Israel Strikes Back at Hamas With Operation ‘Swords of Iron’

The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 198 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 1,600 wounded amid Israeli retaliation following Saturday’s Hamas attack.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it is launching “Operation Swords of Iron” to strike back.

“Dozens of [Israeli military] fighter jets are currently striking a number of targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military said.

On Saturday night, local time, Israel’s infrastructure minister announced that he has ordered the Gaza Strip’s electricity to be cut.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also announced on Saturday night that the IDF intends to destroy locations where Hamas members are said to be hiding. Netanyahu told Palestinian civilians to leave those unspecified locations immediately. The IDF blew up an 11-story building in Gaza City on Saturday, after warning residents to evacuate.

Earlier, Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from air, land and sea, firing thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip early Saturday and killing at least 70 people.

“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address. “Not an ‘operation,’ not a ‘round,’ but at war.”

“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added, saying Israel would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.”

The Israeli military said it had killed hundreds of Palestinian militants in southern communities along the Gaza border since Saturday morning.

The initial attack by Hamas caught Israel off-guard coming on Simchat Torah, a religious holiday and 50 years to the day since the 1973 Mideast war.

Seth Frantzen, Middle East security analyst, told The Daily Beast that “today’s unprecedented attack by Hamas has shattered Israel’s sense of security on the Gaza border.”

“The massive attack showed that Israel was lulled into a false sense of calm and that managing the conflict through precision strikes over the last years has not weakened Hamas. Now Israel faces the difficult choices about going to war while Hamas holds numerous hostages which it has been parading on film all day,” he said.

Hamas launched more than 2,000 rockets toward Israel, according to the Israeli authorities, and claimed to have captured several Israeli soldiers. One resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz told the country’s Channel 12 television station that militants were trying to break into their homes.

Israel’s health ministry said at least 779 wounded have arrived in hospitals so far. At least 198 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Saturday, with 1,610 injured, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said.

Hamas, which rules Gaza, said it was behind the operation it dubbed “Al-Aqsa Flood.”

“Enough is enough,” Mohammed Deif, the leader of the group's military wing, said in a recorded message.

“If you have a gun, get it out. This is the time to use it—get out with trucks, cars, axes. Today the best and most honorable history starts,” he said, according to CNN.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned in a televised address that Hamas had made “a grave mistake” and promised that “the state of Israel will win this war.”

The Israel Defense Forces have released video of what it says are retaliatory airstrikes on Hamas in Gaza.

“Since this morning, the State of Israel has been at war,” Netanyahu said at the beginning of a political-security cabinet meeting. “Our first goal is first of all to cleanse the area of the enemy forces that have infiltrated and restore security and peace to the towns that were attacked. The second goal, at the same time, is to exact a huge price from the enemy, also in the Gaza Strip. The third goal is to fortify other arenas so that no one makes the mistake of joining this war. We are at war, in war you have to keep calm. I call on all citizens of Israel to unite, to achieve our highest goal—victory in the war.”

Hamas fighters have taken hostages in Kibbutz Be’eri in Israel’s south, according to Haaretz. A resident told there told Haaretz that he and his family have been hiding in bomb shelter since Saturday morning.

President Joe Biden issued a statement condemning the “terrorist attacks in Israel,” saying he told Netanyahu that the U.S. stands ready “to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel.”

“Terrorism is never justified. Israel has a right to defend itself and its people. The United States warns against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation. My Administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering,” he said.

Biden added that he and his wife Jill were “keeping in our prayers all of the families who have been hurt by this violence. We are heartbroken by the lives that have been tragically cut short and hope for a swift recovery for all those who have been wounded.”

Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid said Saturday that he is willing to establish an emergency government with Prime Minister Netanyahu to “oversee the difficult, complex and protracted campaign which lies before us.”

“In the current state of emergency, I am right to put aside differences, to establish with him a professional, limited emergency government, which will oversee the difficult, complex and protracted campaign which lies before us,” he said.

The attack comes amid surging violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in the West Bank, which is part of the territories where Palestinians have long tried to establish a state.

Commentators remarked on surprise nature of the attack, which escaped the attention of Israeli intelligence.

Olga Glikstein, a political analyst based in Tel Aviv, said people were shocked by the news. “Everybody is talking about how Netanyahu missed the invasion, where was our security, our intelligence?” she said.

After sleeping through air raid sirens on Friday night, she heard a big boom at 2 p.m. “This is very serious. Iran, Saudi, Turkey and many other players in the Muslim world are suspected of helping Hamas. Israel, which was too relaxed during the Shabbat, is now going to demonstrate a massive retaliation. But the questions to Netanyahu will remain,” she said.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah congratulated Palestinian fighters for the attack, saying the operation was a “decisive response to Israel’s continued occupation and a message to those seeking normalization with Israel.”

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