- Israel struck 426 targets in Gaza, its military said, flattening residential buildings in giant explosions
- Lebanon’s Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets and shells on Sunday at three Israeli positions
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Israeli forces continue to fight to repel Hamas militants attacks on Sunday, a day after they broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and rampaged through nearby Israeli communities in an unprecedented surprise attack, while Israel’s retaliation strikes leveled buildings in Gaza and its prime minister said the country was at war.
According to Arab News Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip, including towns and other communities as far as 24 kilometers from the Gaza border, while Hamas launched thousands of rockets at Israeli cities. They gunned down at least 250 people and took hostages as Israel’s military scrambled to muster a response.
On Sunday, Israel was fighting Hamas incursions in eight places, the Israeli military said. An Israeli military spokesperson said Sunday morning that two hostage situations had been “resolved,” but did not say whether all the hostages had been rescued alive.
Israel struck 426 targets in Gaza, its military said, flattening residential buildings in giant explosions. That included a 14-storey tower that held dozens of apartments as well as Hamas offices in central Gaza City. Israeli forces fired a warning just before.
At least 256 people in the Gaza Strip were killed in Israeli strikes, including 20 children, and close to 1,800 wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Israeli media, citing rescue service officials, said at least 250 people were killed and 1,500 wounded in Saturday’s attack, making it the deadliest in Israel in decades. Hamas fighters took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive into Gaza.
The attack comes at a time of historic division within Israel over Netanyahu’s proposal to overhaul the judiciary. Mass protests over the plan have sent hundreds of thousands of Israeli demonstrators into the streets and prompted hundreds of military reservists to avoid volunteer duty — turmoil that has raised fears over the military’s battlefield readiness.