Israel mobilizes reservists and declares war readiness after wave of Hamas attacks

The Islamist movement announces the 'Al Aqsa Flood' operation with the launch of hundreds of rockets and an infiltration in Sderot

The attacks in the first hours leave at least five dead and more than 100 injured before the counterattack by the Israeli Army

Israel entered a state of war preparation this Saturday and mobilized its reservists after a wave of rocket attacks, some long-range, launched this morning by the militias of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas from the Gaza Strip, accompanied by an incursion of its troops in Israeli territory, which has left at least five dead and more than 100 injured.

As soon as the attacks begin, the commander of Hamas' military wing, the Ezzedin al Qassam Brigades, Muhamad al Deif, has announced the beginning of the military operation called 'Al Aqsa Flood' in response to the constant "desecration" of the Esplanade of the Mosques by the Israelis as well as months of violence against the Palestinian population in the West Bank.

Regarding the infiltrated Hamas unit, Israeli security sources have limited themselves to pointing out so far that the group had started a shooting confrontation with Israeli forces in the Israeli city of Sderot, in the south of the country, which has left for now an unknown number of victims. Sources from the Islamist movement, reports the 'Jerusalem Post' newspaper, have indicated that at least five Israeli soldiers have been captured but at the moment there is no confirmation from Israel in this regard.

The fighting in Sderot has taken place amid a barrage of Hamas projectiles on a scale rarely seen on Israeli towns, with the simultaneous launching of thousands of rockets - some 5,000 according to the group - that began around 6 a.m. this morning and has been aimed especially at large urban centers as demonstrated by the alarms activated in cities such as Tel Aviv and Beersheba. Jerusalem has also been the scene of an air alert.

Regarding the toll of victims, the Israeli Emergency Services have so far confirmed the death of an Israeli woman in her 70s due to the impact of a rocket in the Gederot Regional Council, in the southern district of Israel, as well as two injuries. severe, six moderate and seven mild.

To this we must add that the mayor of the Bedouin city of Kuseife, in the south of Israel, Abd al Aziz Nasara, has informed the Israeli public broadcaster Kan of four deaths in the town while medical sources from the Soroka medical center, in the city of Beersheba, have confirmed to the Times of Israel that the hospital has received at least 80 wounded, to which another 21 must be added at the Kaplan hospital.

HAMAS CALL TO ARMS

"The enemy has desecrated Al Aqsa and has dared to attack the Mausoleum of the Prophet. They were warned," the Palestinian commander said in a statement collected by the Palestinian news agency Maan, before remembering the "hundreds of martyrs and injured due to the crimes of the occupation".

The commander regrets that Hamas' requests for "humanitarian exchanges" have been rejected and "violations in the West Bank continue every day."

Likewise, and in a portion of his statement collected by 'The Times of Israel', the Hamas commander takes the opportunity to ask Israeli Arabs "to take up arms against Israel," in a part of the message intended for a community devastated by months of extreme violence between their clans while the population lamented the passivity of the Israeli Government in containing this bloodshed.

"Today, the people are recovering the revolution and reviving the March of Return," says Al Daif before urging "the Arabs in Jerusalem and inside Israel, in the Negev and Galilee to set fire to the land under the feet of the occupants".

ISRAELI COUNTERATTACK

In response, the Israeli Army has launched an attack against multiple Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, with no information yet available on its exact extent. The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has already called an emergency meeting for 1:00 p.m. while the country's Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, has assured that "Hamas has made a serious mistake this morning by declaring war on the State of Israel" .

"IDF soldiers are fighting in all infiltration sites against the enemy. The State of Israel will win this war," the minister assured.

The Hamas operation takes place in the middle of the Israeli holiday of Simchat Torah, a celebration of the fundamental book of Judaism, and one day after the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Arab-Israeli war in October 1973, three weeks of fighting known to the Israelis like the Yom Kippur War and by the Arabs like the October War.

On that day, Egypt and Syria launched a two-pronged attack on Israel to regain their territories lost in the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt and the Golan Heights in Syria. The conflict ended with the Camp David Accords and the establishment of Egypt as the first Arab country to normalize its relations with Israel.