Region

• At least 200 Israelis die in large-scale attack by Hamas 
• Intense air strikes on Gaza bring Palestinian death toll to at least 232
• UN Middle East peace envoy warns of ‘a dangerous precipice’

SDEROT, Israel, —  At least 200 Israelis died in a surprise large-scale attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Saturday, the army said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to reduce the group's Gaza hideouts to "rubble".

Intense air strikes on the coastal enclave brought the Palestinian death toll to at least 232, Gaza officials said, following Hamas's massive rocket barrage and ground, air and sea offensive, in the conflict's bloodiest escalation in decades.

Gun battles raged into the night between Israeli forces and hundreds of Hamas fighters in at least 22 Israel locations, including at least two where gunmen were holding hostages, the army said.

“Terrorists rampaged and broke into homes, massacring civilians,” the army said, adding that more than 1,000 people in Israel were wounded by gunshots or the more than 3,000 incoming rockets.

“We are at war,” Netanyahu told the stunned nation in the morning, after Hamas had launched its multipronged attack at dawn, half-a-century after the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

“I’m telling the people of Gaza: Get out of there now, because we’re about to act everywhere with all our force,” the premier said later. “We’ll strike them to the bitter end and avenge with force this black day they brought on Israel and its people.”

He warned that “all the places in which Hamas is based, in this city of evil, all the places Hamas is hiding in, acting from — we’ll turn them into rubble”.

As the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting for Sunday, President Joe Biden voiced “rock solid and unwavering” support for the US ally and warned “against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation”.

‘So many bodies’ 

As night fell, the Israeli army said its forces were still engaged in live gun battles in 22 Israel locations, in an ongoing operation labelled “Swords of Iron”, as reservists were being called up.

“There are still 22 locations where we are engaging with terrorists that came into Israel, from the sea, from the land and from the air,” said army spokesman Richard Hecht on what he labelled a “robust ground invasion”.

Hamas earlier released images of several Israelis taken captive, and another army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, confirmed that “there are kidnapped soldiers and civilians”.

“I can’t give figures about them at the moment. It’s a war crime committed by Hamas and they will pay the price.”

Hecht said there was also a “severe hostage situation” in the Negev desert communities of Beeri and Ofakim east of Gaza.

The Islamist group started the multi-pronged attack around 6:30am (0330 GMT) with thousands of rockets aimed as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some bypassing the Iron Dome defence system and hitting buildings.

Hamas fighters — travelling in ground vehicles, motorised paragliders and boats — breached Gaza’s security barrier and attacked nearby Israeli towns and military posts, opening fire on residents and passersby.

“Send help, please!” one Israeli woman sheltering with her two-year-old child pleaded as fighters outside opened fire and tried to break into their safe room, Israeli media reported.

Bodies were strewn on the streets of the Israeli town of Sderot near Gaza and inside cars, the windscreens shattered by hails of bullets.

“I saw many bodies, of terrorists and civilians,” one man told AFP, standing beside covered corpses on a road near Gevim Kibbutz in southern Israel.

“So many bodies, so many bodies.”

AFP journalists witnessed Palestinian armed men gather around a burning Israeli tank, and others driving a seized Israeli military Humvee back into Gaza, where they were met by cheering crowds.

 ‘Gates of hell’ 

Israeli army Maj. Gen. Ghasan Alyan warned Hamas had “opened the gates of hell”.

An AFP journalist in Gaza saw smoke billowing from the remains of bombed residential towers which Gaza’s interior ministry said contained 100 apartments.

Israel’s military said it had warned residents to evacuate before targeting the multistorey buildings used by Hamas.

Israel’s state-run electricity company cut the power supply to Gaza as army flares lit up the night sky.

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

Before Saturday, at least 247 Palestinians, 32 Israelis and two foreigners had been killed this year, including combatants and civilians, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.

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

Its armed wing, the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, claimed to have fired more than 5,000 rockets, while Hecht said Israel had counted more than 3,000 incoming rockets.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh claimed the group was on the “verge of a great victory”.

