<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The Israel Defense Forces was engaged in a massive build-up of forces Saturday night, calling up large numbers of reservists and preparing for war as it continued to reel from one of the darkest days in Israel’s history, which saw an unprecedented terrorist assault on the country’s southern communities, with hundreds killed, over 1,500 wounded and apparently dozens abducted by the Hamas terror group.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations in southern Israel, including towns and other 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. Gun battles continued well after nightfall, and terrorists held hostages in standoffs in at least two towns.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The death toll from the day’s events continued to rise by the hour and as of early Sunday morning stood at 300 people, many of them civilians slain in their homes and in the streets, as well as at a large outdoor party targeted by the terrorists.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hospitals were flooded with wounded, with the latest tally at 1,590, some 300 of those seriously injured and 19 in critical condition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After midnight, 18 hours after the coordinated assault began, Israeli security forces were still struggling to clear terrorist cells entrenched within devastated communities. Many civilians were still holed up in their homes, hiding in fear of roving terrorists searching for victims, as troops faced off with hostage-takers in some cases and stormed homes in others, shooting dead the gunmen within.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, a continuous stream of Palestinian photos and videos flooded social media depicting scenes of carnage from within the towns as well as harrowing footage of frightened men, women and children dragged from their homes to an uncertain fate in Gaza. The IDF confirmed that soldiers and civilians had been taken hostage but did not specify a number.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Concurrently, barrages of rockets continued to rain down on southern and central Israel, regularly sending hundreds of thousands of people running to shelters. Several people were wounded by rockets that evaded the Iron Dome defense system and smashed into towns. Some were seriously hurt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The scenes of chaos and suffering and the prolonged failure to gain control of the situation shocked and outraged the nation, and sparked pointed questions and 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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the same time, Israel was in the preliminary stages of a military response its leaders vowed would be unprecedented, with the army carrying out strikes on terror targets across the Strip throughout the day. Gaza health officials said at least 230 were killed there, with hundreds wounded.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The army said four divisions of reservists were being deployed to the Gaza border, joining 35 battalions that were already there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Events ‘never before seen in Israel’</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was at war, as he discussed the potential formation of an emergency government with leaders of the opposition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In an address to the nation at night, the premier vowed to use “all the power” of the IDF to destroy Hamas’s capabilities, and told Gaza’s residents to “get out now.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Calling the day’s events something “never before seen in Israel,” he promised to ensure “it will never happen again.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Hamas wants to murder us all,” Netanyahu said, “murdering children and mothers in their homes, in their beds. It is an enemy that kidnaps elderly people, children, young girls,” an enemy “that massacres and slaughters our civilians, our children, who simply wanted to enjoy the holiday.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Media outlets reported that as night fell, several communities were brought back under Israeli control, while there were ongoing battles in others. A broad assessment of the situation had yet to be published by the military, and it was unclear which communities were still under siege. TTOI</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>