A day after Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel with a barrage of rockets and a large-scale ground assault, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Palestinians in Gaza to “leave now” as the death toll on both sides neared 1,000.
The conflict’s worst escalation in decades has claimed more than 600 lives, including that of a key commander, on the Israeli side, the government press office said, while Gaza officials reported at least 370 deaths, with thousands more wounded on each side.
Thousands of Israeli forces were deployed to battle holdout Hamas fighters in the south and the airforce again pounded targets in the Gaza Strip as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a “long and difficult” war ahead.
“We are embarking on a long and difficult war that was forced on us by a murderous Hamas attack,” Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter, early on Sunday.
אנחנו יוצאים למלחמה ארוכה וקשה. המלחמה נכפתה עלינו על ידי מתקפה רצחנית של חמאס.
השלב הראשון מסתיים בשעות אלה על ידי השמדת רוב רובם של כוחות האויב שחדרו לשטחנו.
במקביל התחלנו את המערך ההתקפי והוא יימשך ללא סייג וללא הפוגה – עד להשגת היעדים.
אנחנו נשיב את הביטחון לאזרחי ישראל…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 7, 2023
“I say to the residents of Gaza: Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere,” he said in another post on X.
Gun battles raged in towns and on highways as the Israeli army sought to secure desert regions near the coastal enclave, rescue Israeli hostages and evacuate all areas near Gaza within 24 hours.
“We’ll reach each and every community until we kill every terrorist in Israel,” vowed military spokesman Daniel Hagari, a day after hundreds of Hamas fighters launched their shock offensive and surged into Israel using vehicles, boats and even motorised paragliders.
As fighting raged on Sunday, Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement said it had fired “large numbers of artillery shells and guided missiles” at Israeli positions in a contested border areas “in solidarity” with Hamas, while in Alexandria, two Israeli tourists were shot dead along with their Egyptian guide.
