Over 100 Israelis have died and more than 900 were injured after rockets were fired from Gaza by Hamas militants, Israeli officials said Saturday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 198 were killed in Gaza and at least 1,610 were injured Saturday in retaliatory attacks from Israel.

“We are at war. We will win,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

The Israeli Defense Forces earlier declared “a state of alert for war,” according to a statement issued by the IDF.

“Over the past hour, the Hamas terrorist organization launched massive barrages of rockets from Gaza into Israel, and its terrorist operatives have infiltrated into Israel in a number of different locations in the south,” the IDF said early Saturday.

  • Sheldybear@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Except that these attacks weren’t against the settlers (who are taking land in the west bank), it’s targeting the civilians in South Israel who have lived there for ages. I think the world was expecting to see this violence in the west bank, not gaza.

    • boyi@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      I could be wrong on that. I stand corrected if that’s the case.

      I think the world was expecting to see this violence in the west bank, not gaza.

      Yes, but it’s best to attack where it is least expected. Other than that, it’s open to discussion/speculation. Whatever it is, it is a very well thought and executed plan where they expect great retaliation. One thing, The Hamas don’t trust Fatah, and some pro-Palestin Muslim even regard Fatah as traitor. Maybe the Saudi-Israel normalisation plan got something to do with it? Maybe someone can give their input on these.

      I check Ofakim, one of the affected area.

      In 2010, about one-fifth of the residents were ultra-Orthodox and one third were immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Most of the rest were members and descendants of the founding generation of the immigrants who arrived in the town in the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, there are small communities of Ethiopian Jews and Palestinians originally from the Gaza Strip who were resettled in Israel after collaborating with Israeli authorities.[5][6]

      According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Ofakim had a population of 30,662 in 2019, and the population is growing at a rate of 1.4% a year. The percentage of the share of the Arab Palestinian population of Ofakim is very small and about 0.7%.[1]

      You’re right on that. They population has been there since the 50s.

    • Skates@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      it’s targeting the civilians in South Israel who have lived there for ages

      Not for ages. Only since the country was split into two with no regard for actual Palestinian input on this. There’s been less than 100 years since then. Not enough time to heal, especially when nothing was done to make things right. It’s like telling black people in the US in 1700 “it’s been ages since you’ve been brought here on a boat, just let it go, this is the way things are now”. Very much fuck you & no.

      It seems like a very clear message by Hamas: if you moved into my house by force, you are not a civilian. Get out of my house.