Scores dead in Israel and Gaza after Hamas attack

Bangkok Post Group

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas took Israel by surprise on Saturday with its biggest attack in decades. A sudden assault by gunmen who crossed into Israeli villages killed dozens of people and brought hostages back into the Gaza Strip. - REUTERS

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00:00 Palestinian Islamist group Hamas rampaged through Israeli towns on Saturday, killing

00:07 and capturing scores of civilians and soldiers in their biggest surprise attack in decades.

00:13 The group distributed these videos Saturday from inside an Israeli military camp near

00:18 the border of Gaza.

00:19 Reuters couldn't immediately verify the videos, which display what is said to be bodies of

00:24 Israeli soldiers brought into Gaza by fighters.

00:29 Israel then responded with massive airstrikes deep inside the coastal enclave that led to

00:35 the collapse of buildings, and vowed unprecedented retaliation.

00:40 During a security cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Since

00:48 this morning, the state of Israel has been at war.

00:51 Our first objective is to clear out enemy forces that infiltrated and restore the security

00:57 and quiet to the communities that have been attacked.

01:00 The second objective, at the same time, is to exact an immense price from the enemy within

01:06 the Gaza Strip, too."

01:07 Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault that had begun in Gaza would spread to the

01:12 West Bank and Jerusalem.

01:14 "This was the morning of defeat and humiliation upon our enemy, its soldiers and its settlers,"

01:20 he said, adding, "What happened reveals the greatness of our preparation.

01:25 What happened today reveals the weakness of the enemy."

01:28 In southern Israel near Gaza, bullet holes filled the windshield of a car as bodies were

01:33 found nearby, while rockets lit up the night sky as fighting progressed into the night.

01:39 Hamas said it fired 150 of them toward Tel Aviv in retaliation for the Israeli strike

01:45 that took down a building.

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