Israel says it is now at war with Hamas, launching air strikes on Gaza and vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price” after dozens of Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into nearby Israeli towns, killing hundreds and abducting others in an unprecedented operation.

The surprise early morning attack — which was backed by a barrage of rockets fired from within Gaza — killed at least 250 people and wounded more than 1,500, according to Israel’s national rescue service, during a major Jewish holiday on Saturday local time.

Israel said the Iran-backed group had declared war as its army confirmed fighting with militants in several Israeli towns and military bases near Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate.

“Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known,” he said.

“We are in a war and we will win it.”

‘The morning of defeat and humiliation’

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault that began 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.

“What happened reveals the greatness of our preparation. What happened today reveals the weakness of the enemy.”

Israel’s national rescue service said at least 200 people were killed and hundreds injured, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years.

The Israeli military said it had responded with air strikes into Gaza, where witnesses reported hearing heavy explosions and multiple dead and injured being carried into hospitals.

At least 232 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed and at least 1,700 injured in Israel’s retaliation, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Air strikes in the evening flattened a 14-story residential tower that also holds Hamas offices in central Gaza City.

The Israeli military said navy forces killed dozens of Palestinian militants trying to infiltrate Israel by sea.

Hamas says it is holding dozens of Israeli captives

Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera the group was holding a large number of Israeli captives, including senior officials. He said Hamas had enough captives to make Israel free all Palestinians in its jails.

Israel army spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed “there are kidnapped soldiers and civilians”.

“I can’t give figures about them at the moment. It’s a war crime committed by Hamas and they will pay the price,” he said.

Abu Obedia, a Hamas military spokesperson said the captives were being held in “safe places” and militant tunnels.

The militant Islamic Jihad group said it had joined the attacks and was holding several Israeli soldiers captive.

Hamas footage on its Telegram account showed its fighters pulling Israeli soldiers out of a tank.

Gunbattles in Israeli towns

The attack marked an unprecedented infiltration into Israel by an unknown number of Hamas gunmen crossing from the Gaza Strip, and the heaviest blow for Israel in the conflict with Palestinians since the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada some two decades ago.

Israeli army Major General Ghasan Alyan warned Hamas had “opened the gates of hell”.

The army said its forces were engaged in live gun battles in several locations near the Gaza Strip, in an operation labelled “Swords of Iron”.

Israeli media reported gun battles between bands of Palestinian fighters and security forces in towns in southern Israel.

Israel’s police chief said there were “21 active scenes” in southern Israel.

In Gaza, people rushed to buy supplies in anticipation of days of conflict ahead. Some evacuated their homes and headed for shelters.

Israeli Defence Minister Gallant said “troops are fighting against the enemy at every location” and authorised the call-up of reservists.

“We were told there are terrorists inside the kibbutz, we can hear gunfire,” a young woman named Dvir, from Beeri Kibbutz, told Israeli Army Radio from her bomb shelter.

Hamas media displayed videos of what it said were bodies of Israeli soldiers brought to Gaza by fighters, and Palestinian gunmen inside Israeli homes and touring an Israeli town in jeeps reportedly been driven into Israel by the attackers.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the footage.

In Gaza, the roar of rocket launches could be heard and residents reported armed clashes along the separation fence with Israel, near the southern town of Khan Younis, and said they had seen significant movement of armed fighters.

Palestinians in Gaza were bracing for Israel’s response.

“We are afraid,” Palestinian woman, Amal Abu Daqqa, told Reuters as she left her house in Khan Younis.

US vows defence support for Israel

The United States on Saturday condemned the attacks by “Hamas terrorists” against Israel and vowed to ensure the key US ally had the means to defend itself.

President Joe Biden described the assault as “horrific” and said that he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to underline that the United States stood “ready to offer all appropriate means of support”.

As the attacks threatened to trigger a wider conflict, Mr Biden warned “against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation”.

Mr Biden stressed that Israel — which the United States has supplied with billions of dollars of arms — has “a right to defend itself and its people”.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin reaffirmed Washington’s “unwavering” commitment, saying “over the coming days the Department of Defence will work to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians”.Article link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-08/israel-and-hamas-at-war-after-surprise-attacks-from-gaza-strip/102947962
Article source: ABC | 8.10.23

2024-05-08 07:04:10.000000

Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land, and sea and catching the country off-guard on a major holiday. Photo: Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Presss

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was at war with Hamas after the Iran-backed terror group launched a “9/11 level event” in by far the deadliest day of violence in Israel since the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago.

Islamic Jihadists used the Sabbath to launch the all-out assault with motorised paragliders, speed boats, bulldozers and motorbikes to surprise Israeli positions while 5,000 rockets overwhelmed the Iron Dome defence system.

