Thousands of rockets have been launched, into israel, from gaza. And dozens of militants appear to have entered southern israel. Heres what we know so far. The Rocket Attacks have struck tel aviv and areas that surround gaza. Air raid sirens also sounded in several other towns. Israels Emergency Services have said at least 22 israelis have been killed with around 545 injured. Thats according to the Israeli Health ministry. Details of the palestinian incursions are unclear, but gunmen have been reported in towns near the gaza border and israelis have been warned to stay inside. There are palestinian reports of Israeli Soldiers being captured. Hamas military commander Mohammad Deif announced the start of the operation in a broadcast on hamas media, calling on palestinians everywhere to fight. Israels military is striking targets in gaza in response. We dont have Casualty Figures yet from the israeli strikes. Lets hear now from simonjones who has an update on the latest. Rockets launched from gaza into israel in a Surprise Attack that started just after dawn. The Palestinian Militant Group hamas claims it launched 5,000 rockets in the space of 20 minutes, some of them long range. Militants are said to have entered israeli territory in a number of different locations. Gunmen on the loose in one town are reported to have opened fire on civilians. Hamas says this is a response to what it describes as israeli violence against palestinians in the west bank. Hamas has called on palestinians everywhere to fight. This is the israeli city of ashkelon, north of gaza. Firefighters have been tackling flames caused by the strikes. Israels Defence Forces telling residents around in the gaza strip to stay inside while the people in southern and central areas must remain next to shelters. It says it is conducting what it calls a situational assessment, promising hamas would face the consequences and responsibility for these events. Israels Prime Minister is preparing to meet his top security officials. In gaza, these pictures are said to show hamas militants with a captured israeli army vehicle. People have begun fleeing their homes as retaliatory strikes are being fired into the gaza strip. A morning that has erupted into violence. Hamas says its operation has only just ordered while israel has declared a state of readiness for war. Simon jones, bbc news. Lets hear from our security correspondent, Frank Gardner. I started by asking him how this was able to happen. I put exactly that question to an Israeli Government official a few minutes ago, and he didnt have an answer. He said, dont know. Some people may have some ideas, but it is coming right at the end of a jewish holiday. This is not the first time that a religious holiday or a jewish holiday has been used to catch the israelis out, by surprise. Yom kippurwar, of course, in 1973, being the most famous one. It is an Intelligence Failure, because israel spends a huge amount of money and effort on trying to know ahead of time what is going on. It has informants, it is supposed to have, inside Militant Groups, inside hezbollah, inside hamas, and yet, seems to be tight with this. They coordinated the Rocket Attacks with the considerable infiltration across the border, getting people across of paragliders, and it may be snuffed out from here, and israel is going to retaliate with massive force, that is a given. They have already launched an operation, but there will be an inquiry into how they were caught off guard. I was just asking my producers for more time with you. One question was how hamas were able to plan this, there is a blockade around the gaza strip, to have any idea what it would have taken to come up with this attack and how hamas managed it . It has been known that they have a large arsenal of rockets, as has hezbollah in lebanon. Theres been a thriving Cottage Industry in gaza in manufacturing these rockets, and the initial barrage, 5000 rockets launched with another 2000 after that, and the initial report was that there was just one israeli woman killed. That is obviously much too low, i think the death toll will be much higher, and it will be significant in gaza as well. Most of these rockets are fairly low powered, but nevertheless there is a lot of them, and they are churned out in cellars and back rooms in gaza, this immensely crowded, very depressing place on the mediterranean where people are largely hemmed in, a huge number of people are hemmed in, mostly. A lot of people turn to militant activities there. It doesnt excuse it, but you have an enormous number of young men, bored, angry and idle, so they get involved in militant activities. The nightmare for israel is this conflict spreads. Remember that Mohammad Deif, who is the spokesperson for hamas, the military wing of hamas, has called on all palestinians to rise up, notjust the gaza strip but in the west bank as well. Then islamicjihad, a Smaller Group of hamas, has said they willjoin in. If hezbollah, and there is no suggestion that this will happen, but if they and lebanon got involved, israel would find itself under attack from two borders. Hezbollah has a very formidable arsenal of weapons, mostly supplied with help from iran. This is a very powerful statement from hamas, some even comparing it to the operation, a Surprise Attack on israel. How does this compare in historical times in terms of what we have seen happening between israel and palestine in the past . You are right in that it is not the first time that israel has been attacked during a national holiday, and i think questions will be asked as to why so many people were off duty, not being on duty and aware of what was about to happen. There is a major difference, the Yom Kippur War was several arab nations deploying the full might of their National Armies and military effort against israel, and initially, in 1973, they really pushed the israelis back. Israel had its back against