The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has released a video of the events unfolded since Saturday when Hamas militants invaded Israel by land, air and sea. The militants went on a rampage as they indiscriminately fired at civilians and IDF soldiers. The 28-second video shows how Hamas militants invaded Israel and then went on a killing spree. Hundreds of civilians and IDF soldiers were killed by the Palestinian militants. Dozens of Israelis, including women and children, were taken hostage.

On Saturday morning, Israelis woke up to loud sirens as Iran-backed Islamist militant outfit Hamas fired some 5000 rockets towards Israel from the Gaza Strip. However, Israel’s Iron Dom, which is one of the best air-defence systems in the world, detected a majority of them and only a few struck the country.

The rocket barrages caught Israel off guard and as they could understand the situation, hundreds of Hamas militants, armed with assault rifles, invaded from different locations. While some entered in SUVs, motocycles and trucks via Gaza border, others took the aerial route and paraglided into Southern Israel. One group used the sea route and entered the city on boats – similar to the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

Hamas militants were seen roaming in SUVs, trucks and bikes in the video of the attack shared by the IDF. They captured women, girls and children and took them to Gaza. More than 40 IDF soldiers were also killed in the attack and some of them were captured alive.

War in Israel–last 30 hours. dCarXTqg0″>pic.twitter.com/EdCarXTqg0

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 8, 2023

Israel fights back

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war and vowed to exact “might vengeance” for what he called a black day. Netanyahu said that Israel will not rest until every Hamas militant involved in the attack is neutralized. Soon after Netanyahu’s statement, Israeli military launched “Operation Iron Swords” to regain full control of invaded areas and launched retaliatory air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

Giving details about Israel’s counter offensive, IDF said, it carried out several operational activities in Gaza in response to the brutal terrorist offensive against Israel launched by Hamas. At 12:00 am on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, IDF fighter jets struck a concealed launch site and targeted 2 terrorists near it, followed by another air strike on two operational situation rooms located inside mosques, used by Hamas in Gaza.

“Terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israeli territory from the sea and through the security fence were targeted by IDF aircraft. We also struck an operational command center of the Hamas rocket system operatives and an operational command post belonging to the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization,” the IDF said.

7:23 am: We struck 10 Hamas targets, among them, Hamas’ intelligence headquarters and a military compound used by Hamas’ aerial forces.

In parallel, we struck an aerial weapons production site used by the aerial forces belonging to Islamic Jihad, and a building including… pic.twitter.com/KcJDmCAXzr

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 8, 2023

“At 7:23 am (local time) on Sunday, struck 10 Hamas targets, Hamas’ intelligence headquarters and a military compound used by Hamas’ aerial forces were among them. In parallel, we struck an aerial weapons production site used by the aerial forces belonging to Islamic Jihad, and a building including units where the terrorist organization stores weapons and military equipment,” it added.

The IDF also regained control of around 22 areas being held by Palestinian invaders. Fierce fighting was on till the time of writing this report in eight more areas in southern Israeli. The IDF naval soldiers also claimed that have killed five Palestinian militants who were hidden in the Zikim Beach in Israeli territory.