Israel vowed revenge on Hamas for opening the “gates of hell” into the Gaza Strip, with reports of hundreds of deaths and Jewish hostages being dragged into the Palestinian territory.

More than 230 Gazans were also killed when Israel responded with retaliatory strikes.

In a video address, Israel’s Prime Minister said Hamas would be held responsible for the well-being of the captives.

“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.”

Israeli citizens pleaded for help as gunmen swept across as many as 22 locations as far as 24 kilometres from the Gaza border on the Jewish holiday when much of the country was disconnected from mass communication while in prayer.

Bodies of Israeli civilians were strewn across the streets of Sderot in southern Israel, Reuters reported.

“I went out, I saw loads of bodies of terrorists, civilians, cars shot up. A sea of bodies, inside Sderot along the road, other places, loads of bodies,” Shlomi from Sderot told Reuters.

US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that US support for Israel was “rock solid and unwavering” the large-scale surprise attack by Hamas.

“The United States stands with Israel. We will not ever fail to have their back,” Mr Biden said in a televised statement at the White House, flanked by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The US President discouraged other parties hostile to Israel from exploiting these attacks. “The world is watching,” he warned.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Israel had the nation’s support. “Australia stands with our friend Israel in this time,” he said in a statement.

“We condemn the indiscriminate and abhorrent attacks by Hamas on Israel, its cities and civilians. We recognise Israel’s right to defend itself.”

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday at 6am (AEDT) to address the situation in the Middle East.

At least 40 Israelis were confirmed dead, Israeli authorities said, and at least 545 people were injured, according to reports from Israeli hospitals.

At least 270 Palestinians have been killed so far and more than 1,000 injured, according to Palestinian medical authorities.

Videos online show troops being mobilised, fighter jets unleashing hellfire, and navy ships destroying speedboats attempting an amphibious landing.

“We’re looking at truly a 9/11 level event,” said James Stavridis, a former NATO high-ranking leader.

Palestinians in Gaza were seen celebrating alongside what were said to be Israeli army vehicles on Saturday (October 7).

World leaders condemned the attack that Hamas’s military commander in Gaza, Mohammad Deif, said was just the first phase of “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, launched to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

It comes months after Mr Biden released US$6 billion in frozen assets to Hamas’s main benefactor, Iran, leading to outrage over both the funding of the attack and what experts are calling an “embarrassing intelligence failure” is Israel’s security state.

Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a large-scale surprise attack against Israel Saturday, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and sending ground units to…

The Islamist group started the attack around 6.30am on Saturday local time (2.30pm Saturday AEDT) with thousands of rockets aimed as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some bypassing the Iron Dome defence system and hitting buildings.

“Send help, please!” one Israeli woman sheltering with her two-year-old child pleaded as militants outside opened fire at her house and tried to break into their safe room, Israeli media reported.

As night fell, Israel had ordered its state-run electricity company to stop the power supply to Gaza, said Energy Minister Israel Katz.

The escalation follows months of rising violence, mostly in the occupied West Bank, and tensions around Gaza’s border and at contested holy sites in Jerusalem.

The Israeli military says that fighting is continuing in 22 locations in southern Israel 12 hours after Hamas militants carried out a surprise infiltration into the area. In a…

Some regional leaders urged restraint after Saturday’s deadly Hamas attack targeting Israel and the retaliation that followed, but others blamed Israel itself and some celebrated the surprise assault.

Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned “against the danger of the situation deteriorating and sliding into more violence”.

A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei voiced support, calling it a “proud operation”, while Britain’s foreign minister James Cleverly condemned the attacks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a public statement saying: “Citizens of Israel, we are at war. And we will win.

Mr Netanyahu said he instructed the military to clear Israeli villages of Hamas militants who had crossed into Israel.

“I instructed a wide-scale call for reserves to respond militarily at an intensity and scale that the enemy has not known before. The enemy will pay a price they have never paid before.”

Smoke rises over Gaza City during Israeli air strike. Palestinian militants have begun a “war” against

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin issued a statement saying it condemned the unprovoked attack from the air and on the ground on sovereign Israeli territory by Hamas terrorists.

“In addition to a massive rocket barrage targeting Israel’s metropolitan areas, Hamas forces have infiltrated into Israel with the clear aim of murdering civilians and taking hostages,” he said.

“These acts constitute egregious war crimes in their targeting of civilians and are an armed attack against a sovereign state.

“We expect the State of Israel to take all necessary measures to defend itself and to defeat the terror forces of Hamas and restore peace for Israel’s citizens.

“We call upon the Australian Government to condemn without equivocation these flagrant crimes.

“Any calls for de-escalation by “both sides” or attempts to draw equivalences between the crimes of a terrorist organisation and the defensive measures of a sovereign and democratic state are misconceived and only play into the hands of the terrorists.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Israel at this time.”

