Almost 1,000 killed in Israel-Hamas war

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — The death toll surged to almost 1,000 since Palestinian resistance group Hamas launched its massive surprise attack on Israel with a barrage of rockets and a large-scale ground assault, officials on both sides said on Sunday.

The conflict's worst escalation in decades has claimed more than 600 lives on the Israeli side, the government press office said, while Gaza officials reported at least 370 deaths, with thousands more wounded on each side.

Thousands of Israeli forces were deployed to battle Hamas fighters in the south and the airforce again pounded targets in the Gaza Strip as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a "long and difficult" war ahead.

There was widespread shock and dismay in Israel after at least 100 citizens were captured by Hamas gunmen and abducted into Gaza.

Israel was stunned when Hamas launched their multi-pronged offensive at dawn Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, raining down thousands of rockets as fighters infiltrated towns and kibbutz communities and stormed an outdoor rave party held under the desert sky.

Panicked Israeli residents phoned media outlets as they hid out in their homes from militants going door to door and shooting civilians or dragging them away.

‘No respite’ 

Global concern has mounted, with Western capitals condemning the attack by the Islamist group Hamas, which Washington and Brussels consider a terrorist group.

Israel’s foes have praised the assault, including Iran whose President Ebrahim Raisi spoke Sunday with leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and voiced his support, according to official media in the Islamic republic.

Anti-Israel protests have flared in some other majority Muslim countries, and Germany and France were among nations stepping up security around Jewish temples and schools.

US President Joe Biden has voiced “rock solid and unwavering” support for its key ally Israel and warned “against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation”.

 ‘Liberate our land’ 

Hamas has labelled its attack “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” and called on “resistance fighters in the West Bank” and “Arab and Islamic nations” to join the battle.

Its attack came half a century after the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, called the Yom Kippur war in Israel, sparking bitter recriminations on what was widely seen as an enormous intelligence failure.

“There was a very bad failure here,” said Sderot resident Yaakov Shoshani, 70. “The ‘Yom Kippur War’ was small compared to it, and I was a soldier in the Yom Kippur War.”

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has predicted “victory” and vowed to press ahead with “the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons”.

Hamas said Saturday it had fired 5,000 rockets, while Israel reported some 3,000 incoming projectiles. Several bypassed the Iron Dome missile defence system and smashed into buildings as far as Tel Aviv.

Israel rushed forces to the embattled south, called up reservists and hit Gaza in operation “Swords of Iron”, with some observers predicting a possible ground invasion of Gaza.

Israeli attacks have reduced several Gaza residential towers to rubble in what Israel said were strikes aimed at Hamas facilities and which had followed warning calls for people inside to evacuate.

Another strike completely destroyed a mosque in Gaza’s Khan Yunis.

Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, leading to Israel’s blockade of the impoverished enclave of 2.3 million people.

Many Gaza residents voiced defiance, with Mohammed Saq Allah, 23, saying: “We will not give up, and we are here to stay. This is our land, and we will not abandon our land.”

The new war follows months of rising violence in the occupied West Bank and tensions around Gaza’s border and at contested holy sites in Jerusalem.

Before Saturday, the conflict had killed at least 247 Palestinians, according to Palestinian officials.

Violence flared again in the West Bank Saturday, leaving at least seven Palestinians dead, said the health ministry in Ramallah.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged “all diplomatic efforts to avoid a wider conflagration” and stressed that “only through negotiation leading to a two-state solution can peace be achieved”.