TEL AVIV, Israel — In a deadly surprise attack unprecedented in its scale, Gaza militants infiltrated several Israeli towns and military camps early Saturday and fired more than 2,000 rockets from Gaza toward central and southern Israel, leading to multiple Israeli casualties, the Israeli military said.
Israel’s national rescue service said about 40 Israelis were killed.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 198 Palestinians were killed. Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told NPR the majority of those killed were militants. The Health Ministry also said at least 1,610 Palestinians were wounded.
The Israeli military declared a “state of war alert,” is calling up reservist soldiers and has announced strikes on neighboring Gaza.
“We are at war,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video statement in front of Israel’s military headquarters.
In a statement, top Hamas militant commander Mohammed Deif called for a regional war. He said the attacks were in response to Israeli “desecration” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a reference to Jewish religious ultranationalists who visited the holy site, also revered in Judaism as the Temple Mount, this week during a Jewish holiday. Starting at 6:30 a.m. local time, Palestinian militants in the blockaded Gaza Strip launched a combined offensive on Israel, infiltrating on paragliders, through the Mediterranean Sea and over land, Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters.
Fighting has continued for hours between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen inside at least five southern Israeli communities close to Gaza — the town of Sderot and the kibbutz communities of Nahal Oz, Beeri, Magen and Kfar Aza — as well as two Israeli military camps in the area, Hecht said.
“We understand this is something big,” Hecht said.
The head of a southern Israeli regional council was fatally shot by Palestinian militants in Kfar Aza, a council spokeswoman told Israel’s public broadcaster, and one woman was reportedly killed by rocket fire in southern Israel. There are also unconfirmed reports of Israelis taken hostage inside Gaza.
