<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned of a \u201clong and difficult\u201d war, as fighting with Hamas left hundreds dead on both sides after a surprise attack on Israel<\/a> by the Palestinian group.<\/p>\n The conflict\u2019s bloodiest escalation in decades saw Hamas carry out a massive rocket barrage and ground, air and sea offensive on Saturday that Israel\u2019s army said had killed more than 200 Israelis and wounded 1,000, while soldiers and civilians were taken hostage.<\/p>\n Gaza officials said intense Israeli air strikes on the coastal enclave had brought the Palestinian death toll to at least 256, with nearly 1,788 wounded.<\/p>\n As fighting raged on Sunday, Lebanon\u2019s powerful Hezbollah movement said it had fired \u201clarge numbers of artillery shells and guided missiles\u201d at Israeli positions in a contested border areas \u201cin solidarity\u201d with Hamas.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s army had earlier said it fired artillery on southern Lebanon in response to a shot from the area without identifying the attackers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are embarking on a long and difficult war that was forced on us by a murderous Hamas attack,\u201d Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter, early on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are embarking on a long and difficult war that was forced on us by a murderous Hamas attack,\u201d Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter, early on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first stage is ending at this time by the destruction of the vast majority of the enemy forces that infiltrated our territory.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, we have begun the offensive phase, which will continue with neither limitations nor respite until the objectives are achieved. We will restore security to the citizens of Israel and we will win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Earlier, the premier warned that \u201call the places in which Hamas is based, in this city of evil, all the places Hamas is hiding in, acting from \u2013 we\u2019ll turn them into rubble\u201d.<\/p>\n Overnight Israel battered the Gaza Strip with air strikes as rockets from the blockaded Palestinians territory rained on Israel.<\/p>\n Sunday morning gun still battles raged between Israeli forces and hundreds of Hamas fighters in multiple locations, including at the Sderot police station across the border from Gaza.<\/p>\n Police and Israeli army special forces \u201cneutralised 10 armed terrorists\u201d who were holed up inside the station, a police statement said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, President Arif Alvi said on Sunday morning that \u201cprogress towards peace cannot materialise without condemnation of usurpation and brutalisation of Palestinian rights and people by Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cContinuous annexation of land, illegal settlements, disproportionate reactions and killings. The result is no hope and no progress towards peace. Time has come to move forward in line with UN resolutions. International community can play a big role today towards world peace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said that Pakistan was \u201cdeeply concerned by the escalating hostility in the Middle East and the loss of innocent lives\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe stand in solidarity with Palestinians and call for an immediate end to the violence and oppression by Israeli occupation forces. A viable and sovereign state of Palestine must be established on the basis of pre-1967 borders and UN resolutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Jilani said the international community needed to intervene to \u201cbring an end to the conflict, protect civilians, and work towards a lasting peace in the Middle East\u201d.<\/p>\n As the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting for Sunday, US President Joe Biden voiced \u201crock solid and unwavering\u201d support for the US ally and warned \u201cagainst any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation\u201d.<\/p>\n Biden spoke by phone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to offer US support, with scenes of violence playing out on American news networks. The two leaders have had strained relations but met in New York last month in a show of solidarity.<\/p>\n \u201cI made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the government and people of Israel,\u201d Biden said in a written statement issued after their call.<\/p>\n In his televised remarks later, Biden issued a blunt warning.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael has a right to defend itself and its people \u2014 full stop,\u201d he said. \u201cLet me say this as clearly as I can. This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. The world is watching.\u201d<\/p>\n The United States has been seeking a deal to normalise ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia<\/a>, seen by Israelis as the biggest prize yet in their decades-long quest for Arab recognition. Palestinians fear any such agreement could sell out their dreams of an independent state.<\/p>\n US State Secretary Antony Blinken also spoke to Egypt, a key intermediary between Israel and Hamas about the \u201curgency in achieving an immediate halt\u201d to the fighting, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.<\/p>\n As night fell, the Israeli army said its forces were still engaged in gun battles in a string of Israel locations, in an operation labelled \u201cSwords of Iron\u201d, as reservists were being called up.