Israel is at war after Palestinian terrorists launched a large-scale surprise attack on civilian and military targets in Israel from the blockaded Gaza Strip early Saturday. Hundreds have been slain on both sides, while an unknown number of Israelis have been kidnapped.
A new day has begun in Gaza and Israel, with more violence on the horizon, even as a number of governments, from the United States to Israel’s Arab neighbors, encourage the combatants not to escalate the situation further.
However, officials on both sides declare they are now at war – and that it will not end soon. At least 250 Israelis were murdered and another 1,000 were injured on the first day of attacks and fighting. According to Gaza health officials, more than 230 Palestinians were killed and nearly 2,000 were injured.
The violence has ranged from ground warfare to airstrikes and rocket attacks.
Questions now circulating range from how to restore calm to what goals Israel would pursue in reaction to what it considers an invasion, and if an open battle will impede US efforts to repair relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Here’s the current situation:
Israel threatens to fully eliminate Hamas
In a late-night TV broadcast, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel will “reach into every place Hamas is hiding” and demolish those sites. Israel’s military is mobilizing reserves, fortifying defenses, and unleashing airstrikes on Gaza targets.
In 2007, Hamas, an Islamist terrorist group, took control of Gaza.
Anyone in Gaza Strip locations where Hamas operates should “leave those places now,” according to Netanyahu. He went on to say, “Israel will settle the score on anyone who harms them.”
However, for the 2 million Palestinians who live in Gaza, exiting Hamas-controlled regions is not so straightforward. For more than 16 years, Israel and Egypt have imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip, restricting the movement of people and products in and out of the territory.
According to The Associated Press, Israeli aircraft pounded central Gaza City Saturday night, demolishing a 14-story structure that housed Hamas offices as well as apartments. According to the agency, Israel issued a warning before the airstrike, and no injuries were reported.
“We are at war,” Netanyahu declared on camera in front of Israel’s military headquarters early Saturday. He declared that he would demand an “immense price from the enemy.”
According to Netanyahu’s office, his security cabinet met and resolved to cut off Israel’s electricity and gas supplies to Gaza, as well as the import and export of commodities through Israel’s border crossing.
Families seeking information about their relatives flooded morgues and hospitals in Gaza City. Saturday night, the streets were pitch black.
Yousef Hammash, a local humanitarian worker affiliated with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Gaza, spoke to NPR from the Jabalia Refugee Camp. “We are now entirely unprepared & uncertain about how we might continue our humanitarian work on the following day with a new contingency plan,” he remarked, as the sound of bombardments rang from his phone.
Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack
Palestinian militants launched a multifaceted onslaught against Israel at 6:30 a.m. local time, entering by paragliders, an amphibious operation in the Mediterranean Sea, and on land, according to Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht.
According to video from the incident, a border fence was breached using explosives as well as heavy machinery.
Simultaneously, Palestinian militants in Gaza launched huge barrages of rockets at Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces, totaling over 3,000 rockets throughout the day. Air raid sirens and loud booms could be heard in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other cities throughout central and southern Israel.
Mohammed Deif, a top Hamas militant commander, has advocated for a regional conflict. In a statement, he said the attacks on Saturday were in retaliation to Israel’s “desecration” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, referring to Jewish religious ultranationalists that visited the holy site, also known as the Temple Mount in Judaism, this week during a Jewish holiday.
According to Hecht, Israeli soldiers, and Palestinian gunmen clashed for hours in at least five southern Israeli settlements near Gaza, including the town of Sderot & the kibbutz communities of Nahal Oz, Beeri, Magen, and Kfar Aza, as well as two Israeli military bases in the vicinity.
Hecht said the military remained “engaged” with terrorists in 22 sites as of 8 p.m. local time Saturday, including circumstances where Israeli hostages were being held. He did not specify the number of captives kidnapped.
A council spokeswoman said the leader of a southern Israeli regional council was gunned down by Palestinian terrorists in Kfar Aza, while one woman was killed by rocket fire in southern Israel.
Israeli media said that gangs of Gaza terrorists drove into Israel on trucks, hitting civilian towns. Eyewitnesses informed Israel’s official radio that Palestinian militants wandered outside Israeli homes and started fire at an outdoor nature event, sending Israelis fleeing into fields and sheltering in bushes. Israeli authorities have instructed residents of southern Israel to stay in their homes.
Biden believes the US maintains “rock solid” backing for Israel
President Biden stated that he spoke with Netanyahu on Saturday morning and informed him that the United States is “ready to offer any necessary means of support” to Israel.
“Terrorism is never justifiable,” declared Biden in a statement. “Israel has a right to protect itself and its people.”
According to the president, his administration’s “support for the safety of Israel is rock solid and unwavering.”
High-level US officials are in conversations with their Israeli counterparts and regional partners, ranging from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who stated that the Pentagon will continue to engage with Israel to ensure it has the necessary support.
The extent of new support, if any, is unknown, according to US sources. The US sends billions of dollars in aid to Israel each year and assisted in the development of the Iron Dome missile defense system.
The United States Embassy in Jerusalem urged all parties to avoid violence and reprisal attacks, saying, “Terror & violence solve nothing.”
The current violence may potentially jeopardize efforts to negotiate a diplomatic agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel mediated by the United States. A senior Biden administration official informed reporters on Saturday that it is too early to speculate on how the discussions would be affected.
Saudi Arabia, for its part, stated on Saturday that it has frequently warned of “an explosive situation” due to the lack of a peace process and the continuation of Israeli occupation. It demanded prudence on both sides.
After weeks of fighting, war breaks out
Saturday’s violence occurred on the Jewish Sabbath & the Simchat Torah holiday, as well as one day after the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the key 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which Israel was attacked by Arab countries.
Following weeks of tense skirmishes between Palestinians & Israeli troops along the Gaza-Israel border, as well as deadly Israeli military operations and clashes with Palestinians across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the violence has escalated.
In the last decade and a half, Israel and Gaza terrorists have fought several conflicts.
Egyptian mediators had reportedly sought to arrange an accord that would avoid the Gaza-Israel conflict, financially stabilize Hamas government employees in Gaza, and boost the number of Palestinian laborers permitted to work in Israel in recent weeks.
Israel has also seen internal unrest, including disagreements over the far-right Israeli government’s efforts to dismantle Israel’s courts.
However, protest organizers postponed a huge weekly demonstration on Saturday. A reservist soldier protest group, which has spearheaded a massive movement of reservists declining to attend military training, has called for reservists to serve if called up.