Israel and the Gaza Strip are at war again on Saturday after the launch of a surprise military offensive by Hamas, which fired thousands of rockets and infiltrated fighters into Israeli territory.
“We are at war, it is not a simple operation or a cycle of violence, but a war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message.
Referring to “a surprise attack” by Hamas, he concluded his speech by asserting: “We are at war and we will win it.”
Residents of Israeli towns and cities around the Gaza Strip spent the morning to the rhythm of anti-aircraft warning sirens which also sounded as far away as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where numerous explosions of rocket interception by the defense anti-aircraft guns were heard.
This war breaks out as Saturday marks the last day of the Jewish holidays of Sukkot in Israel, the country being slow, many pilgrims and tourists having flocked to the country during school holidays.
It also comes fifty years and one day after the start of the Arab-Israeli war of 1973 which resulted in the death of 2,600 Israelis and at least 9,500 dead and missing on the Arab side in three weeks of combat.
In an audio message broadcast by Hamas television, the commander of the armed wing of this movement announced that he had launched the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation against Israel and said he had fired more than “5,000 rockets”.
“We have decided to put an end to all the crimes of the occupation [d’Israël] “, declared Mohammad Deif, leader of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, in this message.
The rocket fire began before 6:30 a.m. local time.
“Send Help”
The Israeli military said Hamas was behind a “combined attack, including rocket fire and terrorist infiltration into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip.”
“Our forces are now fighting on the ground” and the mobilization of thousands of reservists has been approved, said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, spokesman for the Israeli army.
Questioned by Israeli media, residents of areas close to the Gaza Strip demand increased protection from the army.
The Israeli newspaper Times of Israel relays the testimony of a pregnant woman, living in kibbutz Soufa [à quelques kilomètres de la bande de Gaza] : “Send help please.”
Times of Israel quotes her specifying that she is speaking from a secure shelter where she is with her relatives including a child: “They are shooting at our house, they are trying to break down the door of the secure room”.
An AFP journalist noted that at least two wounded people, including an Israeli soldier, had been evacuated from Sderot, one of the closest Israeli communities to the north of the Gaza Strip and that special Israeli units were in place. action in the area.
Since the morning, hundreds of residents of eastern Gaza have fled their homes to move away from the border with Israel, according to an AFP correspondent.
A woman in her sixties was killed as well as a local elected official, on the Israeli side, in the northeast of the Gaza Strip. Fifteen other people were injured in southern Israel, announced Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has launched “a war against the State of Israel,” declared Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, after announcing the recall of reservists.
“Serious error”
“Hamas made a grave mistake this morning by launching a war against the State of Israel,” Israeli soldiers “are fighting the enemy in every location,” Mr. Gallant said in a statement.
The Israeli operation was named “Sabers of Steel,” according to the army.
A rocket fell on the town of Yavne, south of Tel Aviv, where a man was slightly injured by shrapnel, according to Magen David Adom.
Around 11:00 a.m. local time, the army announced it was carrying out its first airstrikes on Gaza in retaliation for the rocket fire.
“Dozens of fighter jets are currently striking targets of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip,” the army said in a statement. AFP journalists in Gaza saw smoke rising from several targeted locations.
In May, Israel launched an offensive against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, triggering a five-day war between the Israeli army, Islamic Jihad and other armed groups in the territory that cost the lives of 34 Palestinians. and an Israeli.
More than a thousand rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, most of them intercepted by the Israeli air defense system. Israel, for its part, had increased airstrikes on the small territory.
Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, had stayed away from this conflict.
Israel has imposed a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas took control.