Israel Has Declared War after Unprecedented Hamas Attack

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Hamas gunmen appear to be snatching hostages off the streets of Israel after crossing into the territory on Saturday as the war takes a darker turn and the death toll approaches 300 after less than one day.

Horrifying new footage emerging this afternoon showed women being marched into vehicles full of male fighters, bloodied and bruised, often with their hands bound behind their backs.

Earlier pictures showed Israeli pensioners captured in Israel and taken into the Gaza Strip on golf carts. Other clips showed entire families forced into trucks and being driven off by militants.

At least 1,100 people have been wounded in the conflict in Israel alone, and it's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced his country is 'at war' with the Palestinians militants. Meanwhile Hamas has called for Arab and Islamic nations to join its attack.

Thomas Helm, Jerusalem Correspondent at The National spoke to MailOnline from Jerusalem today. He said the hostage situation set a dangerous tone for how the conflict - which was launched on a Jewish holiday - could develop.

'There are reports that [the Palestinians] have taken an Israeli General hostage, entire families have been taken, point blank killings... wars have been started where one Israeli hostage was taken and now it seems like there could be about 60.

'So it couldn't be worse. Every Israeli I have spoken to, their voices have been quivering.'
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Shocking footage shared on social media appears to show Palestinian fighters parading the naked body of an Israeli woman on the back of a pick-up truck
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The militants have claimed to have taken dozens of soldiers captive, but this does not include the number of civilians who have reportedly been detained.

An Israeli army spokesman says fighting is continuing in 22 locations in southern Israel some 12 hours after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack from the Gaza Strip.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari also said that Israel was striking targets in Gaza from the air and that ground operations were imminent.

Hagari confirmed ongoing hostage situations in the towns of Ofakim and Beeri. Earlier, both the Israeli military and Hamas confirmed that some Israelis had been captured and taken hostage.

Iran have been accused of encouraging the latest round of fighting by sources in government, the Times reports.

A Whitehall source told the paper: 'The Revolutionary Guards have their fingerprints all over this multifaceted attack. Hamas is just another tool in Iran's campaign against the West.'

Videos shared online appear to show Iranians celebrating news of the conflict, with state television airing a clip of Parliament members chanting: 'Palestine will be victorious, Israel will be destroyed.'

Hamas, the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip, claims to have fired 5,000 rockets into Israel today, setting off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, before invading by ground and air, reportedly using paragliders.
 
Palestinians have been seen celebrating after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing at least 70 people - with one proud father hoisting his child onto his shoulders as she waves an assault rifle and a handgun.

In a video believed to have been filmed in the West Bank, men can be heard singing and waving assault rifles in the air as the young girl holds an assault rifle in her left hand and a pistol in her right.

Another video shows Gazan women in headscarves hoisting a rifle over their heads and yelling; unconfirmed reports suggest the gun was seized from a dead Israel Defence Force (IDF) soldier.

In Israel, grim pictures have emerged of civilians crying over the bodies of their loved ones as the country's medical service said 70 Israelis had been killed and at least another 779 had been injured in Hamas airstrikes and gun attacks on Saturday.

Photographs too graphic to publish show the lifeless bodies of Israelis at roadsides and under bus shelters, the walls and ground painted red with their blood.

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An Israeli woman cries over the body of a motorcyclist - understood to be a relative - who was killed by Palestinian armed militants in Sderot, near the Gaza border, on Saturday

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An Israeli soldier stands over the bodies of civilians who were killed by Palestinian militants

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An injured Israeli soldier is brought into Tel Aviv's Surasky Medical Centre following an attack by Palestinian militants on Saturday


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US defense industry companies must be operating at full blast because not only does Ukraine need to be resupplied with armaments but now Israel too. Lots of money to be made.
 
The big issue as usual are the civilian casualties but purposely targeting civilians not going to end well for the terrorists. Usually one sees collateral damage but kidnapping or purposely killing civilians the first day of a war?

The kidnappings in the end are for somekind of negotiation. But for the time being they will probably be purposely used as human shields.
 
Hamas is like a LA street gang, compared to the professional military forces of the IDF. Hamas acts knowing that they cannot possibly defeat the IDF. Their real reason for this type of action is to get more money from the other Arab nations who view Hamas as a proxy fighting force, sticking pins in Israel, provoking a response. Israel does not have to look far outside of their borders, to find groups who want to attack their country. The ordinary people in Palestine, and the West Bank will suffer for the actions of the terrorists who live amongst them. JimB.
 
hollydolly said:
Why has this started again?... I didn't even know this was bubbling up again... anyone know ?
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It's a lot. Here's a timeline: https://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story564.html (thanks, @Chet)

Bottom line is, it's a conflict over territory. And basically, the most accepted narrative is that Palestinians agreed a swatch of land could be the new state of Israel and then after it was all established and recognized, they "changed their minds."

Meanwhile, only complicating matters, Israel allowed Palestinians to have their own separate communities scattered throughout Israel, but they couldn't have their own separate laws, and Palestinians accused Israel of treating the people in these communities like total shyte.
 
