Rockets are fired from Gaza City toward Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images
Rockets are fired from Gaza City toward Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images
TEL AVIV, Israel — In a surprise attack unprecedented in its scale, Gaza militants infiltrated Israel in several locations on Saturday and fired heavy barrages of rockets at central and southern Israel. There are reports of multiple Israeli casualties, including one woman killed by rocket fire in southern Israel.
Israeli media are reporting on scenes of Gaza militants driving into Israel on trucks and carrying out firefights inside Israeli communities. Israeli police have ordered residents of southern Israel to remain in their homes.
The Israeli military declared a “state of war alert” and said it has carried out strikes on neighboring Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to convene his security cabinet.
Residents walk past burnt-out vehicles in Ashkelon following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
Residents walk past burnt-out vehicles in Ashkelon following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
Air raid sirens and booms were heard in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and across central and southern Israel early Saturday morning.
In a statement, top Hamas militant commander Mohammed Deif called for a regional war. He said the attacks were in response to Israeli “desecration” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a reference to Jewish religious ultranationalists who visited the holy site, also revered in Judaism as the Temple Mount, this week during a Jewish holiday.
Israeli protest organizers announced they were canceling Saturday night’s large weekly demonstrations protesting the far-right Israeli government’s efforts to weaken the powers of Israel’s judiciary.
