While a truce had been observed since May, the Israeli Defense Minister accused the Palestinian Islamist movement of having started “a war”.
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The Middle East is on fire again. The armed wing of Palestinian Hamas announced on Saturday October 7 that it had launched the operation “Al-Aqsa flood” against Israel and launched more than 5,000 rockets from the Gaza Strip, which it has controlled since 2007. “We have decided to put an end to all the crimes of the occupation (Israel)”declared the armed wing of the Al-Aqsa Brigades. “Hamas made a serious mistake this morning by starting a war against the State of Israel”Israeli soldiers “are fighting the enemy in every place”, responded Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. According to his services, he approved the recall of the reservists.
>> Follow developments in the Middle East with the launch of a massive Hamas attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Rocket fire from several locations in the Gaza Strip began at dawn and continued into the early morning. A woman in her sixties was killed and 15 other people were injured in southern Israel, announced Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross. The Israeli army, for its part, reported the infiltration of“an unknown number of terrorists” into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. “Residents in areas surrounding the Gaza Strip have been asked to stay at home”adds the army.
Israeli strikes in retaliation
In response, the IDF began carrying out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, AFP journalists in Gaza noted. The Israeli army confirmed in a brief statement that several “dozens (of its) fighter jets (were) currently striking a number of targets” of Hamas in this territory. Hundreds of residents of the northeastern Gaza Strip have fled their homes to move further into the interior of the Gaza Strip.
This operation claimed by Hamas puts an end to a truce generally respected since the end of a five-day war in May. Israel then launched an offensive against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, which cost the lives of 34 Palestinians and one Israeli woman.