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.
I think that this part cannot be forgotten:
“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. Israel says the raids are aimed at militants, but stone-throwing protesters and people uninvolved in the violence have also been killed.”
You cannot blame someone for fighting back.