{"id":1727,"date":"2023-10-07T08:11:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T08:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=1727"},"modified":"2023-10-07T08:14:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T08:14:47","slug":"hamas-launches-surprise-attack-on-israel-as-palestinian-gunmen-reported-in-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/07\/hamas-launches-surprise-attack-on-israel-as-palestinian-gunmen-reported-in-south\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamas launches surprise attack on Israel as Palestinian gunmen reported in south"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agencies – Sudan Events<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israel and Hamas appear to be heading to war once again after the Palestinian militant group launched a massive aerial and ground operation from the blockaded Gaza Strip, its biggest attack in years.<\/p>\n

Sirens sounded across Israel and as far north as the contested city of Jerusalem from around 7am on Saturday after volleys of what Hamas claimed were 5,000 rockets launched from the blockaded enclave. There also appeared to be a ground infiltration by Hamas gunmen into Israeli towns and villages on the periphery \u2013 an unprecedented development in the 16 years since the Islamists took over the strip.<\/p>\n

Unconfirmed initial reports and graphic pictures and video appeared to show that gunmen had opened fire in the border town of Sderot, killing several Israeli civilians and soldiers. One elderly woman was confirmed dead by medics in unclear circumstances, and another four people in Bedouin villages in Israel\u2019s south killed by rocket fire.<\/p>\n

Palestinian media also reported that a number of Israelis had been taken captive by fighters \u2013 reports that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was aware of, but did not confirm.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Mohammad Deif, Hamas\u2019s military commander in Gaza, announced the start of a new operation to free Jerusalem\u2019s sensitive al-Aqsa mosque compound, which has had an increase in the number of Jewish visitors in the past few weeks owing to the Jewish high holidays. He added that \u201cthis is only the first stage\u201d of Hamas\u2019 renewed efforts against Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe warned the enemy not to continue his aggression against the al-Aqsa mosque \u2026 The age of the enemy\u2019s aggression without a response is over. I call on Palestinians everywhere in the West Bank and within the Green Line [Israeli territory] to launch an attack without restraint. Go to all the streets. I call on Muslims everywhere to launch an attack,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Islamic Jihad, another faction in Gaza, said in a statement on Telegram several hours later that they had also joined the fighting. There are fears of a regional conflagration if the violence spreads to the occupied West Bank, which is on lockdown, to the northern front with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, or intra-communal violence on the streets of Israel, as seen in 2021.<\/p>\n

In response to the attacks, which appear to have caught the Israeli security services by surprise, Israel has declared a state of war. In a statement, Israel\u2019s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said: \u201cHamas has made a grave mistake this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA number of terrorists have infiltrated into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip,\u201d the military said in a statement, adding that residents in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip had been told to stay in their homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Israel Defence Forces will defend Israeli civilians and the Hamas terrorist organisation will pay heavy price for its actions,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The office of Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he would meet top security officials in the coming hours, and reservist soldiers had been mobilised. The Israeli military said its forces were operating inside Gaza but gave no details.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s dramatic developments are the most serious flare-up in the volatile region since Israel and Hamas fought a bloody 10-day battle in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Agencies – Sudan Events Israel and Hamas appear to be heading to war once again after the Palestinian militant group launched a massive aerial and ground operation from the blockaded Gaza Strip, its biggest attack in years. Sirens sounded across Israel and as far north as the contested city of Jerusalem from around 7am on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1729,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727\/revisions\/1729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}