Militants from the Palestinian group Hamas They devastated Israeli cities on Saturdaykilling more than 200 people and escaping with hostages, it was the deadliest day of violence in the Jewish state since the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago.

At least As a result of the terrorist attacks, 1,100 people were injured and clashes that occurred at more than 20 locations in Israel. In the Gaza Strip, health authorities reported more than 230 dead and 1,700 wounded.

“We will take revenge for this dark day”This was stated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Hamas has waged a brutal and vicious war. We will win this war, but the price is too high (…) Hamas wants to kill us all. This is the enemy who kills mothers and children in their homes, in their beds. An enemy who kidnaps old people, children and teenagers,” he added.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said that the assault that began in the Gaza Strip will spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem.

“It was morning defeat and humiliation for our enemy, his soldiers and settlers,” he said. “What happened shows the greatness of our preparation and the weakness of the enemy.”

In the south of Israel, near Gaza, lBodies of Israeli civilians lie scattered on the road in Sderot, among broken glass.

A woman and a man lay dead in the front seats of the car. The military vehicle drove past the bodies of another woman and a man in a pool of blood behind another vehicle.

“I left, I saw piles of terrorist corpses, civilians, cars with shots. A sea of ​​corpses in Sderot, along the road, in other places there are piles of corpses,” said Shlomi from Sderot.

Esther Borohova, who fled a dance rave attacked by gunmen, told Reuters she survived by playing dead in a car after the driver who tried to help her escape was shot at point-blank range.

“I couldn’t move my legs” said Reuters in the hospital. “The soldiers came and took us into the nearby bushes.”

Israeli security forces said there were 21 active firefights with infiltrating attackers and that their navy killed dozens of Palestinians trying to enter the country by sea.

A high-rise tower in the Gaza Strip exploded following an Israeli strike. black smoke and orange flame. Crowds of people carried the bodies of recently killed militants through the streets, wrapped in green Hamas flags.

Gaza health authorities said 232 Palestinians were killed in the airstrikes and more than 1,600 were wounded, taken to decrepit and overcrowded hospitals amid severe shortages of medicine and equipment.

The streets were deserted except for ambulances rushing to the airstrike sites. Israel cut off the electricity, plunging the city into darkness.

Hamas advocates the destruction of Israel. Both sides fought a 10-day war in 2021.

Hamas deputy head Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera that the group was holding a large number of Israeli captives, including high-ranking officials. He claimed that the group had enough captives to force the Jewish state to release all Palestinians from its prisons.

The Jewish State Army has confirmed that Israelis are being held captive in Gaza and that soldiers and officers have died. Military spokesman says Israel may mobilize up to hundreds of thousands of reservists and that he was also prepared for war on his northern front against the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

The attack marked an unprecedented infiltration of an unknown number of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel and was the worst blow to the Jewish state in its conflict with the Palestinians since the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada two decades ago.