Gaza terrorists invaded several Israeli communities and military sites early Saturday and fired more than 2,000 rockets from Gaza toward central and southern Israel, resulting in multiple Israeli casualties, according to the Israeli military.
According to Israel’s national rescue service, at least 40 Israelis were murdered.
The Israeli military has declared a “state of war alert,” called up reservist soldiers, and announced strikes on Gaza.
“We are at war,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video statement in front of Israel’s military headquarters.
Top Hamas militant commander Mohammed Deif called for a regional conflict in a statement. He said the attacks were in retaliation to Israeli “desecration” of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, a reference to Jewish religious ultranationalists who visited the holy site, also known as the Temple Mount in Judaism, this week during a Jewish holiday.
Beginning at 6:30 a.m. local time, Palestinian terrorists in the blockaded Gaza Strip launched a coordinated onslaught against Israel, entering by paragliders, the Mediterranean Sea, and land, according to Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht.
Israeli forces and Palestinian militants have been fighting for hours within at least five southern Israeli settlements near Gaza, including the town of Sderot and the kibbutz communities of Nahal Oz, Beeri, Magen, and Kfar Aza, as well as two Israeli military bases, according to Hecht.
“We understand this is something big,” Hecht said.
According to Israel’s official television, the leader of a southern Israeli regional council was fatally shot by Palestinian terrorists in Kfar Aza, and one woman was apparently killed by rocket fire in southern Israel. There have also been unsubstantiated claims of Israelis being held hostage within Gaza.
According to Israeli media, Gaza terrorists are driving into Israel on trucks and engaging in firefights with citizens within Israeli settlements. According to eyewitnesses, Palestinian militants strolled outside Israeli homes and opened fire at an outdoor nature event, sending Israelis fleeing into fields and sheltering in bushes. Residents of southern Israel have been ordered by Israeli police to remain in their houses.
At the same time, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza launched a volley of missiles at Israel. Air raid sirens and loud booms were heard early Saturday morning in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and throughout central and southern Israel.
Israeli protest organizers announced the cancellation of Saturday night’s major weekly protests against the far-right Israeli government’s efforts to weaken Israel’s courts. A reservist soldier protest group, which has spearheaded a massive movement of reservists refusing to attend military trainings, has called for reservists to serve if called up.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said it is “aware that there have been casualties as a result of these incidents” and that embassy staff was sheltering in place.
“We unequivocally condemn the attack of Hamas terrorists and the loss of life that has incurred. We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.
Saturday’s violence occurred on the Jewish Sabbath and the Simchat Torah holiday, as well as a day after the 50th anniversary of the start of the pivotal 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which Arab countries launched a surprise fatal attack on Israel.
Following weeks of tense skirmishes between Palestinians and Israeli troops along the Gaza-Israel border, as well as deadly Israeli military operations and clashes with Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the violence has escalated.
In the last decade and a half, Israel and militants in Gaza have fought repeated battles, and Israel and Egypt have put a siege on the impoverished area since the Islamist militant group Hamas gained control in 2007.
Egyptian mediators have reportedly sought to arrange an accord that would avoid 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. The fresh violence could jeopardize efforts to negotiate a diplomatic agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel mediated by the United States.