Israel formally declared a state of war on Sunday as the death toll from an unprecedented Hamas attack a day earlier rose above 600, with the fate of over a hundred people abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip still unclear.
Israeli jets carried out “intense” airstrikes on targets in Gaza Sunday afternoon, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the security cabinet had voted Saturday evening to put the country officially at war, meaning it can carry out “significant military activities.”
Battles were ongoing Sunday in at least three communities near the Gaza border overrun by Hamas gunmen a day earlier, and rocket fire continued to dog Israeli communities as Israel girded for what was expected to be a prolonged campaign against the Gaza-based terror group.
In an assault of shocking breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations in southern Israel on Saturday morning, including towns and smaller communities as far as 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gaza border. In some places, they roamed for hours, gunning down civilians and soldiers as Israel’s military scrambled to muster a response. At the same time, thousands of rockets were fired at towns in the south and center.
The scenes of chaos and suffering and the prolonged failure to gain control of the situation have shocked and outraged the nation, and sparked demands for answers on the many failures of intelligence, deployment and policy that had enabled such a national catastrophe, with hundreds of terrorists flooding civilian communities in armed convoys.
Officials estimated Sunday that over 600 people were killed in the massive assault launched by Hamas terrorists in Israeli communities near Gaza and by the thousands of rockets fired into Israel, making it the bloodiest day in the nation’s history, according to reports.
A spokesperson for ZAKA, a volunteer group that handles human remains after terror attacks and other disasters, told Hebrew media that the death toll rose sharply as Israeli forces cleared Hamas gunmen out of communities along the border and more victims were located.
Israeli forces walk by a burned car and a collapsed building in the southern town of Sderot, October 8, 2023, following an assault by Hamas terrorists. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The Health Ministry said that the number of wounded in hospitals had reached 2,048, including 20 in critical condition and 330 seriously wounded.
In addition to those killed and injured, Hamas gunmen took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive into Gaza after overrunning several military bases and communities.
Social media was filled with horrifying videos of men, women and children being carried into the Strip, many of them appearing to have been abused. There were also videos published of dead Israelis taken, including soldiers, the bodies of some of whom were paraded in the streets.
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday it had established a situation room to focus on putting together accurate information regarding the Israeli hostages held by the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF said the team will compile a “situational picture” for locating the captives, both soldiers and civilians.
“Amid all the complexity and uncertainty, it is necessary to issue reliable messages as quickly as possible. Some families have already received messages about their loved ones,” the IDF said.
Police and the IDF Home Front Command have also established a situation room to identify those killed in the attacks using DNA samples provided by families.
A long line of Israelis with missing relatives snaked outside a police station in central Israel to supply investigators with DNA samples and other means that could help identify their family members.
Writing on X, opposition chief Yair Lapid called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately appoint a coordinator for missing and captive Israelis “so that there will be someone to work with the families.”
An Israeli woman posted a heartfelt plea on social media with a photograph of her 85-year-old grandmother in the hands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Palestinian terrorists kidnap an Israeli civilian, center, later identified as 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, from Kibbutz Kfar Azza into the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
“This is my grandmother, she was captured and taken to Gaza,” wrote Adva Adar on social media. “Her name is Yaffa Adar and she is 85!!”
“My grandmother established the kibbutz with her own hands, believed in Zionism, in this country that has abandoned her, a hostage,” she wrote. “She is apparently thrown somewhere, suffering from severe pain, without medication, without food and without water, dying of fear, alone.
“And no one is talking to us, no one can tell us anything.”
The call echoed the pleas from the families of those missing, many of whom say they have been abandoned by the authorities.
Desperate mother Alin Atias was looking for her daughter Amit Buskila.
“Nobody is helping us,” she said. “Where is the government?”
“I beg the whole country. Help me find my daughter,” she cried. “Benjamin Netanyahu, I am begging you, send helicopters. Find her, I beg you, please.”