“The cycle of intifadas [uprisings] and revolutions in the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons must be completed,” he said.

‘Dangerous precipice’ 

Air raid sirens wailed across southern and central Israel, as well as in Jerusalem. In Tel Aviv, a gaping hole was ripped into a building, with residents boarding a bus to flee to safety.

The conflict sparked major disruption at Tel Aviv airport, where many carriers cancelled flights. Schools will remain closed on Sunday, the start of the week in Israel.

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

Israel and Hamas have since fought several wars. The last major military exchange, in May, killed 34 Palestinians and one Israeli.

In northern Gaza on Saturday, hundreds of people fled their homes, carrying food and blankets, an AFP correspondent said.

Violence also erupted across the West Bank, including occupied east Jerusalem, with five Palestinians killed and 120 wounded in clashes with Israeli forces and settlers, Palestinian medical services said.

Western capitals condemned the wave of attacks by Hamas, which Israel, the United States and European Union consider a terrorist group.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the attack “terrorism in its most despicable form”.

But Hamas drew support from other foes of Israel, with Iran’s supreme leader declaring he was “proud” and Lebanese group Hizbollah praising the “heroic operation”.

UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland warned of “a dangerous precipice” and called on all sides to “pull back from the brink”.

CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi warned on Saturday of a "vicious cycle" of violence after Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel, which responded with devastating air strikes on Gaza.

Sisi received a call from French President Emmanuel Macron, Egypt's presidency said, and the two discussed "coordinating efforts to stop the escalation in the Gaza Strip between the Palestinian and Israeli sides".

Cairo has historically been a key mediator in conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians.

Sisi's spokesman said he "warned against the danger of the situation deteriorating and sliding into more violence, the worsening of humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the region entering into a vicious cycle of tensions that threatens regional stability and security".

The foreign ministry had earlier appealed to "both the Palestinian and Israeli sides to exercise the highest degrees of restraint".

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry made a series of calls, including to his counterparts in the United States, Russia, Turkey, Germany, France and Spain, in an attempt to rally "international actors" to "intervene immediately".

He received a call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the foreign ministry said, to discuss "the international and regional efforts that must be undertaken to contain the situation and put an end to the violence and the loss of life".

Shoukry and Russia's Sergei Lavrov stressed "the need for an immediate stop to the escalations" ahead of an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Sunday, a foreign ministry statement said.

Shoukry called on the Security Council to "uphold its responsibility" and "put measures in place to protect Palestinian rights".

Months of violence 

In a call with Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, both men "expressed their deep concern about the progressive and dangerous deterioration of events".

Separately, Safadi warned of the "volatility" of the situation, "particularly in light of what cities and areas of the West Bank are witnessing of Israeli attacks and violations against the Palestinian people".

The Hamas assault follows months of surging violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with fatalities in the occupied West Bank hitting a scale not seen in years.

Jordan and Egypt were the first two regional states to forge peace deals with Israel, before US-backed diplomatic normalisations followed in 2020 with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

Shoukry also called UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed to discuss "the gravity of the current situation and the need to make every effort to prevent the security situation from getting out of control".

The Hamas attack sparked a wave of condemnation, with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen calling it “terrorism in its most despicable form”.

In a call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Shoukry stressed the “importance of stopping the escalation and all sides exercising restraint”.

Cairo also called on the international community to “urge Israel to stop the attacks and provocative actions against the Palestinian people and to adhere to the principles of international humanitarian law with regard to the responsibilities of an occupying state”.

Gaza, Palestine - Palestinian resistance had begun a "war" against Israel which they infiltrated by air, sea and land from the blockaded Gaza Strip on Saturday, occupation officials said, a major escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli medics reported 22 people killed.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, released a video showing its fighters had captured three men dressed in civilian clothes and described as "enemy soldiers" in the video caption.

"We decided to put an end to all the crimes of the occupation (Israel). Their time for rampaging without being held accountable is over," said the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas armed wing.

"We announce Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and we fired, in the first strike of 20 minutes, more than 5,000 rockets."

Israel's occupation army said its forces were fighting Palestinian militants on the ground in several locations near the Strip. It dubbed its operation "Swords of Iron".