Murrmurr said:
It's a lot. Here's a timeline: https://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story564.html (thanks, @Chet)

Bottom line is, it's a conflict over territory. And basically, the most accepted narrative is that Palestinians agreed a swatch of land could be the new state of Israel and then after it was all established and recognized, they "changed their minds."

Meanwhile, only complicating matters, Israel allowed Palestinians to have their own separate communities scattered throughout Israel, but they couldn't have their own separate laws, and Palestinians accused Israel of treating the people in these communities like total shyte.
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thanks for replying to my plaintiff cry for an explanation Frank..(y).however this link only goes to 1949.... I want to know why this has become a war again.. after I thought there has been relative peace for the last couple of years..
 
hollydolly said:
thanks for replying to my plaintiff cry for an explanation Frank..(y).however this link only goes to 1949.... I want to know why this has become a war again.. after I thought there has been relative peace for the last couple of years..
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Ah.

So, Hamas, considered a Palestinian terrorist group (because it is), suddenly started killing and abducting some Israelis a few days ago. Wouldn't be the first time, but it was very sudden, and it was quite a number of Israelis; more than usual in recent times.
 
Murrmurr said:
Ah.

So, Hamas, considered a Palestinian terrorist group (because it is), suddenly started killing and abducting some Israelis a few days ago. Wouldn't be the first time, but it was very sudden, and it was quite a number of Israelis; more than usual in recent times.
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exactly and I want to know why...
 

Who are Hamas?​

Hamas is a Palestinian militant group and the standing authority in Gaza, an exclave on the Mediterranean coast.

The group has controlled the Strip since winning the 2006 parliamentary elections and toppling rival party Fatah in a power struggle during the bloody Battle of Gaza in 2007



At least 118 people were killed and more than 550 wounded during the fighting up to June 15, 2007, as Hamas militants ousted Fatah officials and took power.

In response, Israel imposed a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The conflict brought an end to the 'unity government' administering Gaza and the West Bank, with the Palestinian National Authority overseeing the eastern territory independently.

While the Palestinian National Authority still lays claim to Gaza, the city remains under the control of Hamas.

Hamas - which means 'Islamic Resistance Movement - has both a social service wing, Dawah, and a militant wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (IQB).

The IQB continues to launch attacks in Israel against both combatants and civilians, drawing condemnation from world leaders and rights groups.

In 2009, Human Rights Watch observed that since 2001 'Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza have fired thousands of rockets deliberately or indiscriminately at civilian areas in Israel'.

The organisation noted that locally made Palestinian rockets cannot 'be reliably aimed' and are 'inherently indiscriminate when directed towards densely populated areas'.

'The rocket attacks have also placed civilians in Gaza at risk.

'The unpredictable nature of the crude rockets has meant that rockets have struck areas not only inside Israel but also inside Gaza.'

'Laws-of-war violations by one party to a conflict do not justify violations by another, and reprisal attacks that target civilians are prohibited under any circumstances,' the statement continued.

Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, Israel, the UK and the US have designated Hamas a terrorist organisation.

The group says its most recent operation was in response to the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and increased violence from Israeli settlers.

Hamas maintains that it would accept a truce with Israel if it were to withdraw to the 1967 pre-war borders and allow refugees the right of return to their homeland.
 

History​

Hamas was founded in 1987 at the beginning of a series of protests and riots known as 'the intifada'.

Clashes had broken out in Palestine and Israel after an IDF truck hit a civilian car, killing four Palestinian workers.

While Israel denied the crash was intentional, Palestinian groups believed the incident was coordinated, with rising tensions overspilling into violence.

Hamas was formed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist organisation founded in Egypt some 50 years prior with designs to create a state under sharia law.

The Brotherhood's spread has resulted in many different interpretations, with some variation in beliefs and practices.

Really, its ideas gained traction with Israel's victory over an Arab coalition in the 1967 Six Day War. Hamas would emerge as a resistance movement, made distinct from the Brotherhood in its decided willingness to engage in direct conflict with Israel.

The group organised its first suicide bombing in 1993, destroying a bus in the West Bank carrying Israeli soldiers, killing the attacker and a Palestinian who worked nearby.

Hamas steadily refined its techniques and engaged in retaliatory attacks on Israel during periods of conflict. The perceived resistance gained it support from Palestinians in Gaza - though Fatah would remain more popular until the 21st century.

After boycotting the 1996 and 2005 elections, Hamas participated in the 2006 Palestinian legislative election, campaigning on a commitment to stamping out corruption.

The Israeli evacuation of Gaza gave credence to the view Hamas' resistance methods were working, and the group won 76 seats against Fatah's 43.

Since the Battle of Gaza, Hamas has made a number of reconciliation attempts with Fatah, without lasting agreement.

Hamas has relied on external support to keep up its 'resistance' against Israel. It finds a natural ally in Iran, which continues to pump funding into the group.

Proxy groups like Hamas have been a key part of Iran's ambitions to unsettle rivals and project power towards the Mediterranean.

At the end of last year, Arab News reported that Hamas was struggling to maintain the flow of cash as sanctions cut into Iran's ability to provide aid and munitions.
 
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