The Australian Government issued information for those in need of emergency consular assistance to contact the Australian Government’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 (within Australia) or +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas).Article link: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/world/israel-declares-state-of-war-alert-affter-hamas-fires-5000-rockets/news-story/c5e1e10ccf3ebf61796078f999e94f05
Article source: Adelaide Advertiser | Justin Vallejo | October 8, 2023

2024-05-08 07:04:10.000000

Israel has vowed to exact an “unprecedented price” for one of the deadliest attacks on the nation’s home soil in decades, declaring war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas after its surprise invasion by land, sea and air.

War erupted in the region on Saturday (Israel time) after Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets across the border, catching the country and intelligence services unawares with a multi-front sunrise attack unseen in its level of co-ordination.

By Saturday evening, Israeli media had reported at least 250 Israelis had been killed and more than 1000 were injured, while Gazan health officials said 232 people were killed and 1697 wounded during Israel’s retaliatory air strikes on Gaza City. The death toll on both sides is expected to rise.

World leaders from across the globe have condemned the attack, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who said Australia stands with its friend Israel.

“We condemn the indiscriminate and abhorrent attacks by Hamas on Israel, its cities and civilians,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We recognise Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Explosions and sirens that rang out across Israel continued into Saturday night, including at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, where passengers and a CNN television crew were forced to shelter with their bags on the tarmac. International airlines have cancelled or diverted flights from Israel.

Millions of Israelis celebrating an important religious holiday were forced to hunker down in safe rooms and bomb shelters, while Hamas carried out a mass invasion of Israeli army bases and towns.

Some militants entered using paragliders and motorbikes, with others kidnapping soldiers and civilians to take back to Gaza. Israel’s Defence Force has accused Hamas of abducting “prisoners of war”.

In a televised address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the “murderous surprise attack” would not be tolerated and that the country was at war.

“Not in an operation or in rounds, but at war … We are in a war, and we will win it,” he said.

Israel has announced a mass army mobilisation, while tens of thousands of army reservists have been called up to respond to the assault, which erupted almost 50 years to the day of the 1973 Yom Kippur war.

“We will bring the fight to them with might and scale which the enemy has not yet known … The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” Netanyahu said.

Rockets began falling across Israel about 6am on Saturday (Israel time), while armed Hamas militants infiltrated southern towns raining gunfire on civilians.

In Sderot, in southern Israel near Gaza, bodies of Israeli civilians lay across a highway, surrounded by broken glass, Reuters reported.

Israeli has since begun targeted retaliatory air strikes on the Gaza Strip, destroying buildings in populated civilian areas.

As night fell, the death toll kept climbing and Hamas said it fired a fresh fusillade of roughly 150 rockets at Tel Aviv.

A rare recorded message from the leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, on Saturday announced the start of the assault, which he called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm”.

“Today, the people are regaining their revolution. This is the day of the greatest battle to end the last occupation on earth,” he said, claiming that 5000 rockets had been launched to strike Israel.

Deif called on Palestinians from east Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight, urging them to seek weapons: “If you have a gun, get it out. This is the time to use it – get out with trucks, cars, axes. Today, the most honorable history begins.”

Later, Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told the TV network Al Jazeera that the group was holding dozens of Israelis hostage, including senior officials. He indicated that Hamas wants to trade its hostages for militants imprisoned in Israel.

Political commentators have lambasted the Israeli government over its failure to anticipate the attack, foreshadowing likely recriminations over the unseen attack.

Chuck Freilich, a former deputy national security adviser in Israel, told The Washington Post it was “a total failure of intelligence and a failure of operational readiness, so there will have to be an accounting”.

The surprise assault took place on Simchat Torah, a normally joyous day when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll. It marks the most serious escalation since Israel and Hamas fought a 10-day war in 2021, when 4300 rockets were fired over the course of 11 days.

Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of Israelis attending a desert music festival fleeing and screaming as soldiers launched surprise raids.

Other videos from Gaza showed an apparently lifeless body of an Israeli soldier being trampled by an angry crowd shouting “God is great,” another showed an Israeli soldier being dragged from a tank. The authenticity of the videos could not immediately be verified.

The incident has attracted condemnation from leaders across the world, with US President Joe Biden reiterating the country’s support for Israel in a short, scripted statement delivered at the White House.

“When I spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning, I told him the US stands with the people of Israel in the face of these terrorist assaults. Israel has the right to defend itself and his people full stop. There’s never a justification for terrorist attacks,” he said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and British Foreign Minister James Cleverly have all also condemned the Hamas attack.

