Hamas claimed responsibility for the unprecedented assault, which the militants said involved 5,000 rockets and infiltration across the border.
Israel was plunged into chaos Saturday after Palestinian militants launched a deadly land, air and sea attack inside the country, with Hamas fighters infiltrating the southern border and firing a massive barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip.
“We are in a war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in a video on social media. He ordered strikes on Gaza and called for an “extensive reserve mobilization” as the nation responds to the unprecedented incursion.
At least 70 people in Israel have been killed, a spokesperson for the Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom said in a statement.
Graphic but unverified video and photos shared on social media suggested that toll could rise sharply, while Hamas fighters were able to take a number of soldiers and civilians hostage, the Israeli military said.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Graphic but unverified video and photos shared on social media suggested that toll could rise sharply, while Hamas fighters were able to take a number of soldiers and civilians hostage, the Israeli military said.
European heads of state — including German Chancellor OIaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron — excoriated Hamas and expressed solidarity with Israel.
Across Israel’s Route 3, a highway 15 miles north of Gaza, police armed with assault rifles fanned out across roads, checking cars for gunmen trying to pass farther into the country.
The violence follows weeks of heightened tensions along Israel’s volatile border with Gaza, and heavy fighting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank — but also years of unresolved grievances over the treatment of Palestinians that have long threatened to erupt.
Saturday’s stunning developments come at a crucial moment, as Israel pursues what would be a landmark deal to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia that is being brokered by the United States.
The assault follows a period of heavy fighting in the West Bank, where nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military raids this year, according to U.N. Mideast Envoy Tor Wennesland.
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