The Israeli army has gone on the counterattack, the day after the unprecedented attack launched by Hamas against Israel, pounding the Gaza Strip.

Overnight, heavy explosions from Israeli airstrikes rocked Gaza. Al Jazeera reported that at least 12 people were killed by shelling in the city of Beit Hanoun (northeast). The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip spoke for 232 dead and more than 1,700 injured in the last 24 hours. The wounded were taken to dilapidated and overcrowded hospitals, with serious shortages of medical equipment.

Bloody clashes also took place in the occupied territory West Bank, where young Palestinians attacked Israeli soldiers with stones. Four Palestinians, including a 13-year-old, were killed during the riots.

Fighters from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas wreaked havoc in several Israeli cities on Saturday, launching a wide-scale attack in which they killed more than 250 Israelis and kidnapped dozens more, taking hostages in the Gaza Strip. It is the worst escalation of violence in the Middle East since the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago.

His prime minister Israel Benjamin Netanyahu he swore “revenge” about this “black day” in the history of the Jewish state. “Hamas has launched a cruel and vicious war. We will win this war, but the price is unbearable,” he stressed. “Hamas wants to kill us all. It is an enemy that murders mothers and children in their homes, in their beds. An enemy who kidnaps the elderly and children,” he added. Netanyahu also warned that it would be a “long and difficult war”. Israel also asked the residents of Gaza to leave their homes and find shelter.

Israel

From his side, the leader of Hamas appears confident that the onslaught that began in the Gaza Strip – a Palestinian enclave with a population of about 2.3 million that has been blockaded for 16 years – will spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem. In a speech, Ismail Haniya issued threats against Al-Aqsa Mosque, denouncing the ongoing blockade of Gaza and initiatives to normalize relations between Israel and Arab countries. “How many times have we warned you that Palestinians have been living in refugee camps for 75 years, yet you refuse to recognize the rights of our people?” he said, among other things.

Strong forces of the Israeli army are combing areas that were infiltrated yesterday by Hamas fighters. Late in the evening, they released hostages in Kibbutz Beeri and the town of Ofakim, killing the invaders. A spokesman for the Israeli army warned, however, that operations to neutralize terrorists continue with unabated intensity.

Gauze

Political analysts talk about Israeli intelligence fiasco, as the large-scale attack launched by Hamas took everyone by surprise. “I will not deal with who is to blame and why we were taken by surprise,” commented Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, assuring that “we will face our enemy together.”

The security council called by Prime Minister Netanyahu gave the green light for attacks against Hamas military and administrative targets and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. At the same time, the electricity supply as well as the supplies of fuel and goods were interrupted in the Gaza Strip.

Osama Hamdan, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon, told Reuters news agency that Saturday’s attack will force Arab states to realize that without an end to the Israeli occupation there can be no peace and stability in the wider region.

Israel

The UN Security Council will hold an extraordinary meeting today on developments in the Middle East. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the international community to make “diplomatic efforts to avoid a wider conflagration” in the region, due to the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The American president Joe Biden assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone that US support for Israel is “unwavering and a given”.

The EU and many European governments “strongly condemned” the terrorist attacks.

Iran, a sworn enemy of Israel, welcomed the attacks by Hamas. Demonstrations of solidarity with the Palestinians were held in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, with Israeli and US flags being burned by protesters.