Palestine Launches Largest Attack On Israel In Years

Palestinian fighters have launched the largest attack on Israel in years, infiltrating areas of southern Israel amid a barrage of more than 2,000 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip that killed at least one woman and injured 15 others, medical workers said.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned Palestinian fighters that they had made a “grave mistake” in launching their attack, which began at 06:30am local time (03:30 GMT) on Saturday and involved barrages of rockets fired from multiple locations in Gaza as well as fighters infiltrating the Israeli border by land, sea and air.

“Citizens of Israel, we are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message from military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Mohammed Deif, a senior Hamas military commander, said earlier that the rocket fire marked the start of “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, and he called on Palestinians everywhere to fight the Israeli occupation.

“We’ve decided to say enough is enough,” Deif said as he urged all Palestinians to confront Israel. “This is the day of the greatest battle to end the last occupation on Earth,” he said in an audio message.

Israel’s military told Israelis living around the Gaza Strip to stay in their homes and warned that Hamas will pay a “heavy price for its actions”.

Israeli media reported that Palestinian fighters had opened fire on passersby in the town of Sderot, in southern Israel, and footage circulating on social media appeared to show uniformed Palestinians engaged in clashes in the border area.

Another video on social media appeared to show a burning Israeli tank surrounded by jubilant Palestinians.

By late Saturday morning, Israeli warplanes had started to pound locations in Gaza – in what the military called “Operation Iron Sword” – and Israeli soldiers were engaged in ground fighting in several locations around the besieged Palestinian enclave.

“Right now we’re fighting. We’re fighting in certain locations around the Gaza Strip … our forces are now fighting on the ground,” Israel’s army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters.

JAZEERA