Israel launches major airstrikes in Gaza, Netanyahu vows Hamas ‘will pay a price it has never known’

Israel has launched major airstrikes against Gaza in a rapid reaction to surprise attacks by Islamist militants Saturday that left more than 100 Israelis dead and nearly 1,000 injured — as 52 Israelis were taken hostage, according to reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war after a series of rocket attacks on Israel and vowed that Hamas, the rulers of Gaza, “will pay a price it has never known.”

The Israeli military mobilized tens of thousands of reservists and said fighter jets are carrying out air strikes on Hamas sites in Gaza, and that it has already hit 17 Hamas military compounds.

Palestinian officials reported 198 people have been killed in the attacks, and another 1,610 have been wounded.

As the violence raged, Israel Defense Forces confirmed reports that dozens of Israelis had been taken hostage in the Gaza Strip, but would not specify how many, according to the Times of Israel. Reports in Arabic media indicated 52 people had been captured, the outlet said.

Enough hostages, which included Israeli soldiers, were captured in a bid to free Palestinian prisoners, a senior Hamas leader claimed to Al Jazeera.

“We managed to kill and capture many Israeli soldiers. The fighting is still on,” according to the outlet, which spoke to Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas’s political bureau.

The attack on Israel was timed to a major celebratory Jewish holiday, Sichat Torah, and came on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 War in which Arab states bombed the country on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.  

Hamas fighters crossed the perimeter fence between Israel and Gaza just after dawn, and launched thousands of rockets with some reaching as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the BBC reported.

Video footage showed scenes of Israelis slaughtered in their cars in the southern part of the country, and many being led away by Hamas fighters.

Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas terrorist group, released video of the killing and capturing of Israeli soldiers as Hamas forces seized control of an Israeli military base in Erez, according to reports.

A screaming Israeli woman was seen being abducted by Hamas militants who restrained her on a motorcycle, according to a video uploaded to X, formerly Twitter.

The veracity of the footage could not immediately be confirmed.

As rockets slammed into Israel, an all-night party in an area close to the Gaza Strip was thrown into chaos, as hundreds of attendees tried to flee — and gunshots were quickly unleashed into the crowd, the Times of Israel reported.

It’s not clear how the militant gunmen penetrated one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders.

Israeli leaders deployed 669 rescue planes Saturday to rescue those injured in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip, according to reports.

Leaders around the world condemned the brutal Hamas attacks, but also called for calm and restraint as the violence between the two countries escalated.

President Joe Biden spoke to Netanyahu Saturday, offering “all appropriate means of support.”

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has been in touch with his Israeli counterpart, a senior Biden administration official told CNN. Officials at the National Security Council at all levels are reaching out to their counterparts as well, the network reported.

Biden, who last spoke with Netanyahu during a meeting last month, has long supported Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks.

“I condemn the indiscriminate rocket fire by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians. I am in contact with Israeli officials, and fully support Israel’s right to defend itself from such terrorist acts,” wrote the top American diplomat in Israel, Stephanie Hallett, on X.

Mayor Adams — who is currently in Mexico — condemned the attack and said security would be beefed up in the Big Apple.

“New York City has the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel, and we stand side by side with Israel every day — but we do so with extra resolve today in light of Hamas’ unprovoked terrorist attacks directed at the country and its people,” the mayor said. “Today’s attack, coming at the end of what is supposed to be a celebratory time at the end of the Jewish High Holy days, is nothing more than a cowardly action by a terrorist organization seeking to undo that peace and divide us into factions. That won’t happen.”