Israel and Hamas at war after surprise attacks from Gaza Strip
- 7 months ago
#englishnews #israel #Hamas #Gazastrip
News Article :-
Israel and Hamas are once again at war after the Palestinian militant group launched a large aerial and ground operation from the blockaded Gaza Strip, its biggest attack in years.
Sirens sounded across Israel and as far north as the contested city of Jerusalem from about 7am on Saturday after volleys of what Hamas claimed were 5,000 rockets launched from the blockaded enclave. A ground infiltration by Hamas gunmen into Israeli towns and villages on the periphery – an unprecedented development in the 16 years since the Islamists took over the strip – is ongoing, with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) saying seven villages and towns are under Hamas control. The Israeli army also put the number of projectiles at around 2,000.
In response to the attacks, which appear to have caught the Israeli security services by surprise, Israel has declared a state of war.
“Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known,” Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a televised statement. “We are in a war and we will win it.”
Unconfirmed initial reports and graphic pictures and video appeared to show that gunmen had opened fire in the border town of Sderot, killing several Israeli civilians and soldiers. One elderly woman was confirmed dead in a rocket attack, and another four people in Bedouin villages in Israel’s south killed by rocket fire.
Twenty-two Israelis have been confirmed dead so far and 545 injured, with the death toll likely to rise. At least one person has been killed in Gaza in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes, and five Hamas militants killed inside Israel.
An unknown number of Israelis have been taken captive by fighters, with unverified social media footage showing elderly people and a young woman with her hands tied inside Gaza. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was aware of the reports, but did not confirm details.
In a statement, Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s military commander in Gaza, announced the start of a new operation to free Jerusalem’s sensitive al-Aqsa mosque compound, which has had an increase in the number of Jewish visitors in the past few weeks owing to the Jewish high holidays. He said it this was only the first stage of Hamas’s renewed efforts against Israel.
“We warned the enemy not to continue their aggression against the al-Aqsa mosque … The age of the enemy’s aggression without a response is over. I call on Palestinians everywhere in the West Bank and within the Green Line [Israeli territory] to launch an attack without restraint. Go to all the streets. I call on Muslims everywhere to launch an attack,” he said.
Islamic Jihad, another faction in Gaza, said in a statement on Telegram several hours later that they had joined the fighting. There are fears of a regional conflagration if the violence spreads to the occupied West Bank, which is on lockdown, to the northern front with the Lebanese militant group Hezb
News Article :-
Israel and Hamas are once again at war after the Palestinian militant group launched a large aerial and ground operation from the blockaded Gaza Strip, its biggest attack in years.
Sirens sounded across Israel and as far north as the contested city of Jerusalem from about 7am on Saturday after volleys of what Hamas claimed were 5,000 rockets launched from the blockaded enclave. A ground infiltration by Hamas gunmen into Israeli towns and villages on the periphery – an unprecedented development in the 16 years since the Islamists took over the strip – is ongoing, with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) saying seven villages and towns are under Hamas control. The Israeli army also put the number of projectiles at around 2,000.
In response to the attacks, which appear to have caught the Israeli security services by surprise, Israel has declared a state of war.
“Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known,” Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a televised statement. “We are in a war and we will win it.”
Unconfirmed initial reports and graphic pictures and video appeared to show that gunmen had opened fire in the border town of Sderot, killing several Israeli civilians and soldiers. One elderly woman was confirmed dead in a rocket attack, and another four people in Bedouin villages in Israel’s south killed by rocket fire.
Twenty-two Israelis have been confirmed dead so far and 545 injured, with the death toll likely to rise. At least one person has been killed in Gaza in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes, and five Hamas militants killed inside Israel.
An unknown number of Israelis have been taken captive by fighters, with unverified social media footage showing elderly people and a young woman with her hands tied inside Gaza. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was aware of the reports, but did not confirm details.
In a statement, Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s military commander in Gaza, announced the start of a new operation to free Jerusalem’s sensitive al-Aqsa mosque compound, which has had an increase in the number of Jewish visitors in the past few weeks owing to the Jewish high holidays. He said it this was only the first stage of Hamas’s renewed efforts against Israel.
“We warned the enemy not to continue their aggression against the al-Aqsa mosque … The age of the enemy’s aggression without a response is over. I call on Palestinians everywhere in the West Bank and within the Green Line [Israeli territory] to launch an attack without restraint. Go to all the streets. I call on Muslims everywhere to launch an attack,” he said.
Islamic Jihad, another faction in Gaza, said in a statement on Telegram several hours later that they had joined the fighting. There are fears of a regional conflagration if the violence spreads to the occupied West Bank, which is on lockdown, to the northern front with the Lebanese militant group Hezb