CNN –
Hamas captured a number of Israelis during its deadly attack on Israel on Saturday, the Israeli military said, as videos emerged of Israeli soldiers and civilians being led away by fighters from the Palestinian militant group.
Hamas fired rockets from Gaza and sent gunmen into Israeli territory, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare that the country was “at war.” According to the Israeli rescue service Zaka, at least 200 people in Israel were killed and at least 1,452 people were injured in the unprecedented attack, the Israeli Ministry of Health said on Saturday.
At least 232 Palestinians were killed and 1,697 injured in Gaza on Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement.
At least one Israeli soldier has been captured, new video geolocated and authenticated by CNN shows.
Video posted on Hamas’ official social media accounts shows militants pulling two apparently frightened and stunned soldiers from a disabled tank. It is not clear from the video how the tank was disabled, but Hamas has previously used drones to drop bombs on Israeli tanks.
A short video clip shows one of the soldiers being kicked to the ground by the militants. In another clip, the soldier can be seen lying motionless on the ground.
The second soldier is taken away by Hamas fighters. A third soldier – his face badly bloody – lies motionless on the ground near the tank track. CNN does not know the current whereabouts or status of the three soldiers.
A second video taken later shows various armed men surrounding the tank. The three soldiers are nowhere to be seen.
The gunmen are then seen pulling a fourth Israeli soldier out of the tank. The soldier is motionless as he is dragged down the side of the tank and onto the ground. The armed men can be seen trampling on his body.
The Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, said it captured “dozens” of Israelis on Saturday.
“We bring the good news to our (Palestinian) prisoners and our people that the Al-Qassam Brigades has dozens of captured (Israeli) officers and soldiers in their hands,” Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obaida said in a statement Post on Telegram. “They were secured in safe locations and resistance tunnels.”
In a recorded audio message released later Saturday, Obaida said that all captured Israelis “are present in all axes in the Gaza Strip.”
“What happens to the people of Gaza will happen to them, and beware of miscalculation,” he added.
On Saturday evening, Israel Defense Forces said the number of civilians captured by Hamas was “unfortunately a significant number.”
Spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “It is unprecedented in our history that we have so many Israeli nationals in the hands of a terrorist organization.”
“These are numbers we have never seen before and they are unprecedented and will force an unprecedented response from Israel,” Conricus said.
Early Saturday, IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement that Israeli soldiers had been killed and captured and that civilians had also been kidnapped. He described any kidnapping as a “war crime.”
Hamas hasn’t taken hostages in years. It was previously known that two civilians who crossed the border and were captured were held there, as well as the bodies of two Israeli soldiers.
Gilad Shalit, a 19-year-old soldier, was captured in 2006 and held for five years before being released as part of an exchange that freed more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
CNN contacted the IDF about the second video but declined to comment.
CNN has geolocated the video and can report that it was shot along Gaza’s eastern border, near the border wall.
Hamas also appears to have captured Israelis in and near Gaza, videos geolocated by CNN appear to show.
In one of the videos, geolocated by CNN in Gaza’s Shejaiya district, a barefoot woman is seen being dragged from the trunk of a jeep by an armed man and then forced into the back seat of the car. Her face is bleeding and her wrists appear to be tied behind her back with cables. The jeep appears to have an IDF license plate, suggesting it may have been stolen and taken to Gaza.
A second video that appears to show Hamas militants capturing several Israelis was geolocated by CNN in Be’eri in southern Israel, a village near Gaza.
A video appears to show Hamas taking a woman hostage near Gaza
IDF names two “main areas of focus”
Hagari says Ofakim in the Negev and Beeri near the Gaza Strip are the “main hotspots” where hostage-taking occurs.
“We are fighting in 22 locations,” he said, without giving further details.
Hagari said the IDF was preparing for a ground attack and “all options are on the table.”
“Hundreds of thousands” of IDF military personnel would be called up, he said.
“A comprehensive mobilization of reserves has begun,” he said. “There are four divisions that we are rushing into Gaza immediately; 31 regular battalions are already stationed in Otef and the south. Tanks are also being brought into the Gaza Strip.”
“The main effort is to kill all the terrorists on the fence, all those who try to return to the Gaza Strip. First we will deal with fires from the air, then also with heavy ground equipment.”