Hamas militants launched an unprecedented, multipronged attack across central and southern Israel Saturday, killing dozens of people. Israel responded with airstrikes across Gaza.
ListenJERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Saturday that “we are at war” after Hamas militants from Gaza launched an unprecedented, multipronged attack across central and southern Israel, killing dozens of Israelis and wounding hundreds more.The assault began early Saturday when Hamas launched thousands of rockets toward Israeli cities and sent militants into Israeli territory overland and by using paragliders and speedboats.
One man, Yoni Asher, told a radio station that his wife and two young daughters, ages 3 and 5, had driven south to his mother-in-law’s home for the holiday weekend. All four of them were missing, and the last location signal from the phone of his wife, Doron, came from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu’s rhetoric does not represent a formal declaration of war, which must be approved by the Israeli cabinet. Such a declaration would authorize a far-reaching military response that could include a land invasion of Gaza and efforts to topple Hamas, according to Chuck Freilich, a former deputy national security adviser in Israel.
Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’s political office, praised Gaza fighters’ efforts as “heroic” and “historic” in a. He said the attack was meant to avenge “criminal Zionist aggression” against al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. “They only understand the language of the gun. Fight them!” one could be heard yelling in reference to Israelis, in a
Gazans rushed to bakeries and grocery stores to stock up on supplies. By the afternoon, internet service in some parts of Gaza was down, making it difficult to reach residents.The outbreak of violence quickly sparked fears of a broader regional conflagration. In a statement, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it was “closely following” Saturday’s events and was “in direct contact with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance internally and abroad.
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