• 370 Palestinians killed; 600 reported dead on Israeli side
• Netanyahu warns of ‘mighty vengeance’ for ‘black day’
• Hezbollah joins fighting amid Tel Aviv’s warning
• Jewish state claims regaining control of some areas

JERUSALEM: Israel terrorised Gaza Strip on Sunday after suffering its biggest attack in decades, when Hamas fighters carried out daring strikes on Israeli towns the previous day, killing 600 and injuring many others.

Israeli air strikes hit housing blocks, tunnels, a mosque and homes of Hamas officials in Gaza, killing more than 370 people, including 20 children, as Prime Minister Benja­min Netanyahu spoke of “mighty vengeance for this black day”.

In a sign the conflict could spread beyond block­­aded Gaza, Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia exchanged artillery and rocket fire.

In southern Israel, Hamas fighters were still battling Israeli forces 36 hours after the surprise, multi-pronged assault of rocket barrages during which they overran army bases and invaded border towns.

Israel’s military, which faced questions after it was caught unawares, claimed on Sunday it had regained control of most entry points along security barriers, killed hundreds of Hamas attackers and taken prisoner many more.

Residents had yet to be given the all-clear in southern Israel to leave shelters where they hid during the Hamas attack. In the city of Sderot, Israeli forces were attempting to demolish a police station that had been seized by the fighters.

“It seems the Israeli forces are trying to bulldoze that building to try and avoid any booby traps. It is not yet clear whether any fighters are left inside,” said Al Jazeera, reporting from West Jerusalem.

“We’re going to be attacking Hamas severely and this is going to be a long, long haul,” an Israeli spokesperson said after Gaza suffered the worst strikes since the Hamas takeover in 2007.

The Israeli military said it had deployed tens of thousands of soldiers around Gaza, a narrow strip that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, and was starting to evacuate all Israelis living around the frontier of the territory.

“This is my fifth war. The war should stop. I don’t want to keep feeling this,” said Qassab Al Attar, a Palestinian wheelchair user in Gaza whose brothers carried him to shelter when Israeli forces shelled their house.

The attack by Hamas represented the biggest and deadliest challenge to Israel since Egypt and Syria launched a sudden assault in 1973 in an effort to reclaim lost territory.

Over 600 people were killed, according to reports by Israeli TV stations. Israel has not released an official toll.

Saudi-Israel normalisation

Analysts said the conflict could undermine US-backed moves towards normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia — a security realignment that could threaten Palestinian hopes of self-determination.

Iran’s other main regional ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fought a war with Israel in 2006 and said its “guns and rockets” stand with Hamas. “We recommend Hezbollah not to come into this and I don’t think they will,” Israel’s army spokesperson said.

Soldiers, civilians among hostages

The debris from Saturday’s attack still lay around southern Israeli towns and border communities on Sunday morning and Israelis were reeling from the sight of bloodied bodies lying on suburban streets, in cars and in their homes.

Palestinian fighters managed to return to Gaza Strip with an unspecified number of hostages, including both soldiers and civilians.

About 30 missing Israelis attending a dance party that was targeted during Saturday’s attack emerged from hiding on Sunday.

The capture of so many Israelis, some filmed being pulled through army checkpoints or driven, bleeding, into Gaza, adds another layer of complication for Netanyahu after previous episodes when hostages were exchanged for many Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas fired more rocket salvoes into Israel on Sunday, with air raid sirens sounding across the south, and the Israeli military said it would combine an evacuation of border areas with a search for more fighters.

Israeli air strikes on Gaza began soon after the Hamas attack and continued overnight and into Sunday, destroying the group’s offices and training camps, but also houses and other buildings.

Gaza’s health ministry said 370 people had been killed and 2,200 wounded in the Israeli strikes.

More than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza have sought refuge in schools run by the United Nations, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency said.

In Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, people searched through the remains of a mosque early on Sunday. “We ended the night prayers and suddenly the mosque was bombed. They terrorised the children, the elderly and women,” said resident Ramez Hneideq.

Escalation

The escalation comes against a backdrop of Israeli aggression in the occupied West Bank.

Conditions in the West Bank have worsened under Netanyahu’s hard-right government with more Israeli raids and assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages. The Palestinian Authority has called for an Arab League meeting.

Peacemaking has been stalled for years and Israeli politics have been convulsed this year by internal wrangles over Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the judiciary.

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-led blockade since 2007, when Hamas seized control of the territory.

“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?”

Across the Middle East, there were demonstrations in support of Hamas, while Iran and Hezbollah praised the attack. 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 surveillance.

The Tel Aviv stock exchange indexes fell six per cent and investors expected the uncertainty to prompt a move into gold and other safe-haven assets.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2023