Photo: AP/Fatima Shbair
A surprise attack by Hamas members on Israel on Saturday morning and Israel's response with airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 900 people on both sides, while thousands were wounded. Hamas captured and kidnapped dozens of Israeli soldiers and civilians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared war on Hamas
Israel announced on Sunday that about 600 civilians have been killed so far in the Hamas attack on Israel, while more than two thousand are in hospitals. The death toll in Israel skyrocketed from 300 to 600.
"Citizens of Israel, we are at war," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said shortly after the Hamas militant group fired several thousand rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning. Cities in the south of the country were mostly affected, but explosions were also heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, writes CNN.
The rocket attacks were synchronized with the incursion of armed Palestinian women into Israeli territory. Attacks on Israeli military patrols and civilians followed. Dozens of Israeli soldiers and civilians were captured and kidnapped.
A video appeared on social networks, the authenticity of which was confirmed by CNN, showing how armed Palestinians pull Israeli soldiers out of a disabled tank. Another video shows them kidnapping a woman. These videos represent the ultimate humiliation for Israel.
On Sunday morning, Israeli forces fired rockets at the city of Gaza and the Palestinian territory under the control of Hamas, while the southern and central parts of Israel were hit by Hamas.
This action by Hamas is unprecedented in the decades-long history of conflict with the State of Israel. It is the fiercest attack on Israeli territory since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Never before have so many Israelis been kidnapped in one day.
Israeli intelligence failed completely. An action of this scale was certainly planned for a long time, such a number of rockets did not appear overnight in the Gaza Strip. Hamas carried out the attack on Saturday when Israelis were celebrating the religious holiday of joy Simchat Torah.
Despite fierce clashes with the ultra-conservative Netanyahu government, opposition leaders gave the prime minister their full support. The reservists, who during the mass protests due to judicial reforms, threatened not to respond to the mobilization, rushed to their units en masse. When attacked, the Israelis close ranks.
The message is almost unanimous: Hamas will pay dearly for this attack. A brutal response from Israel and a "complicated and long war" are expected.
The United Nations Security Council will discuss the situation in the Middle East today.
What do we know so far?
At around 6:30 a.m. local time on Saturday, air raid sirens sounded across Israel. Despite one of the best anti-missile systems in the world, explosions were soon heard across the country. Israel's air defenses were clearly not ready. Experts also say that no defense system can intercept such a quantity of rockets fired at the same time.
Members of the militant Hamas simultaneously invaded the territory of Israel from Gaza by land, sea and air. Some also used paragliders, the Israel Defense Forces said. A warning was also issued for Israelis living near Gaza to stay in their homes.
Photo: AP/Adel HanaA video appeared on social networks, the authenticity of which was confirmed by CNN, showing a large number of masked, armed people in a pickup truck driving through the streets of the city of Sderot, which is located near the border with Gaza. Shots can also be heard on the recording. Later, witnesses said that they shot at everything that moved.
The Israeli military command announced that about 2.200 rockets were fired at Israel. Hamas announced that it had fired 5.000 at Israel. rocket. By comparison, about 4.300 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel during the 50 "2014-day war."
Hamas military commander Muhammad Al-Deif called the operation "Al-Aqsa Storm" and said the attack on Israel was a response to attacks on Palestinian women, the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and Israel's years-long "siege" of Gaza.
"Hamas is holding hostages and prisoners of war, including soldiers." We don't have the exact number yet - we are at war," said Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
Israel's Response to "Operation Iron Swords"
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel launched Operation Iron Swords. About 150 targets in the territory of Gaza, which the Israelis identified as bases and refuges of the militant Hamas, were targeted from the air in the first raid. The footage shows the collapse of entire buildings. The Israeli army mobilized tens of thousands of reservists after the "massive" attack. Strong forces and special units were sent to the south of the country to the border with Gaza.
Militant Palestinians took Israeli civilians hostage in several places. Israeli doctrine is not to negotiate with kidnappers. The situation with the kidnappings was unclear at the time of writing, reports CNN.
The spokesman of the Israeli army, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, told CNN that "there will be no more living terrorists in Israel until the end of the day."
He said that Israel is on alert in the north of the country in case of an attack by Hezbollah from Lebanon. According to unconfirmed information, several rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon as well. Israel reportedly responded to the attack. It is assumed that Hezbollah has about 100.000 rockets.
In the meantime, Palestinians from the West Bank are prohibited from crossing checkpoints in Jerusalem.
US President Joe Biden stated that America fully supports the self-defense of Israel, which can count on all the necessary help in the fight against terrorists.
History of conflict
Israel has already fought four wars with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip in the last 15 years - in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021, RTS writes.
On December 27, 2008, Israel launched an airstrike campaign against militants in Gaza, dubbed "Operation Cast Lead", to stop Palestinian rocket fire at Israel. By the time a ceasefire was announced on January 18, 1.400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis had been killed.
Operation "Pillar of Defense" was launched by Israel on November 14, 2012, with a rocket attack that killed Hamas commander-in-chief Ahmed Jabari. In the eight-day conflict that followed, 177 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed.
Militants from Gaza fired more than a thousand rockets at Israel, hundreds of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
As RTS writes, less than two years later, on July 8, 2014, Israel launched the "Protective Edge" operation, again with the proclaimed goal of stopping Palestinian rocket fire and destroying tunnels used by militants to smuggle weapons and infiltrate Israel. In this operation, the Israeli army operated both from the air and from the sea, and during the seven-week conflict, 2.251 Palestinians and 74 Israelis, including 68 soldiers, were killed.
Israel is responding to a barrage of Hamas rocket fire with an 11-day campaign of air and artillery strikes that have killed at least 248 people in Gaza, including 66 children. Thirteen were killed on the Israeli side, including one soldier.
Hamas launched rockets after clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque in which hundreds of Palestinians were injured. Five days of fighting between Israel and another militant group in Gaza, Islamic Jihad, left 33 dead in Gaza and two in Israel - a Palestinian worker from Gaza and an elderly Israeli.
At least six top figures of Islamic Jihad, which the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist group, were killed in the Israeli strikes. At least six children and more civilians were also among those killed in Gaza before Egypt negotiated a ceasefire.
Photo: AP/Oded BaliltyMore about Hamas
Hamas is an Islamist organization with a military wing that was created in 1987. It emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist group founded in the late 1920s in Egypt.
The word "Hamas" itself is an acronym for "Harakat Al-Mukawama Al-Islamia" - Arabic for Islamic Resistance Movement. The group, like most Palestinian factions and political parties, insists that Israel is an occupying power and is trying to liberate the Palestinian territories.
Hamas presents itself as an alternative to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has recognized Israel and participated with it in several failed peace initiatives. Today, the PA is led by Mahmoud Abbas and is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Over the years, Hamas has claimed many attacks on Israel and the US, the EU and Israel have designated it a terrorist organization. Israel accuses its archenemy Iran of supporting Hamas.
What do world officials say?
Western countries condemned the attack by Hamas and pledged support for Israel, while Arab countries, including those that recognize Israel, called for calm.
US President Joe Biden spoke on Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said that Washington unequivocally condemns this terrible attack on Israel.
"I made it clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we are ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the government and people of Israel," he said.
Saudi Arabia, which is negotiating with the US on a potential normalization of relations with Israel, said it was closely monitoring the "unprecedented" situation and called on "both sides to immediately stop the escalation," according to a Saudi foreign ministry statement. IX.
The United Arab Emirates, which recognized Israel in 2020, called for maximum restraint and an immediate ceasefire to avoid dangerous consequences.
MJ/CNN/RTS
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