Israel awoke in shock on Sunday after Hamas fighters killed hundreds of Israelis and abducted an unknown number of captives into Gaza, setting off a war that risked spreading as Israel struck a Hezbollah militia target in southern Lebanon.
Israeli air strikes battered Gaza overnight, killing more than 300 Palestinians and smashing buildings, tunnels and the houses of Hamas officials, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed “mighty vengeance for this wicked day”.
Palestine militant group, Hamas had earlier launched a fusillade of rockets into Israel.
Nigeria and other countries reacted for and against the attacks. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar said on Saturday that the Nigerian government called for de-escalation and ceasefire between the warring parties.
He said the cycle of violence and retaliation that the current escalation has assumed only serves to perpetuate an unending cycle of pain and suffering for the civilian population that bears the brunt of every conflict.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria, therefore, calls on both sides to exercise restraint, prioritise the safety of civilians and give room for humanitarian considerations.
“We are, therefore, calling for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue”, the Minister said.
Saturday’s Hamas’ launching of a fusillade of rockets into Israel came 50 years after 6th October 1973, Yom Kippur when Arab states led by Syria and Egypt launched surprise attacks on Israel on a day the Jews were observing the holiest day in Judaism. And it came caught Jerusalem totally unawares amidst the festival of Simchat Torah, a day when Jews finish the annual cycle of reading the Torah.
An Israeli military spokesperson said operations were going on in eight areas around Gaza on Sunday, while Al Hadath TV cited the Palestinian Red Crescent as saying 18 people had been killed in Israeli targeting of two homes in Gaza’s Beit Hanoun district.
Palestinian health officials said 20 children were among at least 313 civilians killed. Nearly 2,000 people were wounded, they said.
In the north, Hezbollah said in a statement that it had carried out a rocket and artillery attack on three posts including a “radar site” in the Shebaa Farms, a slice of land occupied by Israel since 1967 that Lebanon claims.
Israel responded with artillery fire on southern Lebanon. There were no reports of casualties.
The escalation comes against a backdrop of surging violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where a Palestinian authority exercises limited self-rule, opposed by Hamas that wants Israel destroyed.
The West Bank has seen stepped-up Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages. Conditions for Palestinians have worsened under Netanyahu’s hard-right government. Peacemaking has been stalled for years.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault that began in Gaza would spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem. Gazans have lived under an Israeli blockade for 16 years.
In a speech, Haniyeh highlighted threats to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, the continuation of an Israeli the blockade on Gaza and Israeli normalization with countries in the region.
“How many times have we warned you that the Palestinian people have been living in refugee camps for 75 years, and you refuse to recognise the rights of our people?”
Bodies of Israeli civilians surrounded by broken glass were strewn across the streets of Sderot in southern Israel near Gaza in the aftermath of Saturday’s assault. The bodies of a man and woman were sprawled across the front seats of a car.
Terrified Israelis, barricaded into safe rooms, recounted their plight by phone on live television.
Senior military officers were among those killed in fighting near Gaza, the Israeli military said.
Netanyahu’s office said his security cabinet had approved steps to destroy the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another militant group, “for many years”, including cutting electricity, fuel supplies and the entry of goods into Gaza.
In Gaza, black smoke, orange flashes and sparks lit the sky from explosions. Israeli drones could be heard overhead.
Western countries, led by the United States, denounced the attack
At the White House, President Joe Biden went on national television to say Israel had the right to defend itself, issuing a blunt warning to Iran and other countries: “This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. The world is watching.”
The United States has been seeking a deal to normalise ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, seen by Israelis as the biggest prize yet in their decades-long quest for Arab recognition. Palestinians fear any such agreement could sell out their dreams of an independent state.
Osama Hamdan, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon, told Reuters that Saturday’s operation should make Arab states realize that accepting Israeli security demands would not bring peace.
Across the Middle East, there were demonstrations in support of Hamas, with Israeli and U.S. flags set on fire and marchers waving Palestinian flags in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Iran and Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese allies, praised the Hamas attack.
Hamas said the attack was driven by what it called escalated Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem and against Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
That Israel was caught completely off guard was lamented as one of the worst intelligence failures in its history, a shock to a nation that boasts of its intensive infiltration and monitoring of militants.
The United Nations Security Council has summoned an emergency meeting of the organisation’s Security Council for today to review the situation.
Source: Reuters
