UN, US officials condemn attacks in Israel

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Senior officials at the United Nations and in the United States government have condemned the attacks in Israel.

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, has strongly condemned the multi-front assault against Israel while UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk says he’s shocked and appalled by reports of indiscriminate rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups towards Israel.

Palestinian group Hamas launches attack on Israel

 

High Commissioner Volker Turk has called for an immediate stop to the violence. He says the attack was having a horrific impact on Israeli civilians, expressing deep concern at reports that Israeli civilians had been taken hostage.

He also notes that Israel had responded with airstrikes in the densely populated Gaza Strip, urging it to take all precautions to avoid civilian casualties.

A White House Spokesperson Adrienne Watson condemned what she called the unprovoked attacks by Hamas against Israeli civilians, calling the attacks terrorism.

The United States says it stood firmly with the Government and people of Israel and remains in close contact with Israeli partners.

Israel at war  

Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years on Saturday, killing at least 40 people and wounding hundreds in a surprise assault that combined gunmen crossing into Israel with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza.

Israel said the Iran-backed group had declared war as its army confirmed fighting with militants in several Israeli towns and military bases near Gaza, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate.

“Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known,” he said. “We are in a war and we will win it”.

Israel’s ambulance service said at least 40 Israelis were killed and hundreds wounded in the Hamas attack but the total appeared likely to rise. A Reuters photographer saw multiple bodies lying in streets of the southern town of Sderot.

The Israeli military said it had responded with air strikes into Gaza, where witnesses reported hearing heavy explosions and multiple dead and wounded being carried into hospitals.

Israeli Ambassador to SA Eli Belotserkovsky:

Gaza health officials said 198 Palestinians had been killed in airstrikes as bombardments hit deep into Gaza City, sending clouds of black smoke spiralling into the sky.

Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera that the group is holding a big number of Israeli captives including senior officials.

Hamas said the attack was driven by what it said were Israel’s escalated attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem and against Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

Palestinian Ambassador to SA Hanan Jarrar:

GUNBATTLES IN ISRAELI TOWNS

The attack marked an unprecedented infiltration into Israel by an unknown number of Hamas gunmen crossing from the Gaza Strip, and the heaviest blow for Israel in the conflict with Palestinians since the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada some two decades ago.

Israel and Hamas fought a 10-day war in 2021.

The bloodshed came a day after Israel marked the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war that brought the country to the verge of catastrophic defeat in a surprise attack by Syria and Egypt.

The militant Islamic Jihad group said it had joined the attacks and was holding several Israeli soldiers captive. Hamas footage on its Telegram account showed its fighters pulling Israeli soldiers out of a tank. -Additional reporting by Reuters