The Israeli Prime Minister declared this Saturday that Israel is “at war” with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, in his first public intervention after a multiple attack by this Palestinian group in Israeli territory, which has caused at least 22 deaths.
“Citizens of Israel, we are at war. Not in an operation, it is not rounds of combat, it is a war,” said Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video published on his social networks.
“We are at war and we will win it,” he stressed, hours after the start of an attack by Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
According to official Israeli and Palestinian sources, at least 22 people were killed in Israel as a result of the Hamas attack from the Gaza Strip, while four Palestinians were killed in Gaza.
“The fatalities in Israel are at least 22 people,” an Israeli medical source told the Efe agency, while on the Palestinian side, four deaths were reported in Gaza, one of which was a journalist.
The Israeli Prime Minister added that he ordered “first of all, that the military clear the cities where Hamas militants have infiltrated, where shootouts with Israeli soldiers were taking place.”
“This is currently being done. At the same time, I have ordered a broad mobilization of reserves and that we return fire on a magnitude the enemy has never known. The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added.
Israel bombed several Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip from the air, at the beginning of its “Iron Swords” operation, in response to the surprise attack that the Islamic group launched this Saturday morning against Israeli territory, under the name of operation “Storm al-Aqsa”, and which included the launching of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen by land, sea and air into Israeli territory.
Gaza militias continue to fire rockets and air raid sirens have not stopped sounding throughout the morning in cities in southern and central Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem, civilians left the streets deserted, many of them sheltering in “bunkers”, while numerous troops patrolled and thoroughly inspected the streets, parks and parking lots of shopping centers.
Source: TSF
