Israel : Israel — Israel is in a state of war, after Palestinian militants launched a large-scale surprise attack (All-out war ) from the blockaded Gaza Strip on civilian and military targets in Israel early Saturday. Hundreds of people have been killed on both sides, and an unknown number of Israelis have been taken hostage.
A new day is now beginning in Gaza and Israel, and it promises more violence, even as a range of countries, from the U.S. to Israel’s Arab neighbors, urge the combatants not to escalate the conflict further.
But leaders on both sides say they’re now at war — and that it won’t be over soon. In the first day of attacks and fighting, at least 250 Israelis were killed, (All-out war ) and more than 1,000 wounded. More than 230 Palestinians were killed, with nearly 2,000 injured, according to health officials in Gaza.
The violence has ranged from close-combat ground fighting to airstrikes and rocket attacks.
Questions that are now circulating range from how calm might be restored to what goals Israel might pursue in response to what it deems an invasion, and whether open warfare might derail U.S. efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Israel will “reach into every place (All-out war ) Hamas is hiding” and turn those locations into ruins, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed in a late-night TV address. Israel’s military is calling up reservist soldiers, reinforcing positions and launching airstrikes on targets in Gaza.
Hamas, the Islamist militant group, took control of Gaza in 2007.
Anyone in areas where Hamas operates in the Gaza Strip should “leave those places now,” Netanyahu said. He added, “Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them.”
But for some 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza, leaving Hamas-linked areas isn’t so simple. For more than 16 years, the Gaza Strip has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt that restricts the movement of people and goods in and out of the country.
Israeli airstrikes hit central Gaza City Saturday night, leveling a 14-story building that housed Hamas offices, as well as apartments, according to The Associated Press. The agency reports that Israel gave warning of the airstrike, and no casualties were reported.
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