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are still 22 locations where we are engaging with terrorists that came into Israel, from the sea, from the land and from the air,\u201d said army spokesman Richard Hecht on what he labelled a \u201crobust ground invasion\u201d.<\/p>\n The Israeli army launched air strikes into Gaza later in the night while fighters fired rockets, an AFP<\/em> journalist reported.<\/p>\n Hamas earlier released images of several Israelis taken captive, and another army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, confirmed that soldiers and civilians had been kidnapped.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t give figures about them at the moment,\u201d he said, adding that Hamas would \u201cpay the price\u201d for the attacks. Hecht said there was also a \u201csevere hostage situation\u201d in the Negev desert communities of Beeri and Ofakim east of Gaza.<\/p>\n The group started the multi-pronged attack around 6:30am (0330 GMT) with thousands of rockets aimed as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some bypassing the Iron Dome defence system and hitting buildings.<\/p>\n Hamas fighters \u2014 travelling in ground vehicles, motorised paragliders and boats \u2014 breached Gaza\u2019s security barrier and attacked nearby Israeli towns and military posts, opening fire on residents and passersby.<\/p>\n \u201cSend help, please!\u201d one Israeli woman sheltering with her two-year-old child pleaded as fighters outside opened fire and tried to break into their safe room, Israeli media reported.<\/p>\n Bodies were strewn on the streets of the Israeli town of Sderot near Gaza and inside cars, the windscreens shattered by a hail of bullets.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw many bodies, of terrorists and civilians,\u201d one man told AFP<\/em>, standing beside covered corpses on a road near Gevim Kibbutz in southern Israel. \u201cSo many bodies, so many bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n AFP<\/em> journalists witnessed Palestinian armed men gather around a burning Israeli tank, and others driving a seized Israeli military Humvee vehicle back into Gaza, where they were met by cheering crowds.<\/p>\n Israeli army Major General Ghasan Alyan warned Hamas had \u201copened the gates of hell\u201d.<\/p>\n An AFP<\/em> journalist in Gaza saw clouds of dust from the remains of bombed residential towers which Gaza\u2019s interior ministry said contained 100 apartments.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s military said it had warned residents to evacuate before targeting the multi-storey buildings used by Hamas.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s state-run electricity company cut the power supply to Gaza as army flares lit up the night sky.<\/p>\n The escalation follows months of rising violence, mostly in the occupied West Bank, and tensions around Gaza\u2019s border and at contested holy sites in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n Before Saturday, at least 247 Palestinians, 32 Israelis and two foreigners had been killed this year, including combatants and civilians, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.<\/p>\n Hamas labelled its attack \u201cOperation Al-Aqsa Flood\u201d and called on \u201cresistance fighters in the West Bank\u201d as well as in \u201cArab and Islamic nations\u201d to join the battle.<\/p>\n Its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have fired more than 5,000 rockets, while Hecht said Israel had counted more than 3,000 incoming rockets.<\/p>\n Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said the group was on the \u201cverge of a great victory\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cycle of intifadas (uprisings) and revolutions in the battle to liberate our land and our prisoners languishing in occupation prisons must be completed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said the assault that began in Gaza would spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem. Gazans have lived under an Israeli blockade for 16 years.<\/p>\n In a speech, Haniyeh highlighted threats to Jerusalem\u2019s Al-Aqsa Mosque, the continuation of an Israeli blockade on Gaza, and Israeli normalisation with countries in the region.<\/p>\n \u201cHow many times have we warned you that the Palestinian people have been living in refugee camps for 75 years, and you refuse to recognise the rights of our people?\u201d<\/p>\n Osama Hamdan, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon, told Reuters<\/em> that Saturday\u2019s operation should make Arab states realise that accepting Israeli security demands would not bring peace.<\/p>\n Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera<\/em> that the group was holding a large number of Israeli captives, including senior officials. He said Hamas had enough captives to make Israel free all Palestinians in its jails.<\/p>\n Air raid sirens wailed across southern and central Israel, as well as in Jerusalem. In Tel Aviv, a gaping hole was ripped into a building, with residents boarding a bus to flee to safety.<\/p>\n The conflict sparked major disruption at Tel Aviv airport, where many carriers cancelled flights. Schools will remain closed on Sunday, the start of the week in Israel.<\/p>\n Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, leading to Israel\u2019s crippling blockade of the impoverished enclave of 2.3 million people.<\/p>\n Israel and Hamas have since fought several wars. The last major military exchange, in May, killed 34 Palestinians and one Israeli.<\/p>\n\u2018Time has come to move forward in line with UN resolutions\u2019<\/h2>\n
Israel has a right to defend itself: Biden<\/h2>\n
\u2018So many bodies\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Gates of hell\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Dangerous precipice\u2019<\/h2>\n