Around 250 people were killed and 1,590 were injured in Israel when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched its largest attack in a long time.
Many armed people from Gaza sneaked into towns in southern Israel when it was still dark outside. There were lots of rockets being shot during this time.
They captured Israeli soldiers and civilians and took them to Gaza.
Israel has attacked Gaza with multiple air strikes. According to doctors, this has caused the death of 232 people and injured 1,600.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is in a state of war and promised that Hamas, which governs Gaza, will face a very high cost for their actions.
The military in Israel has called upon many extra soldiers and is getting ready to start an operation in Gaza.
Right now, there is still fighting happening with militants who are still in some parts of southern Israel. Many rockets are being shot at cities and towns in Israel, including Tel Aviv and Rishon Lezion, during the evening.
Israel had a really bad situation happen – Palestinian militants with weapons were running around in the southern part of the country. This started on Saturday, which is the Jewish holy day and the festival of Simchat Torah.
Many people think that many gunmen went into Israel from different places. Some people broke through the fence around Gaza and others came in by boat.
It’s not clear how they were able to get through one of the strongest borders in the world.
Videos posted on social media showed shooting happening in Israeli villages and towns, like in the town of Sderot, which is very close to Gaza, only about 1. 6km away
Some people from different communities called Israeli news stations and said that they were stuck inside their homes or hiding in safer places.
I went outside and saw many dead terrorists, innocent people, and damaged cars with bullet holes. Many people’s bodies are crowded in Sderot and along the road, and in other places too, said Shlomi, a resident of Sderot.
Ofir Liebstein, who was the leader of a local council in southern Israel, was shot and killed during a fight with armed attackers while trying to protect his community.
Videos were shown of Israelis being taken as hostages, which was a completely new and unusual situation.
The BBC knows that militants have captured many soldiers and civilians. Some people were believed to be in small Israeli towns near the border, while others were taken to Gaza.
Hamas said it caught 53 “prisoners of war” including important officers, and they are keeping them in tunnels. In the past, the Israeli military has often attacked these tunnels during conflicts with militants in Gaza.
An Israeli military spokesperson said that both soldiers and civilians had been taken by force, and some soldiers, including Colonel Jonathan Steinberg, who was leading the Nahal infantry brigade, had been killed. But he said that the reports about a high-ranking military leader being taken against their will were not true.
Videos were also shared online showing Palestinians driving Israeli military vehicles that they had taken in Gaza.
At the same time that the group entered secretly, fighters in Gaza began firing many rockets towards Israel, even reaching cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
A few rockets got past Israel’s missile defense system, called Iron Dome, and caused damage to people’s homes and cars.
People who live in Tel Aviv said that they couldn’t remember a time when the streets were locked down and empty for such a long time.
“According to Gideon Levy, a writer and reporter from England, people are feeling a strong sense of surprise, shock, and fear about something that is going to happen in the future. ” “When the first rockets landed, I was still running in the park, and the noise was really loud. ”
During a meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that their main goal is to remove the hostile forces that entered their land and bring back safety and peace to the towns that were attacked.
Our second goal is to make the enemy pay a high cost in the Gaza Strip. The third goal is to strengthen other areas so that no one accidentally joins this war.
Many Israeli warplanes and other aircraft are bombing Gaza because of an attack, which is causing big explosions.
The Israeli military attacked 17 locations where Hamas soldiers train and four places where they plan their activities. They called this action “Operation Iron Swords”.
Afterwards, rockets destroyed the 11-story Palestine Tower in the center of Gaza City. The tower is home to Hamas radio stations on the top floor.
The Israeli air force attacked two buildings that were being used by high-ranking members of Hamas for terrorist activities. They told the people inside to leave before the attack.
Medical aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres has stated that two healthcare workers, specifically a nurse and an ambulance driver, lost their lives due to Israeli attacks on two hospitals in Gaza.
According to Wafa, a news agency in Palestine, 10 regular people died when a house in the Shabora area of Rafah, in the southern part of Gaza, was attacked.
When it became nighttime, the electricity company in Israel turned off the power to Gaza. The power company in Gaza stated that most of the electricity in the area, around 80%, is supplied by Israel.
There was fighting in many places in the West Bank on Saturday. Palestinian doctors said that six Palestinians were killed after they got into fights with Israeli soldiers and got shot.
Hamas leader Mohammed Deif asked all Palestinians to join their military operation.
“We have decided to stop these actions by Israel, with God’s assistance. This is so that the enemy realizes they can no longer cause destruction without facing consequences,” he stated.
Ismail Haniyeh, who leads Hamas from outside of Palestine, said that groups in Palestine want to make the violence bigger by including the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Ghazi Hamad, a person who speaks for Hamas, said in an interview with the BBC that Iran supports the attack. Iran promised to support the Palestinian fighters until Palestine and Jerusalem are free.
The President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, who disagrees with Hamas, said that the Palestinian people have the right to protect themselves from the harmful actions of settlers and occupation soldiers.
Many countries around the world strongly disapprove of the attacks made by Hamas.
US President Joe Biden strongly criticized their actions and stated that Israel has the complete right to protect itself and its citizens.
“He said that terrorist attacks are never justified, and his administration strongly and consistently supports the security of Israel. ”
The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, expressed shock about the news that innocent people have been attacked and taken away from their houses.
The Foreign Secretary of the UK, James Cleverly, strongly condemns the terrible attacks carried out by Hamas on innocent Israeli people.
Qatar’s government said that Israel is solely to blame for the ongoing increase in violence.