TEL AVIV/GAZA — The Palestinian extremist organization Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, with hundreds said to have been killed on both sides in the ensuing fighting, which also saw Israelis being taken hostage into Gaza.
Israel responded by launching retaliatory strikes on Gaza in the biggest day of conflict seen between the warring parties in years.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Citizens of Israel, we are at war, not in an operation or in rounds, but at war.”
Islamist group Hamas, which rules the coastal strip, fired thousands of rockets into Israel, while armed Palestinians advanced into the south of the country by land, sea and air, the Israeli army said.
According to media reports, they killed numerous Israelis in settlements near the Gaza border. Some attackers were said to be holding people hostage inside houses.
At least 150 people were killed in the Jewish state after the massive Hamas attacks, according to medical sources, and more than 1,000 were wounded as of Saturday evening.
In Gaza, 198 people have been killed and more than 1,600 injured following the retaliatory strikes by the Israeli army, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
Another rocket alert sounded in the greater Tel Aviv area and other Israeli cities on Saturday evening. Numerous explosions were heard over the coastal metropolis, presumably triggered by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
Hamas said in the evening it had fired another 150 rockets at Israel in retaliation for strikes that hit a residential building in Gaza.
Israel’s army said it attacked the two multistory buildings because they had been used by senior Hamas members for terrorist activities.
The army had previously ordered residents to leave the building.
Several Israeli citizens including soldiers were taken hostage in the fighting and are now being held in the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the Israeli army confirmed without giving an exact number.
A Hamas spokesman later said “dozens of soldiers” including high-ranking Israeli officers were held in Gaza in secure locations.
Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the EU and the U.S.
It was initially unclear how exactly the Palestinian militants were able to enter Israel despite strict border controls. A spokesman for the Israeli army said that, among other things, gliders had been used. He could not name the number of attackers.
Pictures of Palestinian militants celebrating on top of an allegedly captured Israeli tank were circulating online. The tank look partially burnt, with smoke rising.
Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif said in a message that the group had decided to put an end to Israeli violations, as he called them.
But Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz announced the country would cut the electricity supply to Gaza, in a post on X.
The coastal enclave relies on fuel imports for its energy supply.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said “Hamas committed a grave mistake this morning” and said Israeli soldiers were fighting “in all the places where incursions were made.” He mobilized the country’s reservists and called on citizens to obey the authorities’ orders.
The Israeli army called its defensive action “Iron Swords.”
Egypt said it is holding “intense contacts” with “influential” international parties to halt the Palestinian-Israeli escalation.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on the “serious escalation at the Palestinian-Israeli level,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Meanwhile Saudi Arabia, which has been negotiating with Israel about normalizing relations, has called for an “immediate cessation” of the hostilities. The United States is mediating the normalization talks.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry congratulated Hamas for its attack on Israel.
“Today’s operation of the resistance movement in Palestine is a turning point in the continuation of the armed resistance of the Palestinian people against the Zionists,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told Iran’s ISNA news agency.
“With this operation, a new page has been turned on the Palestinian people’s resistance against the Zionists.”
Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon hailed the Hamas attack on Israel, calling it “heroic.” It said it maintained direct contact with the Palestinian leaders inside and outside the Palestinian territories to conduct a “constant evaluation” of the operations.
Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Germany, U.K., Israel and the Arab League.
The attack was roundly condemned in the West, including with statements of support for Israel from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the United States.
President Joe Biden promised Israel his country’s support.
“Israel has a right to defend itself and its people,” Biden said.
“The United States warns against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation.
“My administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering.”
Biden spoke to Netanyahu earlier and would be remaining in close contact with him, according to the White House.
Some airline companies reacted to the violence by canceling flights.
Germany’s Lufthansa suspended flights to Israel until Monday “against the backdrop of the current security situation in Tel Aviv.”
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