🔴 Live: Israel launches retaliatory strikes on Gaza, southern Lebanon after surprise Hamas attack
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🔴 Live: Israel launches retaliatory strikes on Gaza, southern Lebanon after surprise Hamas attack
More than 250 Israelis died in a surprise large-scale attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to reduce the group’s Gaza hideouts to “rubble”. More than 230 Palestinians were killed and 1,700 wounded in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The Israeli army announced early on Sunday that it had carried out retaliatory strikes in Gaza and southern Lebanon. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments on the unfolding situation. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
Issued on: 08/10/2023 – 00:59
Modified: 08/10/2023 – 08:37
8 min
Palestinians inspect a mosque destroyed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 8, 2023. 01:47
Palestinians inspect a mosque destroyed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 8, 2023. © Abu Mustafa Ibraheem, Reuters
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8:36am: Alqassam says its elements are still engaged in fighting inside Isreal
Hamas’s armed wing said on Sunday that its fighters are still engaged in fierce clashes in several sites inside Israel.
The statement by Qassam Brigades said fighting continues in several areas bordering the Gaza Strip including Ofakim, Sderot, Yad Mordechai, Kfar Azza, Be’eri, Yatid and Kissufim.
7:51am: Indonesia calls for an end to Israeli-Palestinian violence
Indonesia, a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause, said on Sunday it was deeply concerned about the escalation of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and called for the violence to end.
“Indonesia is deeply concerned with the escalation of conflict between Palestine and Israel. Indonesia urges the immediate end of violence to avoid further human casualties,” the Indonesian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Indonesia has consistently voiced support for the Palestinian struggle to gain independence.
“The root of the conflict, namely the occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel, must be resolved, in accordance with the parameters agreed upon by the UN,” the statement said.
The world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation has also said it had no interest in opening diplomatic ties with Israel.
7:22am: Hezbollah claims rocket, artillery attack on Israeli-occupied Shebaa farms
The armed group Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a rocket and artillery attack on the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms on Sunday, saying it was “in solidarity” with the Palestinian people.
The group said in a written statement that the attack targeted three posts including a “radar site” in the Shebaa Farms, a slice of land occupied by Israel since 1967 that Lebanon has claimed as its own.
Israel responded on Sunday with artillery fire on southern Lebanon.
7:12am: Israel says at least 26 soldiers have been killed as fighting with Hamas continues
Israel’s military said Sunday at least 26 soldiers have been killed in an unprecedented attack by the Hamas militant group on the country’s south.
The figure is part of a death toll of over 250 people, the deadliest attack against Israelis in decades.
6:57am: Israeli army fires artillery on southern Lebanon
The Israeli army said it fired artillery on southern Lebanon on Sunday in response to a shot from the area.
“Israeli artillery is in the process of striking the area of Lebanon from which a shot was fired,” said a statement, which was issued shortly before 7:30 am (0430 GMT) and did not give any further details about the attack.
5:40am: China says ‘deeply concerned’ over ‘escalation’ of violence between Israel, Palestinians
China said on Sunday it was “deeply concerned” by the weekend’s dramatic escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, urging all sides to show “calm”.
“China is deeply concerned about the current escalation of tension and violence between Palestine and Israel,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said.
Beijing “calls on all parties concerned to remain calm and exercise restraint, cease fire immediately, protect civilians and prevent further deterioration of the situation”, it said.
China said Sunday that “the repeated clashes between Palestine and Israel fully demonstrate that the long-term stagnation of the peace process is unsustainable”.
“The fundamental way out of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict lies in the implementation of the ‘two-state solution’ and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” it added.
4:15am: Israel faces a ‘long and difficult war’, warns Netanyahu
In a televised address Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier declared Israel to be at war, said the military will use all of its strength to destroy military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
But he warned, “This war will take time. It will be difficult.”
“All the places that Hamas hides in, operates from, we will turn them into ruins,” he added.
“Get out of there now,” he told Gaza residents, who have no way to leave the tiny, overcrowded Mediterranean territory of 2.3 million people.
3:58am: Accepting Israeli security demands will not bring peace to region, says Hamas leader in Lebanon
Osama Hamdan, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon, told Reuters that Saturday’s operation should make Arab states realise that accepting Israeli security demands would not bring peace.
“For those who want stability and peace in the region, the starting point must be to end the Israeli occupation,” he said. “Some (Arab states) unfortunately started imagining that Israel could be the gateway for America to defend their security.”