the wall initially. They were driven right back. It did take them by surprise. Compared to 1967, which was a successful war for israel. The difference here is that these are not National Armies, this is the Palestinian Militants who are fighting israel, and you said earlier, how did they get all stuff in, while there are tunnels going out of gas. Egypt and israel have tried to close them, that they keep being dug. All this will play into the arab street, a bit of a cliche, but general populations in arab countries, a lot of whom have made peace with israel, despite this relatively new Israeli Government has lurched to the right, it is a fairly hard line government with a very uncompromising stance over settlements and land that the palestinians say is theirs and that is settlers say is theirs, and that is one of the reasons that this conflagration has broken out, there is enormous frustration with the growth of israeli settlements. At the same time, this violence is going to end up hurting palestinians in a big way. Some Breaking News from afghanistan. 0thers some Breaking News from afghanistan. Others will say 1a people have been killed and 78 injured in an earthquake in the country, just repeat the news going from afghanistan, 1a people are dead, and 78 people are injured following an earthquake in the country. We go back to our story coming from israel. A widespread attack from the hamas military group on israel. Lets bring you some pictures from gaza city where smoke is rising from israeli air strikes. Dr Dahlia Scheindlin is a political analyst and expert on Israeli Palestinian relations. I asked her for her reaction to todays attacks. My reaction like that of everyone else is it is a complete surprise but not a complete surprise. What is not at all a surprise is that there was an escalation, i would say over the last number of months, all of us have been expecting some sort of an escalation with gaza and hamas because we know from the past there have been five or six operations depending on if you count the smaller or bigger ones and nothing in the political conditions that would have prevented them have changed so we are in an ongoing active Military Conflict and occupation. Gaza has been under siege for 16 years, there is no political process, the Palestinian Leadership has been very undermined and there is a deterioration of the legitimacy of the Palestinian Leadership leaving hamas to conclude that the only way forward is through militancy. There is no surprise on that level but it is a complete surprise as your reporter said, that the scale of operation which is very elaborate and notjust the time it will take to plan less, which i can only imagine would have been at least six months if not more in the planning, but that it would happen under the noses of Israeli Intelligence, this was not as far as we know and we are still waiting for information, everybody seems to have been taken by surprise by the very elaborate multifaceted Multipronged Planning that they were able to do. You mention historic frustrations about the political situation between israel and palestine. But the cost of this is going to be serious for people in gaza because we are already seeing air strikes from the Israeli Government, in previous times, we have seen Ground Incursions by Israeli Forces into gaza. How did hamas make this calculation because it is an audacious attack but the people in gaza will pay the price . I cannot put myself in the mindset of the leaders of hamas, i can say youre absolutely right, there will be a devastating and vast scale of response from israel, anything from massive air strikes, targeted assassinations, to a ground operation, maybe things that we cannot even predict at this point but i will also say there was an enormous price to be paid and that is being paid by the Civilian Population. Everybody in every town in israel and city is in shelters, and experiencing rocket fire, rocket fire directly on tel aviv and the question of which side has more casualties, the body count that we will all inevitably be doing is part of it but the fact is the entire Civilian Population in israel right now is under attack which is unacceptable under any circumstances and, yes, the reverberations will be simply gives israel the excuse for a punishing attack and of course the civilians of gaza will pay the price for this. For years to come. What we see after every war in gaza is that israel undertakes usually air campaigns that flattened neighbourhoods, Damage Infrastructure and destroy all the reconstruction from the previous operation. It is a demonic violence leading to more violence on civilians in gaza have it worst but i have no doubt this will reverberate in the west bank. Keep in mind we do not know if this will spread to other fronts, whether to the north, we have lots of anticipation of Military Escalation on the northern border but there could be reverberations in the west bank and the israeli reaction will certainly be very punishing i would say for gaza and probably for palestinians everywhere. As at the same time israelis are now under very devastating attack and it bodes very badly. You mention possible escalations in this conflict, we have heard from islamichhad, another important Militant Group in gaza saying it willjoin this attack. Hezbollah has said it has close contact with the leaders of what it calls the Palestinian Resistance but how concerning these comments from islamichhad and hezbollah, can we see further escalation on the ground . It is extremely concerning the Israeli Security establishment has been running all year of escalations on the response and so i think the moment this began early this morning, the first question was whether other factions join this fight . It would be very easy to rally individual palestinians and we have seen a series of attacks on civilians over the last year but the question of whether these militant