Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that the nation was at war. His declaration came as militants from Gaza let loose a massive barrage while Hamas militants infiltrated the embattled country using paragliders. The ruling militant faction in Gaza, Hamas, carried out the unprecedented attack at daybreak on Saturday. They fired a barrage of rockets numbering thousands. Simultaneously heavily armed fighters believed to be in their dozens infiltrated the massively guarded borders. The fortified borders were breached at multiple points, catching the nation by surprise on a holiday.
Even several hours into the invasion, the national forces had failed to eliminate the fighters. Gunfight continued in at least seven points inside Israel. Dozens of Israeli forces and civilians are feared dead and over 50 civilians and soldiers taken hostages. That makes it the deadliest that Israel has faced for decades.
The Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba in southern Israel alone was treating close to three hundred casualties, with over 60 people critically injured. There were no official comments from the other side. Reporters have witnessed at least 15 funerals in Gaza and around a dozen bodies arrived at one local hospital alone, as Israel retaliated. It was not clear if they were militants or civilians.
Videos Have Surfaced Of Dead And Kidnapped Israeli Soldiers
Videos have surfaced of Israeli military vehicles being paraded through the streets of Gaza. A dead Israeli soldier’s body was seen being dragged and desecrated by angry Palestinians. At least three Israeli soldiers were paraded in the captivity of the militants. The military has not released figures of dead or missing soldiers and said that the operations were ongoing. Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the attack wasn’t an operation. He said that Israel was treating the attack as a war. He warned that the enemy would pay heavily for the attack.
The attack on the normally festive day of Simchat Torah revived memories of the war 50 years ago. Israel faced an attack on the holy day of Yom Kippur in 1973. Around 2,500 rockets are believed to have been fired by the militants. Air raid sirens wailed continuously in cities as far north as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Israel borders have been breached at least seven points while many militants used paragliders to enter the country.
