ByJon Haworth,Nadine El-Bawab,Meredith Deliso,Bill Hutchinson,Melissa Gaffney, and Morgan Winsor
At least 900 people have died and more than 2,500 others have been injured in Israel after the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented incursion from air, land and sea on Saturday, Israeli authorities said.
Hamas fired thousands of rockets toward Israel and an estimated 1,000 fighters crossed into the country from the neighboring Gaza Strip. Israeli officials said at least 100 civilians and soldiers have been taken hostage.
The Israel Defense Forces has since declared “a state of alert for war” and launched retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by neighboring Israel and Egypt since Hamas seized power in 2007.
Palestinian authorities said at least 687 people have died, including at least 140 children and 105 women, from Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip since Saturday, according to Palestinian officials.
The death toll has continued to grow on both sides as Israeli forces strike back at Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
Emergency government
In the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said, “I call on the opposition leaders to immediately establish a national emergency government without preconditions.”
“The people are united, and now the leadership needs to unite,” he said, translated from Hebrew.
Netanyahu said Israel’s strikes on Hamas “have only begun.”
“We have eliminated many hundreds of terrorists and we will not stop there,” he said.
He also said that he is in constant contact with President Joe Biden and thanked the U.S. leader for his words and actions.
He said, “An American aircraft carrier, one of the largest in the world, is on its way to our region.”
Hamas warns it will start killing Israeli hostages
Hamas said the group will start killing Israeli hostages one by one and film the executions unless Israel immediately stops shelling homes in Gaza, or provides warning ahead of attacks.
Israeli officials said at least 100 civilians and soldiers have been taken hostage by Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces said it’s obtained information on every Israeli kidnapped and that it has notified 30 families so far.
ABC News
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