The Hamas attack was praised by Iran and by Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese allies.
1:10am: Israel will cut off supplies to Gaza, says Netanyahu’s office
The Israeli military later released an Arabic-language video warning Gazans to leave their homes in targeted areas of the dense coastal enclave.
In Gaza, much of the population was thrown into darkness after nightfall as electrical supplies from Israel — which supplies almost all the territories’ power — were cut off.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Israel would stop supplying electricity, fuel and goods to Gaza.
Israeli troops were still clashing with Hamas fighters in some parts of southern Israel. In a briefing on social media, an Israeli army spokesperson said the situation was not fully under control.
1:08am: The Republican field is blaming Joe Biden for dealing with Iran after Hamas’ attack on Israel
Former President Donald Trump and other GOP contenders tried to lay blame on the Biden administration after Hamas militants launched the deadliest attack on Israel in decades, citing a $6 billion transfer to Iran that administration officials insisted Saturday had yet to be spent.
“The Hamas terrorist invasion of Israeli territory and the murder of Israeli soldiers today and the brutal murder of citizens is an act of savagery that must and will be crushed,” Trump said at an appearance in Waterloo, Iowa.
Trump, like others, directly blamed the $6 billion — “American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks,” he said in an earlier statement — and argued that, under Biden, the US is perceived as being “weak and ineffective” on the global stage, opening the door to hostility.
“They didn’t have that level of aggression with me. They didn’t have it. This would have never happened with me either,” Trump claimed, adding later in Cedar Rapids that Biden had “betrayed Israel” with the deal.
00:40am: US says ‘too early’ to tell if Iran directly involved in Hamas attack on Israel
A senior White House official said Saturday it was “too early to say” whether Israel’s arch foe Iran was “directly involved” in the large-scale attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
However, there was “no doubt Hamas is funded, equipped and armed by Iran and others,” he added, as the conflict between the two sides escalated to its bloodiest point in decades.
00:35am: US-Israel discussions on military aid ‘very much underway’, says White House official
Talks with Israel on providing US military assistance are “very much underway,” a White House senior official said Saturday, following the surprise large-scale attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The official indicated an announcement by Washington was possible as early as Sunday, but noted that the situation in Congress — where the lower chamber currently lacks a leader — will complicate the matter.
There is “probably is a role for Congress here and without speaker of the House, that is a unique situation we’re going to have to work through,” he said.
FRANCE 24’s Fraser Jackson reports from Washington DC
01:46
00:30am: Saudi FM speaks with Blinken to urge halt to violence in and around Gaza
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has spoken to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to urge a halt to the violence in and around Gaza.
A Saudi Foreign Ministry statement released late Saturday says the two discussed “the necessity of working toward an immediate halt to the escalation.”
Prince Faisal emphasized “the kingdom’s rejection of the targeting of civilians and the need for all sides to respect international humanitarian law.”
The Saudis have been in talks with the White House over potentially forging diplomatic relations with Israel. Those efforts have been thrown into question by the unprecedented incursion into Israel launched by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday.
00:22am: Blinken speaks with Egypt to seek ‘immediate halt’ to Hamas assault
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Saturday with Egypt, a key intermediary between Israel and Hamas, to seek an immediate end to the offensive by the militants, the State Department said.
In a telephone call with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Blinken raised “the urgency in achieving an immediate halt to the appalling assault by Hamas terrorists against Israel,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
00:12am: US says it is working with others to prevent Gaza conflict from spreading
The United States is working with other governments to make sure the crisis does not spread and is contained to Gaza following a deadly Hamas attack in Israel, a senior Biden administration official said on Saturday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said the US did not have any information at the moment to determine that Iran was involved in the “specific” assault in Israel, even though Tehran’s long-standing support for Hamas was well known.
The official said the US was looking closely at the issue.
Key developments from Saturday, October 7
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More than 200 Israelis were killed on Saturday as Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land and sea and catching the country off guard on a major holiday.
At least 232 people have been killed and 1,610 wounded in Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was at “war” with Palestinian militant group Hamas after barrages of rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Saturday.
The total number of Israelis captured by Hamas in a surprise attack on Israeli towns on Saturday was “several times greater” than dozens, a spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas said in a recording aired shortly after midnight on Sunday. The spokesman said those taken captive were spread throughout all areas of the Gaza Strip.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)
