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Palestinian militant group Hamas initiated a significant surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, launching thousands of rockets from Gaza and deploying fighters to either harm or abduct individuals. In response, Israel carried out devastating airstrikes.
Reports indicate that at least 70 people lost their lives in Israel, while Gaza authorities have reported a death toll of 198 in what marks the deadliest escalation of conflict in years, resulting in hundreds more wounded on both sides.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “We are in a state of war,” as the military executed a series of strikes on targets within the blockaded coastal enclave. This included the complete destruction of several residential tower blocks.
Promising that the adversary would face an unparalleled cost, the seasoned Israeli leader made this vow following Hamas’s first combined air, sea, and ground offensive, a development occurring half a century after the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Hamas has released images depicting the capture of several Israelis, and Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari has confirmed the presence of kidnapped soldiers and civilians. However, he refrained from providing specific figures at this moment, denouncing the actions as a war crime perpetrated by Hamas, and asserting that they will face consequences.
The Islamist group initiated the attack at approximately 6:30 am (0330 GMT), launching thousands of rockets aimed at targets as distant as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Some of these rockets evaded the Iron Dome defense system and struck buildings.
Hamas fighters, utilizing various means such as vehicles, boats, and even motorized paragliders, breached Gaza’s security barrier and launched assaults on nearby Israeli towns and military posts. They opened fire on residents and passersby, resulting in casualties, with bodies observed in the streets of the town of Sderot near Gaza.
One Israeli woman, sheltering with her two-year-old child, urgently appealed for assistance as militants outside her house fired upon it and attempted to breach their safe room, according to Israeli media reports.
AFP journalists witnessed armed Palestinians surrounding a burning Israeli tank and driving a captured Israeli Humvee military vehicle back into Gaza.
