By JOSEF FEDERMAN and ISSAM ADWAN (Associated Press)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Under cowl of a barrage of rockets, dozens of Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into close by Israeli cities, killing tons of and abducting others in an unprecedented shock early morning assault throughout a significant Jewish vacation Saturday. A shocked Israel stated it’s now at warfare with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”
In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 places exterior the Gaza Strip, together with cities and different communities so far as 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gaza border. In some locations, they roamed for hours, gunning down civilians and troopers as Israel’s navy scrambled to muster a response. Gunbattles continued effectively after dusk, and militants held hostages in standoffs in two cities.
Israel’s nationwide rescue service stated not less than 200 individuals have been killed and 1,100 wounded, making it the deadliest assault in Israel in many years. At least 198 individuals within the Gaza Strip have been killed and not less than 1,610 wounded in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian Health Ministry stated.
The battle threatened to escalate to a good deadlier stage with Israel’s vows of larger retaliation. Previous conflicts between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers introduced widespread loss of life and destruction in Gaza and days of rocket hearth on Israeli cities. The state of affairs is probably extra risky now, with Israel’s far-right authorities stung by the safety breach and with Palestinians in despair over a unending occupation within the West Bank and suffocating blockade of Gaza.
After dusk, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza intensified, flattening a number of residential buildings in big explosions, together with a 14-story tower that held dozens of flats in addition to Hamas workplaces in central Gaza City. Israeli forces fired a warning simply earlier than, and there have been no studies of casualties.
Soon after, a Hamas rocket barrage into central Israel hit 4 cities, together with Tel Aviv and a close-by suburb, the place two individuals have been critically injured.
The power, sophistication and timing of the Saturday morning assault 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 velocity boats on the coast.
Bodies of useless Israeli civilians and Hamas militants have been seen on streets of Israeli cities. Associated Press pictures confirmed an kidnapped aged Israeli lady being introduced again into Gaza on a golf cart by Hamas gunmen and one other lady squeezed between two fighters on a motorbike. Images confirmed fighters parading captured Israeli navy automobiles by means of Gaza streets.
“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a televised deal with, 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.”
The shadowy chief of Hamas’ navy wing, Mohammed Deif, stated the assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the previous yr, violence at Al Aqsa — the disputed Jerusalem holy website sacred to Jews because the Temple Mount — rising assaults by settlers on Palestinians and progress of settlements.
“Enough is enough,” Deif, who doesn’t seem in public, stated within the recorded message. He stated the assault 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.”
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 warfare virtually 50 years to the day, wherein Egypt and Syria launched a shock assault on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, aiming to take again Israeli-occupied territories.
Comparisons to one of the crucial traumatic moments in Israeli historical past sharpened criticism of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who had campaigned on extra aggressive motion in opposition to threats from Gaza. Political commentators lambasted the federal government over its failure to anticipate what seemed to be a Hamas assault unseen in its stage 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 challenge for Israel. Israel has a historical past of creating closely lopsided exchanges as a way to carry captive Israelis dwelling.
Their quantity was not instantly identified. Videos launched by Hamas appeared to indicate not less than three Israelis captured alive, and AP pictures confirmed not less than three civilians introduced in Gaza, together with the 2 girls. Israeli tv confirmed photographs of a younger man stripped right down to his pants being led on foot in a chokehold and reported that aged girls with dementia in addition to employees from Thailand and the Philippines have been among the many captives.
The Israeli navy confirmed that various Israelis had been taken captive. A spokesman for Hamas’ navy wing, Abu Obeida, stated the group was holding dozens of Israeli troopers captive in “safe places” and tunnels within the Gaza Strip. If true, the declare might set the stage for classy negotiations on a swap with Israel, which is holding 1000’s of Palestinians in its prisons.
The Hamas assault into southern Israel left a path of civilians’ our bodies the place that they had encountered the advancing gunmen.
On the street exterior the city of Sderot, a bloodied lady slumped useless within the seat of her automobile. Inside the city, our bodies of not less than six individuals gunned down at a bus shelter have been laid out on stretchers on the road, their baggage set close by on the curb. Elsewhere, a girl knelt on the street and embraced a useless member of the family whose physique was stretched out subsequent to a pink bike that lay on its aspect. 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 have been huddled indoors stated 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,” stated Mirjam Reijnen, a 42-year-old volunteer firefighter and mom of three in Nahal Oz.
In a televised deal with, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Hamas had made “a grave mistake” and promised that “the state of Israel will win this war.”
Israel’s navy was bringing 4 divisions of troops in addition to tanks to the Gaza border, becoming a member of 31 battalions already within the space, the spokesman Hagari stated. A significant query now was whether or not Israel will launch a floor assault into Gaza, a densely populated enclave of greater than 2 million individuals, a transfer that previously has introduced intensified casualties.
Hamas stated it had deliberate for a probably lengthy combat. “We are prepared for all options, including all-out war,” the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, advised Al-Jazeera TV. “We are ready to do whatever is necessary for the dignity and freedom of our people.”
U.S. President Joe Biden condemned “this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza.” He spoke with Netanyahu and stated Israel “has a right to defend itself and its people.” in response to a White House assertion.
Saudi Arabia, which has been in talks with the U.S. about normalizing relations with Israel, launched an announcement calling on each side to train restraint. The kingdom stated 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 assault as a response to “Israeli crimes.” The group stated its command in Lebanon was involved with Hamas in regards to the operation.
The assault comes at a time of historic division inside Israel over Netanyahu’s proposal to overtake the judiciary. Mass protests over the plan have despatched tons of of 1000’s of Israeli demonstrators into the streets and prompted tons 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 useless for years. Over the previous yr Israel’s far-right authorities has ramped up settlement development within the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced tons of of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared round a flashpoint Jerusalem holy website.
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.
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Adwan reported from Rafah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press author Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”