Israeli Operation “In Defense of the Aqsa Mosque” for 50 Years after the Gaza Strip Attack on Israel’s Northern and Southern Borders
Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said that there was a military operation “in defense of the Aqsa mosque,” the hotly contested holy site in Jerusalem that thousands of Jews have visited in recent weeks, and against the Israeli blockade.
The ambulance service, Magen David Adom, issued an urgent call for blood and was organizing a special blood donation drive at a hospital in central Tel Aviv.
The Palestinian militant group launched an attack from the Gaza Strip on targets in Israel at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. They infiltrated using paragliders, an amphibious operation on the Mediterranean Sea, and on land, Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters.
Within an hour of the start of the attack, rockets were fired into Israeli towns and cities, hitting as far to the north as Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv and Ramla, near Israel’s international airport. At 8:15 a.m. sirens also sounded in central Jerusalem, and loud booms could be heard.
The assault began without any warning at 6:30 a.m. on the Jewish Sabbath and the morning of the festival. It was 50 years almost to the day after the surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces over Israel’s northern and southern borders at the opening of the 1973 war that traumatized the nation.
Muhammad Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, said in a recorded message that the group had decided to launch an “operation” so that “the enemy will understand that the time of their rampaging without accountability has ended.” He pointed to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, where it captured in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, the recent Israeli police raids on the Aqsa mosque and the rounding up of thousands of Palestinians in jails.
Israeli media reported that more than 300 Israeli civilians, including women and children, and soldiers were killed in the surprise attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said operations were underway to clear the militants from infiltrated towns and that he had issued a call-up of reservists.
On Saturday morning, the Israeli military reported that more than 2,200 rockets had been fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip, and that some of them had crossed the fence into Israel.
Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said that the White House “unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians” and that the United States stood “firmly” with the government and people of Israel.
We Are At War, Netanyahu Says After Hamas Attacks: Israels Defense Fails May Change Strategy to Israel and the West Bank
Hamas, the Iranian backed militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, has released unconfirmed video footage that appears to show Palestinian fighters in Israel in a hang glider.
Residents of Israeli border towns told broadcasters that gunmen were moving door to door, looking for civilians. Analysts said there was video that showed Palestinian fighters taking captured Israeli civilians and bodies through the strip to be used as bargaining chips.
In Sderot, a southern city, photographs showed dead bodies strewn on the streets. The militants also targeted an all-night dance festival in the desert, prompting hundreds of young Israelis to sprint for safety.
“We are at war and we will win it,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a televised statement, announcing a call-up of hundreds of thousands of Israeli military reservists.
The potential role of Iran in the operation drew scrutiny in Israel as the violence spread to other parts of the region. In addition to Hamas, Tehran backs another Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, providing all of them with weaponry and intelligence.
Hamas leaders called for Arabs living in Israel and the West Bank to seize the momentum created by the assault and carry out their own attacks on Israelis. Three Palestinians died in clashes on Saturday with Israeli security forces in the West Bank, according to Palestinian officials.
The Gaza Enclave: How Hamas invaded Gaza and killed thousands of Palestinians in the 1967 Gazan Reionization War
The UN said the border with southern Lebanon was being reinforced because Hezbollah holds sway there.
After the shock of the attack, government critics who had resigned from reserve duty to protest the judicial plan decided to return to service in Israel’s hour of need. Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of the opposition, announced he was prepared to join a government of national unity — a move that would potentially postpone any further judicial changes and allow Mr. Netanyahu to end his alliance with the far right.
Powers in the region have issued calls for a stop to the violence. The Saudi Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling for “an immediate end to the escalation of the conflict”.
Palestinians entered Israel in a painless manner that led to anger and distrust among Israelis. There were questions about the quality of Israeli intelligence gathering, normally a point of Israeli pride, and suggestions that the Israeli military — which has focused its recent activity on quelling an insurgency in the West Bank — had misdirected its energies.
When Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, Israel and Egypt put a blockade on the area, making the situation worse. Unemployment is close to 50 percent in the Gaza Strip, and only 10 percent of Gazans have direct access to clean water, according to UNICEF.
In the last few months, Israel has been allowing between 18,000 and 20,000 workers to cross daily from Gaza into Israel, which will help Gaza’s economy and calm would prevail.
Hamas’s rocket arsenal was considered to be its primary weapon because the Israeli Army had secured the land border with walls and other fortifications, making a ground invasion difficult.
The streets of Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban area, emptied out as residents gathered at schools to take shelter. People lined up at supermarkets to stock up on supplies. And Gazans living close to the Israeli border fled to areas further inside the enclave, fearing an Israeli ground invasion.
One of the people who went away with their families from the border was a mother of three. “The situation is really, really bad.”
Israelis, Gaza and Lebanon: The New chapter in the field of resistance and armed operations against the occupiers in the occupied territories
Analysts expected the Gaza war could set off a surge in violence in the West Bank, which has already experienced its bloodiest year since the second intifada, a Palestinian uprising that left 1,000 Israelis and around 3,000 Palestinians dead by the time it ended in 2005.
The spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanani, said that “today’s operation opened a new chapter in the field of resistance and armed operations against the occupiers in the occupied territories.”
Reporting was contributed by Raja Abdulrahim from Istanbul; Jonathan Rosen and Gabby Sobelman from Rehovot, Israel; Iyad Abuheweila from Cairo; Aaron Boxerman from London; Euan Ward and Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon; and Rami Nazzal from Ramallah, West Bank.
The Israeli military said Sunday that it is still battling Hamas militants in several Israeli communities a day after they broke through and flew over the Gaza border to launch an unprecedented wave of attacks.
In the north of the Israel, there have been strikes exchanged across the border with Lebanon, raising alarm at heightening regional tensions. Israel struck a site in Lebanon, after mortar fire into Israel that was claimed by the Hezbollah militant group. Hezbollah’s involvement opens up the possibility of a multi front conflict involving Israel, Gaza and Lebanon.
The leader of Netanyahu said the people who are in areas where Hamas operates should leave. He added, “Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them.”
U.S. embassy in Israel meets with the government of Israel on the recent massacres of civilians in the Mediterranean city, Saudi Arabia
There are fears the brutality could spread. An Egyptian policeman opened fire on Israeli tourists Sunday in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least two Israelis and one Egyptian, local media reported.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia disagrees with the targeting of civilians, and all sides should respect international humanitarian law.
U.S. officials tell NPR whether or not there is any additional support. The United States provides billions of dollars each year in assistance to Israel and helped the country build its Iron Dome missile defense system.
The Pentagon will continue to consult with Israel to make sure it has the support it needs, said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as he spoke with counterparts in Israel.