More than 700 dead, 2,200 injured and more than 100 kidnapped: this is the sad result after two days of Hamas’s terrorist war against Israel.
Hamas launched “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” on Saturday at 6:34 am, likely the worst attack on Israel since the start of the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago. In 20 minutes, the terrorists fired more than 5,000 rockets. The objective: to overwhelm Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and kill as many people as possible in their beds.
After the barrage of rockets came the killers. Hundreds of Hamas fighters crushed and killed border guards or entered Israel through tunnels, the sea or with the help of paragliders. In settlements such as Sderot and Ofakim, terrorists went door to door and shot civilians indiscriminately.
Massacres and hostage taking on the border with Gaza
Hamas carried out a massacre at a festival near Kibbutz Re’im. Terrorists shot dead more than 260 people who wanted to celebrate the end of the Sukkot festival at the rave.
Israeli soldiers search for terrorists in Sderot.Photo: 1
The Israeli army was surprised by the attack. She still fights with Hamas fighters who barricaded themselves in houses, for example on Sunday night in Sderot. Meter by meter, IDF soldiers must protect settlements in the Gaza Strip. Around 57 of them died in the fighting. Police said they lost 34 officers. Several locations were evacuated as a precaution. It is unclear how many terrorists are still hiding in Israel.
Anyone the terrorists didn’t kill they took to the Gaza Strip. Mothers with babies, elderly women and children are now being used by Hamas as hostages and human shields against IDF airstrikes. She claims to have more than 100 hostages in her possession. The Palestinian terrorist organization “Islamic Jihad” wants to keep another 30 Israelis prisoner.
Attacks on the “Nest of Terror”
During a visit to Ofakim on Sunday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced reactions “that will be remembered for the next 50 years and they (Hamas, editor’s note) will regret what they started.”
“The Gaza Strip will pay a very heavy price that will change reality for generations,” said Gallant. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially declared a state of war.
The IDF has attacked nearly 1,000 targets in the Gaza Strip since Saturday. In Shejaiya alone, a district of Gaza City, the air force dropped around 100 tons of ammunition on 150 Hamas bases on Sunday night. The army described Shejaiya as a “nest of terror” because attacks on Israel were being planned from there. A high-ranking Hamas commander is said to reside there.
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On Sunday, the IDF also destroyed two skyscrapers in Gaza City because it claimed Hamas assets were located there. One of the buildings is the National Islamic Bank, owned by the terrorist group.
In Beit Hanoun, a settlement in northern Gaza, 50 IDF warplanes bombed around 120 sites to protect its citizens and prevent further attacks from Gaza.
According to its own information, the Israeli army killed around 400 terrorists in Israel and the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza says the IDF has killed 413 Palestinians and injured 2,300. These numbers cannot be independently verified.
Hezbollah rockets against Israel
In Lebanon, the terrorist organization Hezbollah, financed by Iran, declared its solidarity with Hamas on Saturday and fired several rockets into northern Israel.
US President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he would transfer several warships to the coast of Israel. The action is intended to prevent foreign powers such as Hezbollah or Iran from intervening further in the conflict.
In addition to the Gaza Strip and northern Israel, riots also occurred in the West Bank. Eleven Palestinians are said to have died, as claimed by the Palestinian Authority. This also cannot be independently verified.
There was also an attack in Egypt, a country neighboring Israel, on Sunday. A police officer shot and killed two Israeli tourists in Alexandria.