The Israeli rescue service Zaka says its paramedics removed about 260 bodies from a music festival attended by thousands that came under attack by Hamas.
Video aired on social media and by Israeli news outlets showed dozens of festival goers running through an open field as gunshots rang out. Many hid in nearby fruit orchards or were gunned down as they fled.The Israeli government formally declared war Sunday and gave the green light for "significant military steps" to retaliate against Hamas for its surprise attack, as the military tried to crush fighters still in southern towns and intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Speaking on ABC's "This Week," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as many as 1,000 Hamas fighters were involved in the assault -- a high figure that underscored the extent of planning by the militant group ruling Gaza. The gunmen rampaged for hours, gunning down civilians in towns, along highways and at a techno music festival being held in the desert near Gaza.
In Gaza, the tiny enclave of 2.3 million people sealed off by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade for 16 years since the Hamas takeover, residents feared an intensified onslaught. Israeli strikes flattened a number of residential buildings. Some 74,000 displaced Gazans were staying in 64 shelters, with the number expected to increase. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, said a school sheltering more than 225 people took a direct hit. It did not say where the fire came from.
Israel has carried out major military campaigns over the past four decades in Lebanon and Gaza that it portrayed as wars, but without a formal declaration. Israelis were still reeling from the breadth, ferocity and surprise of the Hamas assault. The group's fighters broke through Israel's security fence surrounding the Gaza Strip early Saturday. Using motorcycles and pickup trucks, even paragliders and speedboats on the coast, they moved into nearby Israeli communities -- as many as 22 locations.
One woman sheltering at an UNWRA school in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood described a panicked flight from her home in the middle of the night. The Israeli military made announcements on loudspeakers telling people to leave. An Egyptian official said Israel sought help from Cairo to ensure the safety of the hostages, and that Egypt's intelligence chief contacted Hamas and the smaller but more radical 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 shadowy leader of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, said the assault, named "Operation Al-Aqsa Storm," was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, the Israeli occupation and a series of recent incidents that have brought Israeli-Palestinian tensions to a fever pitch. Amid attack on Israel, police across Canada monitoring religious centres, say 'no threat at this time'
Police in Canada say they are closely monitoring the situation in Israel and are boosting patrols at religious centres across the country.Food banks across Canada continue to face soaring need this Thanksgiving, with one executive warning that things could quickly get worse.
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