2023-10-07 12:36:14
“Citizens of Israel, we are at war.” The first words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the massive attack suffered by the country as a result of an unprecedented operation launched by the Islamist movement Hamas highlight the seriousness of an incursion that could have already cost “dozens” of lives. “This is not an operation or an escalation, but a war,” added Netanyahu, who has tried to encourage the population’s spirits with a forceful “we are going to win it.” “Our enemy will pay a price he has never known.”
Gaza explodes again and it does so in a way that is unprecedented. Hamas has surprised Israel with a large-scale operation by land and air that it launched after six in the morning this Saturday and that so far leaves “dozens dead,” according to Israeli media. There is official confirmation of 22 fatalities and 300 injured people (70 of them particularly seriously), but the images transmitted by the videos recorded in the combat zones point to many more deaths. The Islamist group has launched 2,200 rockets, while dozens of militiamen managed to infiltrate rival territory and reach the towns closest to the Strip.
An unprecedented situation whose only precedents had occurred when some commando occasionally managed to circumvent Israeli security measures through tunnels in previous conflicts. This time the infiltration has been much more important.
A few minutes later, the Islamist leader, Abu Khaled Al-Deif, announced the start of the ‘Al Aqsa Flood’ operation and announced that it was a movement born in Gaza that “will spread to the West Bank and abroad, to every place where our people and our nation are present. Al-Deif has referred at all times to the need to protect the Al Aqsa mosque, the great symbol that continues to unite all Palestinians regardless of their political differences.
After five hours, Israel responded this morning with Operation ‘Iron Swords’ and aircraft began bombing the Strip. As of this noon, Defense Forces planes have dropped more than 16 tons of ammunition, many of them in surgical operations against Hamas convoys and armored vehicles. The standing army has also deployed several battalions on the Gaza border. Most of the troops are focused on fighting the militants who are still in Israeli territory.
Israelis across the country—on Shabbat and the holiday of Simchat Torah—woke up to sirens sounding and Hamas firing rockets at them from Gaza this morning.
We will defend ourselves. pic.twitter.com/S9GN8fld4Y
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 7, 2023
Hamas has used long-range projectiles from the first moment and sirens have sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but the most complicated situation exists in Israeli towns near Gaza such as Sderot. From these places come images of Hamas militiamen in the streets and of dead and captured Israelis. In fact, the radical group has just published several videos showing its militants arresting a group of soldiers at a base on the border or taking hostages among the civilian population. Media close to the Islamist movement have also broadcast videos of militants entering Israel through the air using paragliders.
The Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, considers that Hamas has made “a serious mistake” by starting this war and has assured that “Israel will win.” The minister has authorized the Defense Forces to begin recruiting tens of thousands of reservists and declared an emergency situation within an 80 kilometer radius of the Gaza Strip.
The umpteenth conflict in this territory begins one day after the anniversary of the October 1973 war. Unlike the previous ones, this time it was Hamas that moved first to surprise an enemy that has an infinitely superior arsenal.
Netanyahu, after declaring a state of war, has convened the security council. The military General Staff has ordered the closure of schools in central and southern Israel, so that one million children will not go to class until the end of the conflict, and will only allow businesses that are very close to air raid shelters to open.
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