violent battle with Fatah, the political group that controls the Palestinian Authority. In May, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza, and Israel exchanged five days of fire before a ceasefire was called.
In recent years, Israel’s strategy in Gaza has been to intermittently attack militant groups but avoid a full-scale war. The last time ground troops entered Gaza was in 2014. In a strategic briefing earlier this month, the Israeli military described the Gaza Strip as being in a state of “stable instability” and said that Israel was able to use a variety of economic tools to help keep the situation calm. Israel has been handing out more permits to Palestinians to work in the country as part of that effort.
The Wall Street Journal
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