Unverified videos on social media showed bodies of a number of people in military fatigues as well as dead motorists and passengers on a highway.

Militant infiltration from Gaza, an impoverished enclave home to 2.3 million people, has been rare since Hamas took control in 2007, leading to Israel's crippling blockade. Gaza is sealed off from Israel by a militarised border barrier.

The rocket barrage from Gaza, which Hecht said numbered at least 2,200, left cars burning beneath residential buildings in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, about 10 kilometres north of Gaza.

 'Gates of hell'

The attack occurred on Shabbat and during a Jewish holiday.

AFP journalists said Israel's military began air strikes on Gaza, after rockets began streaming across the sky from inside the territory beginning at 6:30 am (0330 GMT).

An AFP journalist saw armed Palestinians gathered around an Israeli tank, which was partially in flames, after they crossed the border fence from Khan Yunis in Gaza.

Another AFP journalist saw Palestinians returning to Gaza City driving a seized Israeli Humvee.

Air raid sirens wailed across southern and central Israel, as well as an unusual number of times in Jerusalem, where AFP journalists heard multiple rockets being intercepted by Israeli air defence systems.

The army urged people to stay near bomb shelters.

Hundreds of residents fled their homes in Gaza to move away from the border with Israel, mostly in the territory's northeast, an AFP correspondent said, adding the men, women and children carried blankets and food.

In the Israeli commercial centre of Tel Aviv, residents were seen boarding a bus to seek safety in a hotel.

An AFP photographer in the city saw a gaping hole in a building, with residents gathered outside.

In Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, some Palestinian residents cheered and blew their car horns as sirens blared.

Among the dead was the president of a regional council for Israeli communities northeast of Gaza. The council said its president was killed in an exchange of fire with Gaza attackers.

Hamas calls to 'join battle'

Hamas called on "the resistance fighters in the West Bank" as well as "our Arab and Islamic nations" to join the battle, in a statement posted on Telegram.

Western capitals roundly denounced the Palestinian attacks on Israel.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it "terrorism in its most despicable form," while her foreign policy chief expressed "solidarity with Israel".

The EU, US and Israel consider Hamas to be a terrorist group.

United Nations Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland said the assault against Israeli communities and civilians has led to "a dangerous precipice and I appeal to all to pull back from the brink".

The violence follows heightened tensions in September, when Israel closed the border to Gazan workers for two weeks.

That shutdown came as Palestinian demonstrators along the border burned tyres and threw rocks and petrol bombs at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas and live bullets.

In May, an exchange of Israeli air strikes and Gaza rocket fire killed 34 Palestinians and one Israeli.

Violence between Israel and the Palestinians has been surging since early last year.

QAMISHLI, Syria — A drone strike on Thursday on a Syrian military academy killed more than 60 people, a war monitor said, with state media blaming "terrorist organisations" for the attack in government-held Homs.

Separately, in the war-torn country's Kurdish-held northeast, Turkish strikes on military and infrastructure targets killed at least nine people, according to Kurdish forces, after Ankara had threatened raids in retaliation for a bomb attack.

In the central Syrian city of Homs, "armed terrorist organisations" targeted "the graduation ceremony for officers of the military academy", an army statement carried by official news agency SANA said, reporting casualties.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor with a vast network of sources on the ground, reported "more than 60 dead, including military personnel and at least nine civilians", with dozens more wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The attack was carried out with "explosive-laden drones", according to the military statement.

The general command of the army and the armed forces decried the "cowardly... unprecedented" attack and said it would "respond with full force", the statement added.

The Syrian government retook full control of Homs, Syria's third-largest city, in 2017.

Later on Thursday in the rebel-held Idlib region, residents reported wide and heavy regime bombardment.

The Idlib rebel bastion in Syria’s northwest is controlled by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham . The extremist group, led by the former local Al Qaeda branch, has used drones to attack government-held areas in the past.

Meanwhile, the Turkish strikes on Hasakeh province in Kurdish-held northeast Syria “killed six members of the internal security” agency, a statement from the Kurdish force’s media centre said.

