Israel latest news , Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the country was “at war

 Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the country was “at war” on Saturday, after Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a deadly barrage of rockets and sent gunmen into Israeli territory in a major escalation of the long running conflict between the two sides.

The Israeli military said about 2,200 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel, while armed terror groups infiltrated into Israel by land, sea and air in paragliders. Multiple explosions were heard over Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and in southern Israel – some blasts likely the interceptions of incoming rockets – while air raids sent Israelis pouring into underground shelters.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Hamas had taken “hostages and prisoners of war” but did not give a figure. At least 200 Israelis had been killed and 1,452 have been wounded, according to Israel’s emergency rescue service and health ministry.

Israel responded by launching strikes on what it called Hamas targets in Gaza. The Palestine Tower, a high-rise building which hosts residential apartments and media offices in Gaza City, was hit by an explosion and collapsed, video showed.

The Palestinian health ministry said that 232 Palestinians had been killed and 1,697 injured, but did not say where the deaths occurred or whether the toll included Hamas militants or civilians in Gaza.

Israelis take cover in a bomb shelter as rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip.

Hadas Parush/Reuters

Netanyahu has said operations are already under way to “clear communities that have been infiltrated by terrorists” and that he had also issued a call-up of reservists.

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He also vowed retribution against Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement that runs Gaza, in a televised speech: “What happened today has never been seen in Israel, we will take mighty vengeance for this black day,” Netanyahu said.

“I tell Hamas, you are responsible for the wellbeing of captives, Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel would turn Hamas-associated locations “into islands of ruins.”

“Residents of Gaza: Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere,” he said.

A fresh round of rockets was fired by Gaza militants on Saturday evening, making direct hits on multiple locations inside Israel, including in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli authorities.

In a Telegram post, the armed wing of Hamas — the militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Israel — said it had fired an additional 150 rockets in response to the bombing of the residential tower.

‘The entire system failed’

The surprise assault on Saturday was unprecedented in recent history in its scale and scope, falling on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 War in which Arab states blitzed Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

IDF spokesman Lt Col Richard Hecht said in a briefing that Israeli forces “are fighting on the ground as we speak,” listing multiple locations where fighting was taking place, including several villages, army bases and border crossings.

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Hecht declined to answer repeated questions from journalists about whether the IDF had missed intelligence that the attack was coming.

A former IDF international spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, described the massive surprise attack as a “Pearl Harbor type of moment” for the country.

“The entire system failed. It’s not just one component. It’s the entire defense architecture that evidently failed to provide the necessary defense for Israeli civilians,” he said.

Dubbing the operation “Al-Aqsa Storm,” Hamas military commander Muhammad Al-Deif said in a recorded message that the group had “targeted the enemy positions, airports and military positions with 5,000 rockets” and that the assault on Israel was a response to attacks on women, the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the ongoing siege of Gaza.

“If you have a gun, get it out. This is the time to use it – get out with trucks, cars, axes, today the best and most honorable history starts,” Al-Deif added.

The attacks by Hamas follow one of the deadliest periods in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in nearly two decades. The violence has been driven by frequent Israeli military raids in Palestinian towns and cities, which Israel has said are a necessary response to a rising number of attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis.

They also come at a moment of deep division in Israel, months after the government pushed through a contentious plan to reduce the power of the country’s courts, sparking a social and political crisis. The move this summer also struck a nerve with the military, prompting many reservists – the backbone of Israel’s army – to warn they would not come if called up, to protest the changes to the judicial system. An IDF spokesperson said Saturday that he did not know of any reservists refusing to be called up in the face of the latest attacks.