In Gaza, jubilation for Hamas over unprecedented attack against Israel

A correspondent in Gaza

Oct 7, 2023

3:20 pm: Netanyahu says war will be “long and difficult” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the war against Hamas is expected to take long and will be difficult, but pledged that Israel will prevail. ''The war will be long. It will be difficult. Challenging days are ahead of us. But we will win it [the war],” Netanyahu said. In a short statement to the press, the Israeli premier warned that "the IDF will immediately use all of its power to destroy them (Hamas) and to take revenge with force for — A man walks along a debris-strewn street in Tel Aviv after it was hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023. Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack against Israel, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and sending fighters to kill or abduct people as Israel retaliated with devastating air strikes. — JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — At around 6 a.m. local time on Saturday, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, fired a barrage of rockets from various parts of the Gaza Strip toward Israel with a simultaneous infiltration operation on the ground, during which the Brigades crossed into southern Israel and into the settlements in the Gaza envelope.

The surprise and unprecedented attack followed a series of threats made by prominent Hamas leaders over the past months in response to the repeated violations by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

In a rare public statement, Mohammed Deif, commander of the Brigades, announced the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood with the launching of thousands of rockets toward Israel.

Deif called for expanding the attack to a regional level: “I call on our brothers in the resistance in Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Iraq and Syria to join the resistance in Palestine.”