A worker at a site in the province was also killed, according to Farhad Shami, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurds’ de facto army.

The Kurdish authorities’ statement also said “two civilians” were killed in a strike on a motorcycle.

Turkey regularly strikes targets in Syrian Kurds’ semi-autonomous region.

On Wednesday, Ankara warned of more intense cross-border air raids, after concluding that militants who staged a weekend attack in the Turkish capital came from Syria.

The US-backed SDF led the battle that dislodged Daesh fighters from their last scraps of Syrian territory in 2019.

Turkey views the Kurdish People’s Protection Units that dominate the SDF as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies.

Since Sunday’s Ankara attack, which wounded two Turkish security officers and was claimed by the PKK, Ankara has launched strikes on the Kurdish group’s positions in northern Iraq.

AFP correspondents in Syria’s northeast saw black smoke rising from oil sites near Qahtaniyeh, close to the Turkish border.

Two power stations in the area were also hit, the correspondents said.

The SDF’s Shami said the strikes had targeted military and civilian sites.

“There has been a clear escalation since the Turkish threats,” he said, reporting intensive overflights of Kurdish-held areas in northeast Syria.

‘Legitimate targets’

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had warned of reprisals against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria in the aftermath of Sunday’s attack outside the interior ministry in Ankara.

He had alleged the perpetrators “came from Syria and were trained there”.

“From now on, all infrastructure, large facilities and energy facilities belonging to [armed Kurdish groups] in Iraq and Syria are legitimate targets for our security forces,” Fidan had said in televised comments.

In the market of the city of Qamishli in Hasakeh province, vendors were anxiously following the escalation on their mobile phones and televisions.

“The situation is worsening every day. Turkey doesn’t let us breathe,” said Hassan Al Ahmad, a 35-year-old fabric merchant.

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi denied on Wednesday that the Ankara assailants had “passed through our region”.

“Turkey is looking for pretexts to legitimise its ongoing attacks on our region and to launch a new military aggression,” he said.

The Kurdish administration on Thursday called on “the international community, the international coalition” and Russia to “take a stand capable of dissuading” Turkey from its attacks.

State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the United States “remains concerned about the military escalation in northern Syria”.

The United States, Russia and Turkey all have troops in areas of the war-torn country.

 Between 2016 and 2019, Turkey carried out three major operations in northern Syria against Kurdish forces.

The conflict in Syria has killed more than half a million people since it began in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests, spiralling into a complex battlefield involving foreign armies, militias and extremusts.

ISTANBUL — Turkey warned on Wednesday it could step up air strikes against Kurdish targets in Syria and Iraq after concluding that militants who staged a weekend attack in Ankara came from the country.

Turkey convened a top national security meeting on Wednesday to prepare its response to Sunday's attack.

Turkish police shot dead one of the assailants while the other died in an apparent suicide blast outside Turkey's interior ministry.

Two policemen were injured in the incident.

A branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) — listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies — claimed responsibility for the first such incident in Ankara since 2016.

"As a result of the work of our security forces, it has become clear that the two terrorists came from Syria and were trained there," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in televised remarks.

"From now on, all infrastructure, large facilities and energy facilities belonging to [armed Kurdish groups] in Iraq and Syria are legitimate targets for our security forces."

Turkey conducted air raids against PKK targets in Iraq hours later.

Iraqi Defence Minister Thabet Al Abbasi will visit Ankara on Thursday for talks with counterpart Yasar Guler, Turkey’s Anadolu state news agency said.

Fidan’s comments suggest that Turkey could intensify its drone and artillery strikes in Syria, where Ankara has forces and supports groups fighting the Kurds.

Syria’s Kurds have carved out a semi-autonomous area in the country’s north and east.

US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — the Kurds’ de facto army in the area, led the battle that dislodged Daesh terror group fighters from the last scraps of their Syrian territory in 2019.

But Turkey views the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) that dominate the SDF as an offshoot of the PKK.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a series of armed incursion into Syria and, more recently, threatened to expand attacks against the YPG.