As the death toll of Israelis killed by invading Hamas terrorists continued to rise, the Israel Defense Forces lashed out at Hamas locations in Gaza.
Late Saturday, the IDF said it attacked two high-rise towers in the Gaza Strip, after attacking two others earlier in the day. All were sites used by Hamas, according to the Times of Israel.
Among Israel’s initial targets was the Palestine Tower, a high-rise building that housed apartments and media offices. It collapsed after being struck, according to CNN.
The casualty figures are expected to rise.
???? Recent bombing by Israel on the centre of Gaza city pic.twitter.com/POobWrtIuE
— Censored Men (@CensoredMen) October 7, 2023
BREAKING: Palestine tower leveled after Israeli strikes in Gaza
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) October 7, 2023
As of about 1 p.m. Sunday in Israel (6 a.m. Eastern time), 350 Israelis were reported dead, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, after attacks that rocked 22 army bases and towns in southern Israel.
The Palestinian health ministry reported 232 Palestinians were killed and 1,697 injured, according to CNN, but did not give a breakdown between fighters and civilians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will take mighty vengeance for this black day,” CNN reported.
“I tell Hamas, you are responsible for the wellbeing of captives, Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them,” Netanyahu said, declaring that Israel would leave Hamas-connected sites “islands of ruins.”
“Residents of Gaza: Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere,” he said, according to CNN.
In a post on the social media platform Telegram, Hamas said it sent more than 150 rockets into Israel Saturday evening, including some that hit locations in Tel Aviv, CNN reported.
BREAKING: The #Palestinian resistance launches hundreds of rockets aimed at Tel Aviv in response to Israel’s bombing of residential buildings in the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/X4q7OEHbdT
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 7, 2023
Former IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus called the Hamas attack a “Pearl Harbor type of moment” for Israel.
“The entire system failed. It’s not just one component. It’s the entire defense architecture that evidently failed to provide the necessary defense for Israeli civilians,” he said, according to CNN.
Early Sunday, Haaretz reported that early Israeli forces attacked mosques in Gaza that were used by Hamas.
Haaretz also reported that air strikes turned back more fighters who tried to enter Israel Saturday night.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.