Israel declared a state of war this Saturday after Palestinian militias from the Gaza Strip, led by the Islamist movement Hamas, launched a combined operation, launching more than thousands of rockets and infiltrating Israeli territory, in a surprise attack. and unprecedented.
“Citizens of Israel, we are at war. Not in an operation, not in rounds of combat, in a war”warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the land, sea and air attack by Hamas, which caught Israel by surprise.
A group of militiamen from the Al Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, infiltrated several border towns with the strip, where harsh clashes broke out with Israeli troops; They kidnapped soldiers and civilians, stole an Israeli military armored vehicle and have even demolished part of the separation fence between Israel and Gaza with backhoes.
What happened?
The Palestinian attack began around 6:30 am local time (10:30 pm Friday in Colombia) and by noon, some sixty militants were still in at least 14 different points in Israel undertaking this vast attack, which caught the Palestinians by surprise. country and which includes the kidnapping of Israelis, according to Hamas.
Is about an unprecedented aggression in Israel, not only due to its combined nature, but also due to the number of rockets launched -2,200 according to Israel but 5,000 according to Hamas- and by the number of militiamen who managed to infiltrate Israeli territory, by land, by sea and by air, through the use of paragliders.
The enemy does not yet know the results of this battle.
The Al Qasam Brigades claimed to have kidnapped the bodies of several Israeli soldiers killed and wounded in clashes on the border; in addition to holding captive several Israeli civilians, captured during their land incursion into Israel, whose authorities have not commented on the matter.
Hamas militants also claim to have taken control of the Erez border crossing, as well as the prison in the nearby city of Ashkelon, where they freed Palestinian prisoners.
“The enemy still does not know the results of this battle,” Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida warned in a televised intervention, urging the rest of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel “to fight” so that “the Zionist enemy collapses before the resistance”.
How did Israel respond?
In response to this multiple attack, which included the launching of thousands of projectiles, Israel responded with air strikes on several Hamas facilities in Gaza, as the start of Operation “Iron Swords”in response to the surprise attack by the Islamist group, an offensive that they have baptized as “Al Aqsa Storm” and to which the Islamic Jihad has also joined.
“In the last few hours, dozens of Israeli warplanes attacked 17 military complexes and 4 operational command centers belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip,” the Army reported, although a much stronger response from Israel is still expected. in the face of the magnitude and scope of Palestinian aggression in the middle of Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest.
“We are fighting at several points around the Gaza Strip,” clarified Israeli Army spokesman Richard Hecht, including the Erez border crossing, the kibbutzim near the enclave of Nahal Oz and Magen; as well as the Israeli military bases of Zikim and Kfar Aza.
Hecht also confirmed that the Army is recruiting thousands of reservists for what is expected to be an intense war, as Israel does not rule out that conflict scenarios may multiply in the West Bank or the northern border, with attacks from southern Lebanon, where Palestinian militias and the Shiite militia Hezbollah operate..
“Our troops are preparing their response and we are tactically dealing with the situation, while our aviation attacks Gaza,” said the Army spokesman, which has also reinforced the battalions deployed around the Palestinian strip.
“They were able to surprise us tactically and cause a lot of damage in terms of casualties. Civilians have been murdered in their homes, in their beds. This is unprecedented. Hamas has never been able to do anything like this,” said Eyal Hulata, national security adviser to the Hamas. previous government (2021-23) and former president of the National Security Council, who believes that eThis episode will leave a strong trauma in the Israeli collective imagination, similar to that of the Yom Kippur war..
The Yom Kippur War, which is now commemorating 50 years, resonates strongly this Saturday in Israel, which faces a new armed conflict on an unprecedented scale with the militias of the Islamist group Hamas that, as in 1973, has Caught by surprise and off guard.
Why is it happening now?
The outbreak occurs at a time of enormous diplomatic sensitivity and a moment of weakness for Israel that Analysts have been warning that its enemies could try to take advantage.
The country is negotiating with the United States and Saudi Arabia a complex three-way agreement in which Washington would offer security guarantees to Riyadh. The Saudis, for their part, would normalize relations with Israel.
Israel has also maintained talks with Türkiye and other countries on gas exports to Europe along with brokers for trade from Asia.
Internally, Israel has been embroiled in political turmoil that has left it vulnerable. Last April, the nation was briefly compromised on three simultaneous fronts – Gaza, Lebanon and Syria – after rockets were launched from those points. Part of the trigger was that Israeli Jews entered the grounds of the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem last week.
“I cannot exclude a war on several fronts that poses a very serious threat to the State of Israel,” Giora Eiland, Israel’s former national security adviser, told a briefing with journalists. Eiland added, however, that Israel prefers to fight one enemy at a time and would not rush to open another front.
Israeli authorities have been claiming for months that Palestinian militant groups, led and financed by Iran, are preparing for violence and that Israel is prepared to fight back. Having said that, The attack on Saturday, a day of rest and a Jewish holiday, clearly caught the country by surprise, increasing the sense of wound that could fuel its response..
What consequences will there be?
For analysts, Netanyahu, in the crosshairs of the weekly anti-government demonstrations, will most likely find a moment of national unity after the attack, which would lead opposition politicians to support a forceful response.
In fact, the protest that was to be held this Saturday against the prime minister was cancelled.
“Citizens of Israel, we are at war,” Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement. “Not in an operation. Not in a back-and-forth. In war.” And he added: “The enemy will pay a price he has never known.”
Yes indeed, The conflict could further affect Israeli financial markets, which have been rocked this year by mass protests against a government plan to weaken the power of judges..
The shekel, Israel’s monetary unit, has fallen almost 9% against the dollar, one of the worst results among the major currencies analyzed by Bloombergwhile investment in the Israeli technology sector has plummeted.
Risk in the West Bank?
Part of the Saudi deal is expected to involve Israeli concessions in the West Bank to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and add to the possibility of an independent Palestinian state.
That agreement would be in danger if the latest fighting led Israel to expand its operations to the West Bank.
Saudi Arabia wants American protection guarantees, in part because of its own concerns about Iran. But if it is proven that Iran played a key role in Saturday’s attack on Israel, that could affect those negotiations.
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL
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