Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared:
Israel Is At War.
And he has called for a mass mobilization of army reserves.
The invasion revived memories of the 1973 war practically 50 years ago to the day.
This from boston.com.
The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip have carried out an unprecedented, multifront attack on Israel, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations and catching the country off-guard on a major holiday.
Israel’s national rescue service said at least 70 people have been killed and hundreds more were wounded in a wide-ranging Hamas assault into Israel.
The Soroka Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba said it was treating at least 280 casualties, with 60 in serious condition. The Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, near Gaza, said it was treating 182 wounded people, including 12 in critical condition.
There was no official comment on casualties in Gaza, but Associated Press reporters witnessed the funerals of 15 people who were killed and saw another eight bodies arrive at a local hospital. It was not immediately clear if they were fighters or civilians.
The latest toll came from the Magen David Adom rescue service as fighting was still underway late Saturday afternoon.
The wounded were being evacuated in ambulances, mobile intensive care vehicles, and by helicopter to various hospitals.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said:
At least 198 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed and at least 1,610 wounded in Israel’s retaliation.
The U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along the Lebanon-Israel border says it is closely monitoring the situation in Israel, maintain stability, and help avoid escalation.
A force known as UNIFIL said:
We have also adapted and enhanced our presence throughout our area of operations, including counter rocket-launching operations.
It has been months since rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. The border area has been relatively calm since a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah ended in August 2006.
UNIFIL said its leader is in contact with all sides since the violence began in southern Israel:
[T]o ensure effective coordination and avoid misunderstandings.
The force said its primary goal is to preserve stability along the Blue Line and avoid any escalation:
[T]hat could have disastrous consequences for people living in the area.
The Israeli military has confirmed a major escalation in the fighting:
Hamas militants are holding Israeli civilians and soldiers hostage in Gaza.
The military confirmed Hamas claims that its fighters had kidnapped a number of Israelis after infiltrating Israel’s highly fortified separation fence and storming into Israeli communities in the country’s south.
Social media has been filled with videos showing Hamas fighters dragging lifeless Israeli soldiers on the ground and parading captured civilians through the streets of Gaza.
Israel has carried out a number of airstrikes in Gaza and has clashed with gunmen at the border fence around the coastal territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will exact a “huge price” from Hamas in response to this unprecedented infiltration.
Netanyahu told his Security Cabinet on Saturday that Israel’s first goal is to “cleanse the area” of militants and regain control of the southern communities that were attacked.
He continued:
The second goal, at the same time, is to exact
a huge price from the enemy, also in the Gaza Strip.
He called on the nation to remain calm and unite:
[T]o achieve our highest goal—victory in the war.
The U.N. human rights chief, Volker Türk, said he is:
[S]hocked and appalled by the firing of large numbers of rockets at Israel and the deaths of [so many] people in the country.
He called for an immediate end to the violence, appealing to all sides and “key countries in the region” to de-escalate and avoid further bloodshed.
The White House said Saturday that it “unequivocally condemns” the Hamas attacks.
Saudi Arabia has called for an immediate halt to fighting in Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to Israel and Egypt, told the state Tass agency Saturday that Moscow has been in touch with:
[All] parties (of the conflict), including Arab countries [and urged] an immediate cease-fire and peace [between Hamas and Israel].
European leaders are condemning the Hamas attack and voicing solidarity with Israel.
The head of the European Union’s executive commission, Ursula von der Leyen, wrote on X that the attack “is terrorism in its most despicable form.” She said that “Israel has the right to defend itself against such heinous attacks.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who is Jewish and had relatives who died in the Holocaust said:
Israel’s right to self-defense cannot be questioned [and extended his condolences to] all whose family and friends lost their lives in (the Hamas) terrorist attack.
German Chancellor OIaf Scholz said that the militants’ rocket fire and the escalating violence “shock us deeply.” He added that “Germany condemns these attacks by Hamas and stands beside Israel.”
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote that he “firmly” condemns the “terrorist attacks” against Israel and expressed “my full solidarity with the victims, their families and their loved ones.”
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Italy’s government condemns the attacks on Israel “with utmost firmness.”
Contrarily, however:
Iran’s Parliament members opened their session Saturday by chanting:
Death to Israel [and] Israel will be doomed, Palestine will be the conqueror.
Iranian TV aired footage of missiles being launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel and interviewed analysts who supported the Hamas attack.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah congratulated Hamas for the operation, saying it had:
[D]ivine backing.
And pledged final and comprehensive victory.
The group said the attack is a response to:
Israel’s crimes [and attacks on holy places and that] the will of the Palestinian people and the rifle of the resistance is the only alternative to face occupation.
Final thoughts: I hope and pray this fighting will end soon and that it is not the start of full World War.
And I trust that this attack will not end well for Hamas.