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry said attacks by its ally Hamas on Israel on Saturday were an act of self-defence by Palestinians, and called on Muslim countries to support their rights. Qatar echoed that sentiment with remarks that Israel alone was responsible for the ongoing escalation of violence with the Palestinian people.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, one of Israel’s adversaries, said it was in direct contact with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance. It said the action by Hamas was “a message to those seeking normalisation with Israel”.Article link: https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/israel-at-war-hostages-taken-to-gaza-sirens-and-explosions-continue-as-night-falls-20231008-p5eaih.html
Article source: The Age (Reuters, Bloomberg, AP) | Lucy Cormack | October 8, 2023

2024-05-08 07:04:10.000000

Israel says it is now at war with Hamas, launching air strikes on Gaza and vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price” after dozens of Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into nearby Israeli towns, killing hundreds and abducting others in an unprecedented operation.

The surprise early morning attack — which was backed by a barrage of rockets fired from within Gaza — killed at least 250 people and wounded more than 1,500, according to Israel’s national rescue service, during a major Jewish holiday on Saturday local time.

Israel said the Iran-backed group had declared war as its army confirmed fighting with militants in several Israeli towns and military bases near Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate.

“Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known,” he said.

“We are in a war and we will win it.”

‘The morning of defeat and humiliation’

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault that began 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.

“What happened reveals the greatness of our preparation. What happened today reveals the weakness of the enemy.”

Israel’s national rescue service said at least 200 people were killed and hundreds injured, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years.

The Israeli military said it had responded with air strikes into Gaza, where witnesses reported hearing heavy explosions and multiple dead and injured being carried into hospitals.

At least 232 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed and at least 1,700 injured in Israel’s retaliation, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Air strikes in the evening flattened a 14-story residential tower that also holds Hamas offices in central Gaza City.

The Israeli military said navy forces killed dozens of Palestinian militants trying to infiltrate Israel by sea.

Hamas says it is holding dozens of Israeli captives

Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera the group was holding a large number of Israeli captives, including senior officials. He said Hamas had enough captives to make Israel free all Palestinians in its jails.

Israel army spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed “there are kidnapped soldiers and civilians”.

“I can’t give figures about them at the moment. It’s a war crime committed by Hamas and they will pay the price,” he said.

Abu Obedia, a Hamas military spokesperson said the captives were being held in “safe places” and militant tunnels.

The militant Islamic Jihad group said it had joined the attacks and was holding several Israeli soldiers captive.

Hamas footage on its Telegram account showed its fighters pulling Israeli soldiers out of a tank.

Gunbattles in Israeli towns

The attack marked an unprecedented infiltration into Israel by an unknown number of Hamas gunmen crossing from the Gaza Strip, and the heaviest blow for Israel in the conflict with Palestinians since the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada some two decades ago.

Israeli army Major General Ghasan Alyan warned Hamas had “opened the gates of hell”.

The army said its forces were engaged in live gun battles in several locations near the Gaza Strip, in an operation labelled “Swords of Iron”.

Israeli media reported gun battles between bands of Palestinian fighters and security forces in towns in southern Israel.

Israel’s police chief said there were “21 active scenes” in southern Israel.

In Gaza, people rushed to buy supplies in anticipation of days of conflict ahead. Some evacuated their homes and headed for shelters.

Israeli Defence Minister Gallant said “troops are fighting against the enemy at every location” and authorised the call-up of reservists.

“We were told there are terrorists inside the kibbutz, we can hear gunfire,” a young woman named Dvir, from Beeri Kibbutz, told Israeli Army Radio from her bomb shelter.

Hamas media displayed videos of what it said were bodies of Israeli soldiers brought to Gaza by fighters, and Palestinian gunmen inside Israeli homes and touring an Israeli town in jeeps reportedly been driven into Israel by the attackers.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the footage.

In Gaza, the roar of rocket launches could be heard and residents reported armed clashes along the separation fence with Israel, near the southern town of Khan Younis, and said they had seen significant movement of armed fighters.

Palestinians in Gaza were bracing for Israel’s response.

“We are afraid,” Palestinian woman, Amal Abu Daqqa, told Reuters as she left her house in Khan Younis.

US vows defence support for Israel

The United States on Saturday condemned the attacks by “Hamas terrorists” against Israel and vowed to ensure the key US ally had the means to defend itself.

President Joe Biden described the assault as “horrific” and said that he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to underline that the United States stood “ready to offer all appropriate means of support”.

As the attacks threatened to trigger a wider conflict, Mr Biden warned “against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation”.

Mr Biden stressed that Israel — which the United States has supplied with billions of dollars of arms — has “a right to defend itself and its people”.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin reaffirmed Washington’s “unwavering” commitment, saying “over the coming days the Department of Defence will work to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians”.Article link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-08/israel-and-hamas-at-war-after-surprise-attacks-from-gaza-strip/102947962
Article source: ABC | 8.10.23

2024-05-08 07:04:10.000000