Ella Ben Ami said that she believes her father has been kidnapped into Gaza after seeing a photo of him on social media being taken, and has no idea where her mother is.
A photo of the father of Ella Ben-Ami purportedly being kidnapped and taken to Gaza on October 7, 2023. (Used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
The young woman told Channel 12 news that she has not heard any updates from any government or IDF officials.
“We just keep watching the news all day hoping for news,” she said. “It’s horrible, it’s a horrible thought, that we are only finding out information from the news.”
An Egyptian official said Israel had sought help from Cairo to ensure the safety of the hostages, and that Egypt’s intelligence chief had contacted Hamas and the smaller but more radical Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which also took part in the incursion, to seek information. Egypt has often mediated between the two sides in the past.
The official said Palestinian leaders claimed that they don’t yet have a “full picture” of hostages, but said those who were brought into Gaza were taken to “secure locations” across the territory.
“It’s clear that they have a big number — several dozens,” said the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to brief media.
However, the Government Press Office, a body that operates under the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, said Sunday in a Facebook post that the number of hostages in Gaza was over 100.
Meanwhile, over 34 hours after the coordinated assault began, Israeli security forces were still struggling to clear terrorist cells entrenched within devastated communities. There were reports of heavy gun battles between Israeli troops and Palestinian terrorists in the southern town of Magen, close to the border with the Gaza Strip.
According to Hebrew-language media, the Israel Defense Forces also used tanks against the terrorists in the area.
Additionally, gunfights were continuing in Kfar Aza, where there were reports of at least 10 terrorists still holed up.
The military said it was evacuating civilians from towns adjacent to the border with the Gaza Strip, while searching the area for any terrorists who may still be in Israeli territory.
The towns include Nahal Oz, Erez, Nir Am, Mefalsim, Kfar Aza, Gevim, Or Haner, Ibim, Netiv Ha’asara, Yad Mordechai, Karmia, Zikim, Kerem Shalom, Kissufim, Holit, Sufa, Nirim, Nir Oz, Ein Hashlosha, Nir Yitzhak, Be’eri, Magen, Re’im, Sa’ad and Alumim.
“Further evacuations will be carried out according to the assessment of the situation,” the IDF said.
Many civilians were still holed up in their homes, hiding in fear of roving terrorists searching for victims.
IDF troops regain control of Kibbutz Be’eri in Israel on October 8, 2023. (The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
All known hostage situations, which saw Israeli civilians held captive by Hamas gunmen in their towns, were resolved overnight, with army and police forces killing terrorists and rescuing their captives after hours-long standoffs in Sderot, Ofakim and Kibbutz Be’eri, where full IDF control was declared.
On Sunday, security forces “neutralized” a car with Palestinian terrorists on the Route 4 highway that fled northward from Gaza, before veering off into a field close to Ashkelon.
According to Hebrew-language media reports, at least three terrorists were killed. Forces were scanning the area for other potential assailants who may have fled.
Additionally, there was sporadic rocket fire throughout the day, mainly toward communities in the south.
Four people were wounded, one of them critically, in a rocket barrage toward the Sderot area. The municipality said at least six buildings were hit, while the Sdot Negev Regional Council ordered residents to remain in shelters until further notice.
Smoke rises after Israeli air strikes near the border east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, October 8, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
Throughout Sunday, the IDF said it had struck multiple terrorist squads in southern Israel, as well as several sites belonging to the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
The sites targeted by Israeli Air Force fighter jets and drones included headquarters used by the terror groups to manage the fighting.
The Israeli Navy also foiled attempts by terrorists to infiltrate into Israel via the sea, killing dozens of terrorists.
In all, more than 500 sites have been targeted by the IDF since the war began early Saturday. The IDF has said that it has killed more than 400 Palestinian terrorists, both in Israel and in strikes in Gaza. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said the Strip’s death toll was 313.
Michael Bachner contributed to this report.
