By Agencies
TEL AVIV: Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel on Sunday and launched retaliation strikes that levelled buildings in Gaza, while in northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.
There was still some fighting underway more than 24 hours after an unprecedented surprise attack from Gaza, in which Hamas militants, backed by a volley of thousands of rockets, broke through Israel’s security barrier and rampaged through nearby communities.
At least 600 people have reportedly been killed in Israel, a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades, and more than 300 have been killed in Gaza. Among the dead were dozens of soldiers and police.
The militants also took captives back into the coastal Gaza enclave, including women, children and the elderly, whom they will likely try to trade for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The high death toll, multiple captives and slow response to the onslaught pointed to a major intelligence failure and undermined the long-held perception that Israel has eyes and ears everywhere in the small, densely populated territory it has controlled for decades.
Additionally, the Israel-based media outlet claimed that over 2,048 wounded in the deadliest attack are being treated in hospitals, including 20 in critical condition and 330 seriously wounded.
More than 24 hours after Hamas launched rocket attacks followed by an unprecedented ground assault, firefights between forces and terrorists were ongoing in Kfar Aza, close to the Gaza border. The IDF was attempting to neutralise all terrorists still present, The Times of Israel reported.
In a major escalation on Saturday, Hamas launched a “surprise attack” on Israel, firing a barrage of rockets into the southern and central parts of the country.
The toll from the rocket attacks and ground assault by Hamas went past 300 on Sunday, with another 1,864 people reported to be injured.
Several Israelis were taken as hostages in Gaza, The Times of Israel reported citing officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was at war and would exact a heavy price from its enemies. He also issued a stern warning to Hamas, claiming that it had begun a terrible war and that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) would use all of its strength to undermine their capacity.
“Hamas forces invaded Israeli territory this morning, on the morning of a holiday and Shabbat, and murdered innocent civilians, children and the elderly. Hamas started a cruel and evil war. We will win this war, but the price is too heavy to bear. This is a very difficult day for all of us,” the Israeli PM posted on ‘X’ on Sunday.
ALSO READ | Netanyahu warns of ‘long and difficult war’; hundreds killed on both sides
Netanyahu added, “Hamas wants to murder us all. It is an enemy who murders children and mothers in their homes, and in their beds. An enemy who kidnaps the elderly, children, and girls. Murderers who slap and slaughter our citizens, our children, who all in all went out to spend the holiday.”He said after what happened in Israel on Saturday, he will make sure that it does not happen again.
Earlier on Sunday, the IDF said Israeli fighter jets hit a military facility at the residence of the terrorist group Hamas’ intelligence chief in Gaza.
Sharing an update on the ongoing counter-offensive on social media platform X, the IDF posted a video and wrote, “Fighter jets recently attacked a military infrastructure at the home of the head of the intelligence department of the terrorist organization Hamas.”
“At this time, the IDF continues its attacks throughout the Gaza Strip,” the IDF added in its post.
The attack, which began at 6.30 am local time (03:30 GMT) on Saturday involved Hamas fighters, who infiltrated Israel by land, sea, and air.
Israel’s military launched a series of air raids on Gaza in response to the attacks.
Senior Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif declared earlier that the attacks were the beginning of “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, urging Palestinians all over the world to resist Israeli occupation.
Hamas would pay a “heavy price for its actions”, the Israeli military told citizens living near the Gaza Strip, ordering them to remain inside their houses.
ALSO READ | Fighter jets struck home of Hamas intelligence chief in Gaza: Israel Defense Force
Significantly, Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, referred to Saturday’s attack on Israel as an effort “in defence of the Al-Aqsa Mosque”, a disputed religious site significant to both Muslims and Jews.
The high death toll, multiple captives and slow response to the onslaught pointed to a major intelligence failure and undermined the long-held perception that Israel has eyes and ears everywhere in the small, densely populated territory it has controlled for decades.
Israeli TV news aired a stream of accounts from the relatives of captive or missing Israelis, who wailed and begged for assistance amid a fog of uncertainty surrounding the fate of their loved ones.
In Gaza, residents fled homes near the border to escape Israeli strikes, fleeing deeper inside the territory after warnings in Arabic from the Israeli military.
In neighbouring Egypt, a policeman shot dead two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian at a tourist site in Alexandria, the Interior Ministry said.
Egypt made peace with Israel decades ago, but anti-Israel sentiment runs high in the country, especially during bouts of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The flare-up on Israel’s northern border also threatened to draw into the battle Hezbollah, a fierce enemy of Israel which is backed by Iran and estimated to have tens of thousands of rockets at its disposal.
Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets and shells on Sunday at three Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border and Israel’s military fired back using armed drones.
Two children were lightly wounded by broken glass on the Lebanese side, according to the nearby Marjayoun Hospital.
Hamas said that overnight it had continued to send forces and equipment into “a number of locations inside our occupied territories,” referring to Israel.
Hamas-linked media reported that the son of Nizar Awadallah, a senior political official, was killed.
The Islamic militant group has not reported any senior members being captured, killed or wounded.
The surprise attack Saturday was the deadliest on Israel in decades.
In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen used explosives to break through the border fence enclosing Gaza, then crossed with motorcycles, pickup trucks, paragliders and speed boats on the coast.
They rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip early Saturday morning, including towns and other communities as far as 24 kilometres (15 miles) from the Gaza border, while Hamas launched thousands of rockets at Israeli cities.
ALSO READ | After shocking Hamas assault on Israel, both sides brace for devastating fallout
Hamas fighters took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive in Gaza, and a line of Israelis with missing relatives snaked outside a police station in central Israel to supply investigators with DNA samples and other means that could help identify their family members.
Israel struck 426 targets in Gaza, its military said, flattening residential buildings in giant explosions.
Among the 313 killed in Gaza were 20 children, and close to 2,000 people were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinians, said more than 20,000 Palestinians left Gaza’s border region to head further inside the territory and take refuge in UN schools.
In a televised address Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will use all of its strength to destroy Hamas’ capabilities.
“Get out of there now,” he told Gaza residents, who have no way to leave the tiny, overcrowded Mediterranean territory.
Gaza’s 2.3 million people have endured a border blockade, enforced to varying degrees by Israel and Egypt since Hamas militants seized control in 2007.
In Gaza, much of the population was thrown into darkness Saturday night as Israel cut off electricity and said it would no longer supply power, fuel or other goods to the territory.
Hamas said it had planned for a long fight. “We are prepared for all options, including all-out war,” the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, told Al-Jazeera TV.
Israel has a history of making heavily lopsided exchanges to bring captive Israelis home.
Over the past year, Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around the Al-Aqsa mosque, a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.
(With inputs from AP and ANI)
TEL AVIV: Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel on Sunday and launched retaliation strikes that levelled buildings in Gaza, while in northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.
There was still some fighting underway more than 24 hours after an unprecedented surprise attack from Gaza, in which Hamas militants, backed by a volley of thousands of rockets, broke through Israel’s security barrier and rampaged through nearby communities.
At least 600 people have reportedly been killed in Israel, a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades, and more than 300 have been killed in Gaza. Among the dead were dozens of soldiers and police.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The militants also took captives back into the coastal Gaza enclave, including women, children and the elderly, whom they will likely try to trade for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The high death toll, multiple captives and slow response to the onslaught pointed to a major intelligence failure and undermined the long-held perception that Israel has eyes and ears everywhere in the small, densely populated territory it has controlled for decades.
Additionally, the Israel-based media outlet claimed that over 2,048 wounded in the deadliest attack are being treated in hospitals, including 20 in critical condition and 330 seriously wounded.
More than 24 hours after Hamas launched rocket attacks followed by an unprecedented ground assault, firefights between forces and terrorists were ongoing in Kfar Aza, close to the Gaza border. The IDF was attempting to neutralise all terrorists still present, The Times of Israel reported.
In a major escalation on Saturday, Hamas launched a “surprise attack” on Israel, firing a barrage of rockets into the southern and central parts of the country.
The toll from the rocket attacks and ground assault by Hamas went past 300 on Sunday, with another 1,864 people reported to be injured.
Several Israelis were taken as hostages in Gaza, The Times of Israel reported citing officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was at war and would exact a heavy price from its enemies. He also issued a stern warning to Hamas, claiming that it had begun a terrible war and that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) would use all of its strength to undermine their capacity.
“Hamas forces invaded Israeli territory this morning, on the morning of a holiday and Shabbat, and murdered innocent civilians, children and the elderly. Hamas started a cruel and evil war. We will win this war, but the price is too heavy to bear. This is a very difficult day for all of us,” the Israeli PM posted on ‘X’ on Sunday.
ALSO READ | Netanyahu warns of ‘long and difficult war’; hundreds killed on both sides
Netanyahu added, “Hamas wants to murder us all. It is an enemy who murders children and mothers in their homes, and in their beds. An enemy who kidnaps the elderly, children, and girls. Murderers who slap and slaughter our citizens, our children, who all in all went out to spend the holiday.”He said after what happened in Israel on Saturday, he will make sure that it does not happen again.
