Israel-Palestine Latest News: The armed wing of Hamas declared it has begun "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood" and said it has fired over 5,000 rockets in the "first strike of 20 minutes."
“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.”
Summary
- Dozens of Israelis are believed to have been captured by Palestinian militant group Hamas which has launched its biggest attack in years
- "We are at war," says Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu - with 250 people in Israel reported killed
- Israel has responded with a wave of air strikes on Gaza, killing more than 230 people, officials say
- The violence continued on Saturday evening - with Tel Aviv and other central Israeli cities hit by a new barrage of rockets and Israel saying they are fighting militants in 22 places
- Hamas commander Mohammed Deif says the group had "decided to say enough is enough"
- US support for Israel is "rock solid", says President Joe Biden, pledging to make sure "they can continue to defend themselves"
What's the latest?
- A lot has happened in the past few hours, so here's a summary of where things stand:
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said the attacks carried by the Palestinian militant group Hamas today have never been seen before in his country - and he warned he would take "mighty vengeance" for what he described as a "black day"
- US President Joe Biden gave brief but forceful remarks, saying: "Let there be no mistake, the United States stands with the State of Israel"
- Richard Hecht, spokesman for the Israeli army, confirmed a "severe hostage situation" is ongoing in the towns of Kibbutz Be'eri and Ofakim
- Hecht also said fighting was ongoing at 22 locations within Israeli territory
- Israel says about 250 people have been killed in the attacks by Hamas, which has been firing rockets from Gaza and sending fighters into Israel.
- The violence has also reached the West Bank, where six Palestinians have been killed and 120 injured in clashes with Israeli police and settlers
Saturday 7th October:2023
- More than 400 Palestinian militants killed - IDF
- More than 400 Palestinian militants have been killed in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, and dozens more have been captured, according to IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, quoted in the Times of Israel.
- “As of this hour, there are forces fighting in [Kibbutz] Kfar Aza, there are searches in a large number of towns. There are IDF forces in all towns, there is no town that does not have an IDF force in it,” he is quoted as saying.
- An earlier report from the Reuters news agency said hundreds of Palestinian gunmen had been killed since Hamas launched its attack on Saturday.
Sunday 8th October:2023
More than 1,100 people have been killed on both sides after a massive attack by Hamas that started early Saturday
Thirty-six hours after the latest hostilities began, rockets were still being fired from Gaza into southern Israel
Israel's retaliatory air strikes have displaced 123,000 Palestinians in Gaza with close to 74,000 seeking shelter in schools, the UN says
Hospitals in Gaza are deluged and struggling under power cuts. The UN says Gaza's last power source - its only power plant - could run out of fuel in days
Several other nations have said their own citizens have been killed or abducted by Hamas
The US has moved its aircraft carrier closer to Israel and said it will send more weapons - a move denounced as "aggression" by Hamas.
US officials expect Israel to launch a ground incursion into Gaza within the next 48 hours
Oil prices jumped on Monday over concerns that the latest events could disrupt output from the Middle East
