Israel continued to hit Gaza with air strikes, a day after suffering its bloodiest attack in decades when Hamas fighters moved through Israeli towns, killing hundreds and abducting more than 100 others.More than 600 people were killed in Israel, according to a Facebook post by the Israeli government press office, including US, British and Ukraine nationals.
Israel said that more than 100 of its citizens are being held “prisoner” by Hamas.In a sign the conflict could spread beyond Gaza, Israeli artillery responded to mortar fire from Lebanon and drone strikes hit a post of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia along Israel’s northern border.Overnight, Israeli air strikes had pounded housing blocks, tunnels, a mosque and homes of Hamas officials in Gaza, killing 370 people as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed “mighty vengeance for this wicked day”.
In southern Israel, Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli security forces 24 hours after a surprise, multi-pronged assault during a rocket barrage smashed through security barriers and army bases to send hundreds of fighters into nearby towns.
Israel’s military said it had regained control of most infiltration points, killed hundreds of Palestinian attackers and taken dozens more prisoner but was still fighting in some places. An Israeli soldier walks past a tank moving through Sderot.It said it had deployed tens of thousands of soldiers in the area surrounding Gaza, a narrow strip that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, and planned to evacuate all Israelis living around the frontier of the territory. “We’re going to be attacking Hamas severely and this is going to be a long, long haul,” a military spokesman told a briefing with reporters.
A member of Israel’s emergency services walks past a destroyed shop in Tel Aviv .In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said the attack had been “in defence of our people”, adding the group’s fighters continued rocket strikes and were still conducting operations behind the lines.
The attack represented the biggest and deadliest incursion into Israel since Egypt and Syria launched a sudden assault in an effort to reclaim lost territory in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago. The conflict could undermine US-backed moves towards normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia – a security realignment that could threaten Palestinian hopes of self determination and hem in Hamas’ main backer, Iran. US may announce additional military support for Israel
Tehran’s other main regional ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fought a war with Israel in 2006 and tensions have regularly flared since. “We recommend Hezbollah not to come into this and I don’t think they will,” Israel’s army spokesperson said.
Israel pounded Gaza with airstrikes after Hamas launched its attack .The debris from yesterday’s attack still lay around southern Israeli towns and border communities this morning. Gunmen killed at least 250 Israelis in the raid, including senior military officers, as terrified Israelis, barricaded into safe rooms, recounted their plight by phone on live television.
Fighters escaped back into Gaza with dozens of hostages including both soldiers and civilians. Hamas said it would issue a statement later saying how many captives it had seized. The capture of so many Israelis, some filmed being pulled through security checkpoints or driven, bleeding, into Gaza, adds another layer of complication for Mr Netanyahu after previous episodes when hostages were exchanged for many prisoners. Hamas fired more rocket salvoes into Israel today, with air raid sirens sounding across the south, and the Israel military said it would combine an evacuation of border areas with a search for more gunmen.