Gunmen from the Palestinian group Hamas have rampaged through Israeli towns killing more than 200 people and escaping with hostages in by far the deadliest day of violence in Israel since the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago.
More than 230 Gazans were also killed when Israel responded with one of its most devastating days of retaliatory strikes.
“We will take mighty vengeance for this black day,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“Hamas launched a cruel and wicked war. We will win this war but the price is too heavy to bear,” he said. “Hamas wants to murder us all. This is an enemy that murders mothers and children in their homes, in their beds. An enemy that abducts elderly, children, teenage girls.”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault that had begun in Gaza would spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem.
“This was the morning of defeat and humiliation upon our enemy, its soldiers and its settlers,” he said in a speech. “What happened reveals the greatness of our preparation. What happened today reveals the weakness of the enemy.”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault that had begun in Gaza would spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem.
“This was the morning of defeat and humiliation upon our enemy, its soldiers and its settlers,” he said in a speech.
“What happened reveals the greatness of our preparation. What happened today reveals the weakness of the enemy.”
Bodies of Israeli civilians were strewn across the streets of Sderot in southern Israel, near Gaza, surrounded by broken glass. The bodies of a woman and a man were sprawled across the front seats of a car.
Terrified Israelis, barricaded into safe rooms, recounted their plight by phone on live TV.
“They just came in again, please send help,” a woman identified as Dorin told Israel’s N12 News from Nir Oz, a kibbutz near Gaza. “My husband is holding the door closed … They are firing rounds of bullets.”
In Gaza, black smoke and orange flames billowed into the evening sky from a high rise tower hit by an Israeli retaliatory strike.
Crowds of mourners carried the bodies of killed militants through the streets, wrapped in green Hamas flags.
Gaza’s dead and wounded were carried into crumbling and overcrowded hospitals with severe shortages of medical supplies and equipment. The health ministry said 232 people had been killed and at least 1700 wounded.
Streets were deserted apart from ambulances racing to the scenes of air strikes.
Israel cut the power, plunging the city into darkness.
Hamas said it fired a volley of 150 rockets towards Tel Aviv on Saturday evening in retaliation for an Israeli air strike that took down a high rise building with more than 100 apartments.
Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told al-Jazeera that the group was holding a big number of Israeli captives, including senior officials.
He said Hamas had enough captives to make Israel free all Palestinians in its jails.
The Israeli military confirmed Israelis were being held in Gaza.
A military spokesman said Israel could mobilise up to hundreds of thousands of reservists and was also prepared for war on its northern front against Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
Hamas said the attack was driven by what it said were Israel’s escalated attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem and against Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
“This is the day of the greatest battle to end the last occupation on earth,” Hamas military commander Mohammad Deif said, announcing the start of the operation in a broadcast on Hamas media and calling on Palestinians everywhere to fight.
In Gaza, a narrow strip where 2.3 million Palestinians have lived under an Israeli blockade for 16 years, residents rushed to buy supplies in anticipation of days of war ahead.
Some fled their homes and headed for shelters.
“We are afraid,” Palestinian woman, Amal Abu Daqqa, told Reuters as she left her house in Khan Younis.
US President Joe Biden denounced the Palestinian attack and pledged support for Israel.
“This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. The world is watching,” he said.
A senior Biden administration told reporters that the United States was in intense talks with Israel about its particular needs as it responds to the attack.
Here is the reaction to the attack from around the world:
* GREEK FOREIGN MINISTRY
“Greece strongly condemns today’s launch of heavy rocket attacks from Gaza against Israel. Greece stands with Israel and is deeply concerned by this unacceptable escalation of violence,” the ministry posted on X.
* EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
Egypt warned of “grave consequences” from an escalation in tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, in a statement from the foreign ministry carried by the state news agency.
It called for “exercising maximum restraint and avoiding exposing civilians to further danger”.
* FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday he strongly condemned the terrorist attacks against Israel.
“I express my full solidarity with the victims, and their families and those close to them,” Macron wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
* GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNALENA BAERBOCK
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she strongly condemned the Hamas attack against Israel.
“Violence and rockets against innocent civilians must stop now,” Baerbock said on X.
“We stand in full solidarity with Israel and its right under international law to defend itself against terror.”
“The UK will always support Israel’s right to defend itself,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly says.
* BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER JAMES CLEVERLY
“The UK unequivocally condemns the horrific attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians,” he said via social media.
“The UK will always support Israel’s right to defend itself.”
* URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
“I unequivocally condemn the attack carried out by Hamas terrorists against Israel. It is terrorism in its most despicable form,” she said in a post on X.
“Israel has the right to defend itself against such heinous attacks.”
* EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF JOSEP BORRELL
“We follow with anguish the news coming from #Israel,” he said on social media.
“We unequivocally condemn the attacks by Hamas. This horrific violence must stop immediately. Terrorism and violence solve nothing.”
* TURKISH PRESIDENT TAYYIP ERDOGAN
“We call for restraint from all parties,” he said at a congress for his ruling AK Party in Ankara.
“They must refrain from aggressive acts.”
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has called for “restraint from all parties”.
* DUTCH PRIME MINISTER MARK RUTTE
“Just spoke with Prime Minister @netanyahu about the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel,” he said on social media.
“I told him that the Netherlands unequivocally condemns this terrorist violence and fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself.”
* RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER MIKHAIL BOGDANOV
Russia is in contact with Israel, the Palestinians and Arab countries in connection with the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Interfax news agency reported, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
“It goes without saying that we always call for restraint,” he said.
* HEZBOLLAH
The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, an arch foe of Israel, issued a statement on Saturday saying it was closely following the situation in Gaza and was in “direct contact with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance”.
Following events involving Gaza militants who fired a barrage of rockets into Israel, the statement added that it was a “decisive response to Israel’s continued occupation and a message to those seeking normalisation with Israel”.
* UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
“Ukraine strongly condemns the ongoing terrorist attacks against Israel, including rocket attacks against the civilian population in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv,” the ministry said on X.
“We express our support for Israel in its right to defend itself and its people.”
* POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER ZBIGNIEW RAU
“I strongly condemn Hamas’ ongoing attacks on Israel. This baseless aggression and acts of violence, especially against civilians, are unacceptable. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by these terrible events,” Rau wrote on X.
* CZECH PRESIDENT PETR PAVEL
“The attack conducted from the Gaza Strip is a deplorable act of terrorism against the State of Israel and the civilian population,” Pavel said in a statement
“The rocket attacks and the infiltration of Hamas commandos into Israel will block any efforts for a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for a long time.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed a trip to the Czech Republic, a long-time Israel ally, following the hostilities, a statement from the Czech presidential office said.
* BELGIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER HADJA LAHBIB
“Belgium strongly condemns the massive rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. Violence and terror only perpetuates suffering and hinders the path to dialogue. Our thoughts are with all those affected. We are monitoring the situation closely,” she said on X.
Source: AAP
