Women mourn during the funeral of members of the Abu Quta family who were killed in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday — AFP WEST BANK, Oct 08 (BBC/Reuters/AFP): Fifty years on from the Yom Kippur War, which began with a surprise attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria, Palestinian militants have launched a major assault. This too was unexpected, on another Jewish holiday.
Tensions had recently risen in the Gaza Strip, but the conventional wisdom was that neither Hamas, the Islamist group which governs there, nor Israel wanted an escalation. Instead, Hamas had been planning a sophisticated, coordinated operation.
Early on Saturday morning, as an intense barrage of rockets was launched with some reaching as far away as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Palestinian fighters entered southern Israel by sea, land and air.
They have held Israeli towns and army posts under siege for hours, killed many people and taken away an unknown number of Israeli civilians and soldiers to hold as hostages in Gaza.
The awful drama has played out live on social and mainstream media. Thousands of Israelis who had been out for an overnight rave in fields close to Gaza rapidly found themselves under fire. Footage showed partygoers running for their lives.
Hamas attack thrusts Biden
into Mideast crisis
The deadly Hamas militant attack on Israel and the massive retaliation it provoked from Jerusalem have thrust President Joe Biden into a Middle East crisis that risks expanding into a broader conflict and has left him fending off criticism from GOP presidential rivals that his administration's policies led to this moment.
The potential for prolonged and expanding violence could test Biden's leadership on both the world stage and at home as he tries to navigate between demonstrating unflinching support for Israel and fostering a broader peace in the combustible Mideast, where sympathetic militants were quick to loudly praise the action by Hamas.
Lebanon's Hezbollah group welcomed the attack as a response to "Israeli crimes." The group, which holds similar goals as Hamas for the destruction of the Israeli state, said its command was in contact with Hamas about the operation. A senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader also lauded the deadly attack. And Hamas said it was ready for a potentially long fight.
Attack is Palestinian
self-defence: Iran
Iran's foreign ministry said attacks by its ally Hamas on Israel on Saturday were an act of self-defence by Palestinians, and called on Muslim countries to support their rights.
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas took Israel by surprise with the biggest attack in decades by gunmen who killed scores of people and brought hostages back into the Gaza Strip.
"This operation ... is the spontaneous movement of resistance groups and Palestine's oppressed people in defence of their inalienable rights and their natural reaction to the Zionists' warmongering and provocative policies," Iranian state media quoted ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani as saying.
Pope calls for 'peace in
Israel and Palestine'
Pope Francis on Sunday called for "peace in Israel and in Palestine", saying "terrorism and war do not lead to a solution".
As war raged between Israel and Palestinian militants, the pope called for an end to attacks in Israel.
He did not mention the Gaza Strip or the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which launched a massive surprise attack early on Saturday.
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