A surprise attack by Hamas on Israel, which combined gunmen breaching security barriers with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza, was launched at dawn during the Jewish high holiday of Simchat Torah.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The attack came 50 years and a day after Egyptian and Syrian forces launched an assault during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in an effort to retrieve territory Israel had taken during a brief conflict in 1967.
This is how it took place:
COVERING ROCKET BARRAGE
* About 6.30am on Saturday, Hamas fired a huge barrage of rockets across southern Israel, with sirens heard as far away as Tel Aviv and Beersheba
Hamas said it had fired 5000 rockets in a first barrage. Israel's military said 2500 rockets were fired
Smoke billowed over residential Israeli areas and people sheltered behind buildings as sirens sounded overhead. At least one woman was reported killed by the rockets
DAWN INFILTRATION
* The barrage served as cover for an unprecedented multi-pronged infiltration of fighters, with the Israeli military saying at 7.40am that Palestinian gunmen had crossed into Israel
Most fighters crossed through breaches in land security barriers separating Gaza and Israel. But at least one was filmed crossing on a powered parachute while a motorboat was filmed heading to Zikim, an Israeli coastal town and military base
Videos issued by Hamas showed fighters breaching the security fences, with the dim light and low sun suggesting it was at around the time of the rocket barrage
One video showed at least six motorbikes with fighters crossing through a hole in a metal security barrier
A photograph released by Hamas showed a bulldozer tearing down a section of security fence
FIGHTING AT ISRAELI MILITARY BASES
* Israel's military said at 10am that Palestinian fighters had penetrated at least three military installations around the frontier - the Erez border crossing, the Zikim base and the Gaza division headquarters at Reim. It said fighting at Erez and Zikim continued
Hamas videos showed fighters running towards a burning building near a high concrete wall with a watchtower and fighters apparently overrunning part of an Israeli military facility and shooting from behind a wall
Several captured Israeli military vehicles were later pictured being driven into Gaza and paraded there
BORDER TOWN RAIDS
* Fighters raided the Israeli border town of Sderot and were reported to be in another border community, Be'eri, and the town of Ofakim 30km east of Gaza, according to Israeli media citing phone calls from residents
A video verified by Reuters showed several gunmen riding the back of a white pick-up truck moving through Sderot
Many residents of southern Israeli towns have fortified areas in their homes that function as bomb shelters and on Saturday they were using them as panic rooms
Israel's military ordered residents to shelter inside, saying on the radio "we will reach you"
By mid morning Israel's police chief Yaacov Shabtai said forces were engaging gunmen in 21 locations and at 1.30 pm the military said troops were still working to clear communities that had been overrun by gunmen
CASUALTIES
A Reuters photographer saw bodies on the streets of Sderot. Israeli news media have reported at least 100 Israelis killed and 800 wounded
Hamas videos and unverified images circulating on social media showed dead civilians, Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters
Israel's foreign ministry said Hamas gunmen had gone house-to-house killing civilians
TAKING CAPTIVES
* Israeli media has reported that gunmen have seized hostages in Ofakim. Islamic Jihad said it was holding several Israeli soldiers captive and Hamas social media accounts showed footage appearing to show captives being taken alive into Gaza
One video showed three young men in vests, shorts and slippers being marched through a security installation with Hebrew writing on the wall. Other videos showed female captives
Another showed fighters dragging at least two Israeli soldiers from a military vehicle
ISRAELI STRIKES
* At 9.45am blasts were heard in central Gaza and Gaza city and at 10am Israel's military representative said the airforce was carrying out strikes in Gaza. Medics in Gaza said dozens of people were killed in the strikes
Australian Associated Press