Earlier on Sunday, the IDF said Israeli fighter jets hit a military facility at the residence of the terrorist group Hamas’ intelligence chief in Gaza.
Sharing an update on the ongoing counter-offensive on social media platform X, the IDF posted a video and wrote, “Fighter jets recently attacked a military infrastructure at the home of the head of the intelligence department of the terrorist organization Hamas.”
“At this time, the IDF continues its attacks throughout the Gaza Strip,” the IDF added in its post.
The attack, which began at 6.30 am local time (03:30 GMT) on Saturday involved Hamas fighters, who infiltrated Israel by land, sea, and air.
Israel’s military launched a series of air raids on Gaza in response to the attacks.
Senior Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif declared earlier that the attacks were the beginning of “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, urging Palestinians all over the world to resist Israeli occupation.
Hamas would pay a “heavy price for its actions”, the Israeli military told citizens living near the Gaza Strip, ordering them to remain inside their houses.
ALSO READ | Fighter jets struck home of Hamas intelligence chief in Gaza: Israel Defense Force
Significantly, Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, referred to Saturday’s attack on Israel as an effort “in defence of the Al-Aqsa Mosque”, a disputed religious site significant to both Muslims and Jews.
The high death toll, multiple captives and slow response to the onslaught pointed to a major intelligence failure and undermined the long-held perception that Israel has eyes and ears everywhere in the small, densely populated territory it has controlled for decades.
Israeli TV news aired a stream of accounts from the relatives of captive or missing Israelis, who wailed and begged for assistance amid a fog of uncertainty surrounding the fate of their loved ones.
In Gaza, residents fled homes near the border to escape Israeli strikes, fleeing deeper inside the territory after warnings in Arabic from the Israeli military.
In neighbouring Egypt, a policeman shot dead two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian at a tourist site in Alexandria, the Interior Ministry said.
Egypt made peace with Israel decades ago, but anti-Israel sentiment runs high in the country, especially during bouts of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The flare-up on Israel’s northern border also threatened to draw into the battle Hezbollah, a fierce enemy of Israel which is backed by Iran and estimated to have tens of thousands of rockets at its disposal.
Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets and shells on Sunday at three Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border and Israel’s military fired back using armed drones.
Two children were lightly wounded by broken glass on the Lebanese side, according to the nearby Marjayoun Hospital.
Hamas said that overnight it had continued to send forces and equipment into “a number of locations inside our occupied territories,” referring to Israel.
Hamas-linked media reported that the son of Nizar Awadallah, a senior political official, was killed.
The Islamic militant group has not reported any senior members being captured, killed or wounded.
The surprise attack Saturday was the deadliest on Israel in decades.
In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen used explosives to break through the border fence enclosing Gaza, then crossed with motorcycles, pickup trucks, paragliders and speed boats on the coast.
They rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip early Saturday morning, including towns and other communities as far as 24 kilometres (15 miles) from the Gaza border, while Hamas launched thousands of rockets at Israeli cities.
ALSO READ | After shocking Hamas assault on Israel, both sides brace for devastating fallout
Hamas fighters took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive in Gaza, and a line of Israelis with missing relatives snaked outside a police station in central Israel to supply investigators with DNA samples and other means that could help identify their family members.
Israel struck 426 targets in Gaza, its military said, flattening residential buildings in giant explosions.
Among the 313 killed in Gaza were 20 children, and close to 2,000 people were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinians, said more than 20,000 Palestinians left Gaza’s border region to head further inside the territory and take refuge in UN schools.
In a televised address Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will use all of its strength to destroy Hamas’ capabilities.
“Get out of there now,” he told Gaza residents, who have no way to leave the tiny, overcrowded Mediterranean territory.
Gaza’s 2.3 million people have endured a border blockade, enforced to varying degrees by Israel and Egypt since Hamas militants seized control in 2007.
In Gaza, much of the population was thrown into darkness Saturday night as Israel cut off electricity and said it would no longer supply power, fuel or other goods to the territory.
Hamas said it had planned for a long fight. “We are prepared for all options, including all-out war,” the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, told Al-Jazeera TV.
Israel has a history of making heavily lopsided exchanges to bring captive Israelis home.
Over the past year, Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around the Al-Aqsa mosque, a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.
(With inputs from AP and ANI)
