Israel caught off-guard in intelligence failure

JERUSALEM, Oct 07 (BBC/AFP/Reuters): At least 40 people have been killed in Israel after a major surprise attack with militants crossing into Israel from Gaza during heavy rocket fire.
Several Israelis have reportedly been taken back to Gaza as hostages. This is a colossal intelligence failure for Israel. The country has one of the most extensive and sophisticated intelligence networks in the Middle East, both domestic and external.
It has informants embedded inside militant groups not just in the Palestinian territories but in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere.
It has, in the past, been able to assassinate militant leaders either with precision drone strikes or even booby-trapped mobile phones. And yet today, at the end of a Jewish holiday, it appears to have been caught asleep at the wheel.
Hamas has been able to plan and launch this carefully coordinated assault on Israel seemingly in total secrecy. That Israel will retaliate with massive force is a given. But Israelis will now be asking why their nation's spies failed to see this coming and warn the country accordingly.
India stands 'in solidarity with
Israel' after attacks: Modi
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday that his country stood "in solidarity with Israel" after attacks launched by Gaza militants earlier in the day.
"Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel," Modi wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour."
Russia for 'immediate
ceasefire' in Gaza
Russia's foreign ministry on Saturday called for Israeli and Palestinian forces to stop armed hostilities after attacks launched by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.
"We call on the Palestinian and Israeli sides to immediately ceasefire, renounce violence, show the necessary restraint and-with the help of the international community-establish a negotiation process aimed at establishing a comprehensive, lasting and long-awaited peace," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
UN calls for immediate halt
to violence in Gaza
The United Nation's High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an immediate halt to violence in Gaza after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched its biggest attack on Israel in years.
Volker Tuerk said he was shocked by reports that hundreds of rockets had been fired towards Israel on Saturday and reports that Israeli civilians have been taken hostage.
At least 22 Israelis have been killed in the attack and more than 250 wounded, Israel's ambulance service said, with the figures expected to rise.
Hamas releases video showing
3 men captured by its fighters
Palestinian group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, released a video Saturday showing its fighters had captured three men who were dressed in civilian clothes.
"Scenes of Al-Qassam Brigades capturing a number of enemy soldiers in the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood," said a sentence appearing on a black background at the start of the video.
Signs in Hebrew in the background suggested the footage was filmed on the Israeli side of the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Other videos circulating on social media showed bodies of a number of people in military fatigues as well as dead motorists and passengers on a highway.
None of the footage could immediately be independently verified by AFP.
Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical services said 22 people had been shot dead in the country, after Palestinian militants crossed from the Gaza Strip.
Militants also fired thousands of rockets towards Israel, which hit back with air strikes.