factions willjoin and if they do, that would be a very serious escalation, turning this into a multi front war. I guess we have to safely use the word war at this point, the israeli Prime Minister announcing not an operation, but an actual war on hamas and has made that clear so if this turns into a multi front war, of course it is very deeply concerning. It should be very deeply concerning for the other parties because their civilians will suffer from israeli actions. earlier i spoke to professor Yossi Mekelberg who is an associate fellow, at the middle east and north Africa Programme at chatham house. I asked him for his reactions to this mornings events. I think its a difficult morning, no doubt, in israel. And israel was caught sleeping, literally, in this case. And i think both operationally and perceptually, they had the idea that Something Like this wont happen. For months, the assumption in israel, the perception is that since Economic Conditions in israel give money to hamas in gaza, hamas has no interest in breaking the impasse in gaza. But the conditions in gaza are so dire for many years, and its the biggest open air prison in the world. Now, obviously, nojustifying whats happening today. And, you know, its a rolling event and it seems to be that there were civilian casualties and also possibly hostage situation, but i think we always need to look into the political situation and what the lack of any hope and political horizon that leads also to violence. And what do you think the israeli response is going to look like . Because, as we mentioned there, israels Defence Minister talking about the fact that hamas has made a grave mistake. You know, weve seen the israeli army reacting to previous strikes, obviously carrying out their own air strikes in gaza, invasions into gaza. What do you think they would do on this occasion . Well, i think always this was the expectation to achieve, from a hamas point of view, even at this stage, it would be regarded as a success because its, as some of the previous speakers today said, you know, this is unprecedented, their ability to attack from the sea, from air and on the ground, and having troops inside israeli cities and villages, they will see this psychologically, and to a degree militarily, a success. But they might also be victims of this success because israel cant afford to let them be success, and as a result, i can only see a massive retaliation from israel and trying to reestablish what they see as their deterrence vis a vis hamas and islamichhad. Also looking at whats happening in the northern border, whether hezbollah in lebanon might might be tempted tojoin in. So, the unfortunate result of it is more bloodshed. I can also assume from the reaction that they see what the renewal from the United States, that if there is such a massive retaliation from israeli point of view, first pushing the hamas militants back to gaza and then attacking already in gaza, they will allow israel quite a few days to to use as much force as they think is right. And professor, werejust seeing some live images from gaza. You talk about potentially this now becoming maybe a broader conflict, maybe more groupsjoining in. Weve heard from islamichhad, another Group Operating in gaza, saying that they willjoin the call to carry on with this attack. Just explain a bit more about how this could unfold over the next few days. Well, we saw a few years ago that they think like this if they want dynamic, happened when the militants in the West Bank Mightjoin in in eastjerusalem. And we already witnessed something in the mixed cities in israel. And again, its going back to the fact that because there is no political role, because the conditions are only getting worse, and not much attention has been paid. But actually, this kind of militancy, these kind of clashes between israel and palestinians is taking place on a daily basis in the west bank. And many palestinians are killed and injured in the settler violence. And there is also Palestinian Militants kill israelis. So this is going on while, politically, palestinians dont see any any way to break this deadlock, they see the International Community is turning its back on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. So the potential, while, of course, there are also other forces that get that are interested in seeing that, for instance, iran that supplied weapons to to hamas and islamichhad and also finances to a large extent, also in lebanon. We are talking about 7000 rockets being fired at israel from gaza, and operation bond, c, potentially air as well by us. Israel is known to have one of the strongest Intelligence Services in the world. How did this attack happen and how is it that israel was cut off guard . I am not surprised Thatjeremy Bowen mentioned 1973, that fiasco, there was an Intelligence Failure here, you would expect with the kind of intelligence gathering and analysis intelligence gathering and analysis in the Israeli Security forces at all levels to know especially an operation on this scale, and the border, to be able to be investing huge amount of money to block the border with gaza. I am sure there will be an investigation in the coming days and months, how this happened, but i think a Learning Curve also for israel, there are a lot of reasons why it happened now. Hamas and other palestinian organisations also detect weakness in the israel Political System and society, i dont see any hope, they dont see any hope. But also they dont see any hope. But also they realise they can organise Something Like this under the radar. You mention to the ongoing Political Economic humanitarian situation in gaza as a possible reason as why hamas is carrying out this attack. But for our viewers, they would obviously have seen previous conflict and obviously conflict, wars between israel and hamas, why do you think hamas has chosen to carry out this attack today and