‘We are in a war,’ Netanyahu says after Palestinian militants launch surprise attack on Israel
What happened on Saturday!
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the country was “at war” on Saturday, after Palestinian militants in G
aza fired a deadly barrage of rockets and sent gunmen into Israeli territory in a major escalation of the long running conflict between the two sides.
According to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency rescue agency, the early-morning surprise attack killed at least 22 people and injured over 250 others. It comes on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, in which Arab powers bombed Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Palestinian militants launched at least 2200 rockets at Israel.
Meanwhile, Hamas claimed to have launched at least 5,000 missiles, all of which struck in southern and central Israel.
At 8:15 a.m. local time, air raid sirens began wailing in Jerusalem, alerting residents to the impending attack.
Who is behind the attacks!
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza claimed the responsibility for the attack, said it had seized numerous Israeli soldiers near the border after its members crossed into Israel by land, sea, and air using paragliders.
The Israeli military has not confirmed reports of seized soldiers, but a video published by Reuters appeared to show Palestinian gunmen carrying one Israeli soldier out of a tank near the Gaza border. MDA also stated that one of their ambulances was transported into Gaza.
Hamas military commander Muhammad Al-Dief said that the group had ” targeted the enemy positions, airport, and military positions with 5000 rockets” and that the attack on Israel was in response to attacks on women, the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the ongoing siege of Gaza.
In response, the Israel Defence Forces stated it had conducted strikes against Hamas locations in Gaza.
