TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday his country is at war, after hundreds of rockets fired by Hamas terrorists hit Israel today. “Citizens of Israel, we are at war. Not an operation, not an escalation — at war”, Netanyahu said in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“We are at war and we will win”, he asserted in a video statement, according to translation provided by Reuters. “Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known”, he added. The Israeli PM’s statement followed after rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel.
אנחנו במלחמה. pic.twitter.com/XNM3l7fEQH
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 7, 2023
According to the latest reports, at least five people have been killed and over 100 injured in the Hamas rocket fire. The centre and south of Israel came under heavy rocket fire for over 3.5 hours on Saturday morning, The Times of Israel reported.
“Israel is in an emergency” and Yair Lapid would back a “harsh military response” to Hamas’s coordinated attack, a statement from the Opposition’s leader’s office said.
Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant approved the draft of reserve soldiers in accordance with the Isreael Defence Force’s requirements. He further announced a “special security situation” in Israel’s Homefront, within a 0-80 km radius of the Gaza Strip, The Jerusalem Post reported, adding that this further enabled the IDF to provide civilians with safety instructions at “close and relevant sites”.
The daily reported earlier that after a barrage of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel. Following the attack, red alert warning sirens were activated in Tel Aviv, located around 70 km from the Gaza Strip, as well as, Sde Boker, Arad and Dimona in the south. (ANI)