Reply To Hamas Attack, Israel Attacks Gaza: Death Toll Reaches 1,100 People

Illustration of the impact of the Israeli attack on Gaza, Palestine. (Wikimedia Commons/gloucester2gaza)

JAKARTA - Israel hit Palestinian enclaves in Gaza on Sunday, killing hundreds of people, in retaliation for a Hamas attack that it said killed 700 Israelis and kidnapped dozens more.

Attacks by Hamas fighters in Israeli cities on Saturday have been the deadliest attack on the country since the Egyptian and Syrian attacks in the Yom Kippur War that broke out about 50 years ago.

In response, Israeli airstrikes hit housing, tunnels, mosques and homes of Hamas officials in Gaza, killing more than 400 people, including 20 children, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised.

"The price that the Gaza Strip has to pay will be very heavy and will change the reality from generation to generation," Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza destroyed Hamas offices and training camps, as well as other homes and buildings. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 413 Palestinians, including 78 children, were killed and 2,300 injured since Saturday.

"As a occupation force, Israel has no right or justification to target the helpless civilians in Gaza or elsewhere in Palestine," the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said, condemning "barbarrant campaigns of death and destruction".

In southern Israel on Sunday, Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli security forces more than 24 hours after a shock in the form of rocket attacks and a group of gunmen storming military bases and border towns.

The Israeli military, which faced awkward questions for not being able to thwart the attack, said it had recaptured most of the infiltration points along the security barrier, killing hundreds of attackers and detaining dozens of others. They also said they had deployed tens of thousands of troops around Gaza, and began evacuating Israelis around the border.

In addition, Palestinian fighters are known to have taken dozens of people hostage to Gaza, including soldiers and civilians, children and the elderly. The second Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, said they had detained more than 30 prisoners.

"This is my fifth war. The war must stop. I don't want to keep feeling this," said Qassab al-Attar, a Palestinian in a wheelchair in Gaza who was taken by his brother to a shelter.

Israel has not announced the official death toll, but its media said at least 700 people were killed, including children. Military spokesman Daniel huzi called it "the worst innocent civilian slaughter in Israeli history."

Separately, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the attack would spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem. Gazans have lived under a 16-year Israeli-led blockade since Hamas took control of the region in 2007.

"How many times have we warned you that Palestinians have lived in refugee camps for 75 years, and you refuse to recognize the rights of our people?" said Haniyeh.