Tel Aviv [Israel], October 8 (ANI): In an unprecedented attack that few Israelis saw coming on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah on Saturday, Hamas fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip. Even as the toll from the Hamas rocket fire and ground assault mounted, Israel declared that was “at war” with the militant outfit and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”

Israel launched “Operation Swords of Iron,” striking a number of suspected Hamas hideouts in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s response to the Hamas incursion will “exact a huge price” on the militant group.

Meanwhile, the toll from the deadly rocket and ground assault by Hamas soared past 300 people, with another 2000 reported to be injured in Gaza and Israel, The Times of Israel reported. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 232 people were killed and 1,790 injured in Gaza. According to the Israeli Health Ministry over 100 people are dead and over 900 others injured.

Taking the top brass of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and the country’s political establishment by surprise, Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers attacked Israel by land, air, and sea. Millions of Israelis in the country’s south awoke to the searing sound of incoming rockets and the inevitable thud of impact. Air raid sirens wailed as far north as Tel Aviv. Israel’s anti-rocket interceptors thundered in Jerusalem.

In an unprecedented escalation, armed Hamas fighters blew up parts of Israel’s highly fortified separation fence and strode into Israeli communities along the Gaza frontier, terrorising residents and trading fire with Israeli soldiers. Saturday’s attack came 50 years and a day after Egyptian and Syrian forces launched an assault during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in an effort to retrieve territory Israel had taken during a brief conflict in 1967, reported Al Jazeera.

Here’s how the Hamas attack unfolded in Israel:
Around 6.30 am (03:30 GMT), Hamas fired a barrage of rockets into southern Israel with sirens heard as far away as Tel Aviv and Beersheba.

Hamas said it launched 5,000 rockets in an initial barrage. Israel’s military said 2,500 rockets were fired, reported Al Jazeera. “We announce the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and we announce that the first strike, which targeted enemy positions, airports, and military fortifications, exceeded 5,000 missiles and shells,” Mohammed Deif, head of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said.

The rocket attack served as cover for an unprecedented multi-pronged infiltration of fighters with the Israeli military saying at 7:40 am (04:40 GMT) that Palestinian gunmen had crossed into Israel.
Most fighters entered through breaches in security barriers separating Gaza and Israel, Al Jazeera reported.

One Hamas soldier was filmed flying over in a powered parachute. A motorboat carrying fighters was seen heading to Zikim, an Israeli coastal town with a military base. A viral video showed at least six motorcycles with fighters crossing through a hole in a metal barrier.

At 9.45 am (06:45 GMT), blasts were heard in Gaza and at 10 am (07:00 GMT) Israel’s military spokesperson said the air force was carrying out attacks in Gaza. Israel’s military said at 10 am (07:00 GMT), Palestinian fighters penetrated at least three military installations around the frontier – the Beit Hanoun border crossing (called Erez by Israel), the Zikim base, and the Gaza division headquarters at Reim.

Several captured Israeli military vehicles were later pictured being driven into Gaza and paraded there, reported Al Jazeera. Fighters raided the Israeli town of Sderot, another community Be’eri, and the town of Ofakim, 30km (20 miles) east of Gaza, according to Israeli media.

Residents of southern Israel fortified their homes to function as bomb shelters and were using them as panic rooms. Israel’s military ordered residents to shelter inside, saying on the radio, “We will reach you.” By late evening, Israeli troops were still working to clear communities overrun by Hamas fighters, reported Al Jazeera.

Israeli media reported gunmen took hostages in Ofakim while Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it was holding Israeli soldiers. Hamas’ social media accounts showed footage purportedly showing captives being taken into Gaza.

Another video showed three young men in vests, shorts, and flip-flops being marched through a security installation with Hebrew writing on the wall. Other videos showed female captives and Israeli soldiers being dragged from a military vehicle, reported Al Jazeera. Israeli air attacks continued late Saturday night as did rocket fire into southern Israel.

Israeli troops were still fighting Hamas gunmen in 22 locations near the Gaza Strip — a startling sign of the breadth of the assault. Israel’s military said it was still fighting “hundreds” of Palestinian infiltrators.
Israelis had assumed that their intelligence services would be able to alert the army to any major attack or invasion well in advance, but the surprise attack by Hamas showed the colossal failure of Israeli intelligence, according to reports.

That Hamas was able to stage such a huge and coordinated attack, which has already killed more Israelis than any single assault since the second Palestinian uprising two decades ago, without triggering Israeli intelligence, has presented a major challenge to Netanyahu’s ultranationalist government. (ANI)

More than 300 killed in Hamas attack on Israel

Tel Aviv [Israel], October 8 (ANI): The death toll from the Hamas terror group’s multi-front attack on Israel has risen to more than 300, Hebrew-language media reports say, citing medical officials, as per The Times of Israel. The toll is expected to continue to rise.

As many as 1,590 people have been wounded, many seriously. Various civilians as well as (Israel Defense Forces) IDF soldiers are believed to have been abducted and brought into Gaza; Hamas has boasted that the number of hostages is higher than Israel knows, as per The Times of Israel.

At about 6:30 am (local time) on Saturday, a barrage of rocket fire began from Gaza into Israel, hitting several cities including Tel Aviv, Rehovot, Gedera and Ashkelon. This was followed by several Hamas terrorists entering Israel from the Gaza Strip and taking over Israeli towns.

Hamas military commander Muhammad Al-Deif called the operation “Al-Aqsa Storm” and said that the assault on Israel was a response to attacks on women, the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the ongoing siege of Gaza, CNN reported. Some graphic videos showed bodies strewn in the streets of the southern city of Sderot after the attack by Palestinian militants. Cars were riddled with bullets and lit on fire, according to The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, the IDF has said that it has killed seven terrorists attempting to enter Israel via the Zikim Beach just north of Gaza. The IDF says it prevented the terrorists from infiltrating into Israeli communities. The military also says that it recently struck three operational sites being used by Hamas in Gaza, as per The Times of Israel.

The Israeli security forces have also rescued an unspecified number of people who were taken hostage in a home in the southern town of Ofakim.

The terrorists were killed, according to reports.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the IDF has said his country hasn’t regained full control in the wake of attacks from the militant group Hamas on Saturday.

“There are still active battles between Israeli security forces and terrorists inside Gaza. And unfortunately, we have not yet been able to re-establish full control over all of our communities and all of our bases,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told CNN. “This is the top priority,” he added, as per The Hill.
Conricus during a live briefing on Sunday said: “Unprecedented attack requires unprecedented response.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Hamas has started a cruel, evil war and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will use all its strength to destroy Hamas‘ capabilities. “Hamas forces invaded Israeli territory this morning, on the morning of a holiday and Shabbat, and murdered innocent civilians, children and the elderly. Hamas started a cruel and evil war. We will win this war, but the price is too heavy to bear. This is a very difficult day for all of us,” the Israeli PM wrote on ‘X’ on Sunday. (ANI)