he Hamas militant group is holding Israeli civilians and soldiers captive in the Gaza Strip following a surprise attack on Israel early on Saturday.
Hamas fired thousands of rockets from Gaza and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip, in a major escalation between the two sides.
Israel’s national rescue service said at least 100 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded, making it the deadliest attack the nation has seen in years.
In an “unprecedented” move, an unknown number of Israeli soldiers and civilians were also seized and taken into Gaza, the Israeli military confirmed.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, said dozens of soldiers, including some officers, were captured. He said the captives were being held in “safe places” and militant tunnels.
Police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on Saturday
/ APA top Hamas official, Saleh Arouri, told Al-Jazeera TV his group is holding “a large number” of Israeli prisoners including senior officers, adding they will be used in a prisoner exchange to free Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.
Israel said it is now at war with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”
At least 198 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed in the retaliatory strikes and at least 1,610 wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Airstrikes on Saturday evening flattened a 14-storey residential tower that also holds Hamas offices in central Gaza City. Israeli fired a warning just before, and the number of casualties was not immediately known.
Hamas fighters used explosives to break through the border fence enclosing the long-blockaded Mediterranean territory early on Saturday, then crossed with motorcycles, pickup trucks, paragliders and speed boats on the coast.
Bodies of dead Israeli civilians and Hamas militants were seen on streets of Israeli towns.
Images on social media appeared to show fighters parading what seemed to be captured Israeli military vehicles through Gaza streets and a dead Israeli soldier being dragged and trampled by a crowd of Palestinians.
The conflict threatened to spiral dramatically further.
Previous conflicts between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas ruler brought widespread death and destruction in Gaza and days of rocket fire on Israeli towns.
“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address, declaring a mass army mobilization. “Not an ‘operation,’ not a ’round,’ but at war.”
“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added, promising that Israel would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.”
Rishi Sunak said Israel has “an absolute right to defend itself”, and added the British Government was in contact with Israeli authorities.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Britain “unequivocally condemns” the surprise attack by Hamas.
“The UK unequivocally condemns the horrific attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians. The UK will always support Israel‘s right to defend itself,” he said in a post on social media.
US President Joe Biden also condemned “this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza.”
He spoke with Mr Netanyahu and said Israel “has a right to defend itself and its people.” according to a White House statement.
The leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, said the assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the past year, violence at Al Aqsa — the disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount — increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians and growth of settlements.
“Enough is enough,” Deif said in the recorded message.
He said the morning attack was only the start of what he called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” and called on Palestinians from east Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight. “Today the people are regaining their revolution.”
At a meeting of top security officials Saturday, Mr Netanyahu said the first priority was to “cleanse” southern Israel of infiltrators, followed by a greater retaliation in Gaza.
The Hamas incursion on Simchat Torah, a normally joyous day when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll, revived painful memories of the 1973 Mideast war practically 50 years to the day, in which Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, aiming to take back Israeli-occupied territories.
Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. The bitter enemies have fought four wars since then.
The blockade, which restricts the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, has devastated the territory’s economy. Israel says the blockade is needed to keep militant groups from building up their arsenals. The Palestinians say the closure amounts to collective punishment.