really such a wide attack as well . I think it is a combination, the ongoing since, the weakness within this society, the inclination of community is not to do anything to improve their condition, definitely not help the aspiration for self determination, living in this condition of gaza since 2006 under blockade, also the failure of the Palestinian Leadership itself to advance the cause of the palestinians. It is not a coincidence that it happens on a saturday, the jewish coincidence that it happens on a saturday, thejewish sabbath, also it is a jewish holiday today, who also the Security Forces dont make. We have some live pictures from gaza. Smoke billowing wing over the skies in gaza where the Israeli Military is carrying out air strikes against hamas following this widespread attack by the Militant Group on israel. The latest Casualty Figures we have from israel is that 545 people are injured, 22 are dead, according to israeli officials, we are yet to get confirmed reports of casualties there from the gaza strip. You are watching bbc news. Live Coverage Reporting coming in from our security correspondent Frank Gardner who would have us a little earlier. The Israeli Government officials are telling him a Major Investigation is now under way to find out how Israeli Intelligence failed to see this massive and well coordinated attack by hamas. The official told him this investigation will go on for years. This was a Surprise Attack by the Palestinian Militant Group hamas in gaza on israeli territory and as you can see there, israel reacting by launching air strikes into gaza. We will be following more updates from israel and gaza as we bring you information on casualties as well as security operations. Now the weather with matt taylor. Hello. The weekend has started with some massive weather contrasts. Two weather watcher shots from earlier on. Really sums up those contrasts. Across the south here you can see here in dorset, blue skies overhead. Its going to be a pretty warm day for october. Whereas further north this was the view in glasgow where the rain has been relentless since yesterday evening. This is the cloud thats producing the rain. Its been fed by some warm, moist air coming up from iberia, but also clashing with some colder air coming down from the north. And thats really given the Weather Front a bit of oomph, and thats why the met office have an Amber Weather Warning in place for heavy rain across these areas of scotland. Theres already been lots of travel disruption, flooding, more to come, potential further disruption and landslips as well. Brighter colours just focusing on that area where the heaviest of the rain is into the start of the afternoon. Extensive rain across the rest of scotland, the rest of scotland, but the far north, 0rkney, shetland should stay dry. Not too bad in the hebrides either and turning a little bit dry in the far south later. But for northern ireland, england and wales, well, compared to their 9 to 13 celsius, weve got some spells of hazy sunshine, limited a bit by low cloud around the coast in the west. But we could see temperatures seven, eight degrees above normal, 24 or 25 degrees in southeast england. This evening and overnight, those areas under the Amber Weather Warnings still seeing some further rain, but it does ease its way northwards. Some of the worst of the conditions as we head in towards tomorrow morning. Most of the areas stay dry with some light winds to the southwest. Well see some mist and fog patches, temperatures for most of those staying at around 8 to 14 degrees. So heres the Weather Chart for sunday where the front is still there, still drawing in the warmer air from the south on that western edge of an area of High Pressure. But that rain is going to be most relentless across the north of scotland through tomorrow. Does mean central, southern scotland, a drier, slightly brighter today, but itll still be a few showers around. Maybe the odd one for northern ireland, northern england, but much of northern ireland, england and wales staying dry, a bit more cloudy, especially in eastern areas. But with the sunshine at its strongest across the south, well see temperatures again into the mid 20s. Not as cold a day for scotland. Now as you go through into next week, High Pressure in the south keeps things dry, warm for a time, but a passing area of low pressure midweek will throw Rain Southwards and eastwards or itll be quite windy across the north through the first half of next week. Quite chilly in the breeze towards the end. But further south, the warmth continues for a few days. Thats been cleared away from wednesday onwards. Take care. Live from london. This is bbc news. Israels Prime Minister says his country is at war, after an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Militant Group hamas. Translation citizens of israel, |we are at war, not an operation, | not an escalation, at war. The enemy will pay an unprecedented price. Thousands of rockets are launched from the gaza strip Emergency Services say at least twenty two israelis have been killed. Two palestinians are reported dead. The International Community condemns the violence the United States urging both sides to refrain from retaliation. Hello and welcome. Im catherine byaruhanga. We start in the middle east where israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is at war and will win, after a Surprise Attack by the Palestinian Militant Group, hamas the biggest in years. Thousands of rockets have been launched into israel from gaza. And dozens of militants appear to have entered southern israel. Heres what we know so far. The Rocket Attacks have struck tel aviv and areas that surround gaza. Air raid sirens also sounded in several other towns. Israels Emergency Services have said at least 22 israelis have been killed. The town of ashkelon has seen major explosions
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