‘We Are In a War’: Massive Attack On Israel Leaves Many Dead, Reports of Kidnapped Civilians

Israelis awoke on Saturday morning to a massive barrage of rocket fire from Gaza and news that Palestinian gunmen had infiltrated several border communities in the south of the country in an unprecedented attack, which quickly led Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare a state of war in the country.

The shocking attack began in the early hours of the morning and by midday Saturday Israeli media had reported at least 22 Israelis had been killed by the Hamas gunman, who reportedly also went home to home to kidnap civilians. The death toll is expected to rise as gunmen still control villages with civilians in them.

“They just came in again, please send help. There are a lot of homes harmed … My husband is holding the door closed … They are firing rounds of bullets,” a woman identified as Dorin told Israel’s N12 News by phone from a kibbutz near Gaza. Videos of Israelis being kidnapped quickly began to circulate on social media as Hamas took credit for killings and the kidnappings.

“It’s the infiltrations that are the most alarming. We do have reports in the media of soldiers or civilians being kidnapped. We have not confirmed those ourselves. Those are being reported those have been kidnaps from along the border with Gaza or the villages within the area,” CNN’s Hadas Gold reported from Jerusalem as fighting continued on the ground in multiple villages in the south. Gold noted over 2,000 rockets had been fired at Israel by midday Saturday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared Hamas had “launched a war against the State of Israel“. Israeli “troops are fighting against the enemy at every location” Gallant added on Saturday morning.

Netanyahu later in the day vowed immediate retaliation, saying, “Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known. We are in a war and we will win it.”

Watch the full clip above via CNN.