Netanyahu says Israel is at war after Hamas launches multi-front assault

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Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel was “at war” after Hamas launched its biggest attack on the country in years, firing a barrage of rockets and sending militants across the border from the Gaza Strip.

In a televised address as Palestinian militants waged gun battles with Israeli forces in multiple locations in southern Israel, the prime minister said he had ordered “an extensive mobilisation of reserves” and that Israel would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known”.

“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added.

The escalation is the most serious bout of violence since Israel and Hamas fought an 11-day war in 2021. It follows weeks of tensions on the border of Gaza, which has been blockaded by Israel and Egypt since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007.

The attack, which took place on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah and appeared to catch the military off-guard, also poses a serious challenge for Netanyahu’s far-right government, which came to power last year with hardliners in important posts pledging to bolster Israeli security.

Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, said the Palestinian militant group had fired more than 5,000 rockets at Israel and called on Palestinians and other Arab states to join the fighting.

Israel’s military said that in a multi-front assault, militants had entered Israel by paragliders, from the sea and via land, and that multiple firefights were taking place near Gaza, including at a military base.

“We’re fighting in certain locations around the Gaza Strip, in the Erez crossing, in Nahal Oz . . . also in the Re’im camp, which is the [Gaza] division headquarters,” said Richard Hecht, a spokesman for Israel’s military.

In response, Israeli jets struck Hamas targets in Gaza and the military said that it was calling up thousands of reservists. Hecht said the military was also watching the situation on Israel’s northern border, from which militants fired rockets at Israel in another flare-up this year.

Israeli paramedics said one woman had been killed by a direct rocket hit and a further 15 people had been injured, including two seriously.

Footage published by Hamas — which it was not immediately possible to verify — appeared to show multiple Israeli casualties. There was no immediate information about casualties in Gaza.

Palestinian media said that militants had taken some Israelis hostage. An Israeli army spokesman said there had been casualties, but could not give a precise figure, and declined to comment on reports of hostage taking.

The rocket fire from Gaza set off warning sirens across the south and centre of Israel, with missiles targeting cities including Tel Aviv and Ashkelon, and the thud of interceptions heard as far north as Jerusalem, a city rarely targeted by missiles from Gaza.

Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group, said it had joined the fighting. The military closed roads around Gaza, ordering people near the coastal enclave to stay inside their shelters.

The fighting caps 18 months of simmering Israeli-Palestinian tensions with outbreaks of violence in both Gaza and the West Bank, which Palestinians seek as the heart of a future state but which Israel has occupied since 1967.

According to the latest UN data, which does not include Saturday’s clashes, Israeli forces have killed 212 Palestinians this year, while Palestinians have killed 30 Israelis.