Status: 07.10.2023, 15:41 PM
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Rockets are fired into Israel by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip. © Hatem Moussa/AP/dpa
For months, Israel has been preoccupied with bitter internal squabbles. In addition, there is the tense situation in the West Bank. This is probably one of the reasons why the country was not sufficiently prepared for an attack on an unprecedented scale from the Gaza Strip.
Tel Aviv/Gaza - The disturbing images from the Israeli border area with the Gaza Strip are like something out of a nightmare. In a surprise move, Palestinian militants from the coastal strip fired thousands of rockets at Israeli settlements early Saturday morning. At the same time, numerous armed Palestinians enter Israel by land, sea and air on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah (Joy of the Torah), although the barrier is considered to be particularly tightly secured.
A rocket is fired. © Mohammed Talatene/dpa
At least 40 Israelis were killed and hundreds wounded when the attackers entered various villages in the border area and, according to media reports, barricaded themselves in houses with hostages. Several Israelis are also said to have been abducted to the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu speaks of war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the beginning of a meeting of the so-called security cabinet in Tel Aviv: "Since this morning, the State of Israel is at war." According to the military, the country has also been officially put into war readiness and thousands of reservists have been called up. The Israeli army called its defensive operation "Iron Swords." An Israeli official warned that the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, had "opened the gates of hell" with its large-scale attack on Israel.
The first goal now is to "clear the area of the enemy troops who have entered," Netanyahu said. Hamas would pay an "immense price" for the attack, he announced. In addition, it is important to secure other fronts "so that no one makes the mistake of entering this war." Israel's army mainly secured the northern border out of fear of a possible attack by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
In response to the 2220,22 rocket attack, Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least <> people were killed.
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Hamas Announces Military Operation
Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU, the US and Israel, spoke of a "military operation" against Israel. Military chief Mohammed Deif said it had been decided to put an end to what he called Israeli crimes.
Deif has been considered a "phantom" for decades. According to media reports, Israel had repeatedly tried in vain to kill him. During the 2014 Gaza war, the Israeli military attacked Deif's house, killing his wife and young son. Deif himself was able to escape at the time.
Hours-long rocket attacks
Because of the rocket attacks, warning sirens wailed again and again in various cities in Israel, the army said. Rocket alarms were also heard several times in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. In Tel Aviv, a house was hit. The military called on residents of the southern and central parts of the country to stay in protected areas. Defense Minister Joav Galant declared a special security situation within a radius of up to 80 kilometers from the Gaza Strip.
Internationally, above all, solidarity with Israel
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel condemned the attack. The United States clearly sided with Israel.
Iran, on the other hand, congratulated Hamas and spoke of a "turning point" in the armed resistance against Israel.
Recent violent protests on the Gaza border
The attacks from the Gaza Strip, which had apparently been prepared for some time, came as a surprise to Israel. The Israeli army had assumed that Hamas was currently not interested in a new round of hostilities. Not least because several wars with Israel over the past 15 years have had devastating effects on the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli firefighters extinguish a fire after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a house in southern Israel. © Tsafrir Abayov/AP
According to the UN, more than two million people in the Gaza Strip live in very poor conditions. Hamas seized sole power by force in 2007. In response, Israel tightened a blockade of the coastal area, which is supported by Egypt.
Smoke rises from an explosion caused by an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip. © Hatem Moussa/AP/dpa
Violent protests broke out again on the Gaza border last month. IEDs were thrown at soldiers, and several Palestinians were wounded by gunfire. The Israeli Air Force attacked Hamas posts over the incidents.
Tense situation in the West Bank as a distraction
Nevertheless, the Israeli military's focus was primarily on the occupied West Bank, where the situation had recently deteriorated further. Since Thursday, four Palestinians have been killed there in their own attacks or confrontations with the army.
The security situation in Israel and the West Bank has been very tense for about a year and a half. Since the beginning of the year, 27 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed in attacks. During the same period, more than 200 Palestinians were killed in Israeli military operations, confrontations or as a result of their own attacks.
Dispute over judicial reform divides Israel
Since the beginning of the year, there have been massive protests in Israel against a judicial restructuring that Netanyahu's right-wing religious government is promoting. The bitter dispute led to the division of society, and in some cases also of families. A well-known Israeli journalist wrote in an X-Post about the surprise caused by the Hamas attack: "We are to blame." Israel was too busy with internal disputes. "And we've forgotten about the predators in the jungle around us." A major rally against the judicial reform planned for Saturday evening in Tel Aviv - the 40th week in a row - has been cancelled in view of the security situation.
Exactly 50 years after the trauma of the Yom Kippur War
Particularly symbolic was the fact that the Hamas surprise attack took place exactly 50 years after the Yom Kippur War of 1973. The surprise attack on Israel by hostile Arab states on the highest Jewish holiday was considered the country's most severe national trauma to date. But the humiliating Hamas attack is also likely to go down in the history of Israel and the region as a deep turning point. Dpa