**Live Updates** Hamas Launches Unprecedented Terror Attack on Israel

The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched unprecedented terror attack on Israel, which has included the firing of thousands of rockets onto the Israel and the infiltration of Israeli territory by land, air, and sea. Responding to the surprise attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that the nation is “at war” and the terrorists “will pay a price it has never known before.” Thus far, the attacks in Israel have reportedly left 250 people dead and 1,400 wounded. Hamas claims it has captured Israel Defense Force soldiers and civilians during its assault on Israeli border towns outside Gaza. Israel’s military response–“Operation Sword of Iron”– has led to the deaths of 198 Palestinians and 1,610 people injured.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates. All times eastern.

3:45 P.M. — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues another statement, saying the degree of Hamas’s terror attack on Israel “has never been seen” in the country. 

“What happened today has never been seen in Israel. We will take mighty vengeance for this black day,” Netanyahu says. 

“I tell Hamas, you are responsible for wellbeing of captives. Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them,” the prime minister adds. 

3:30 P.M. — Local Israeli media reports the death toll has risen to 250 in Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, while 1,450 have been wounded. The number of casualties is expect to grow.

2:50 P.M. — President Joe Biden delivers a statement on Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, says the United States “stands with the State of Israel”

“We will make sure that they have the help their citizens need, and they can continue to defend themselves,” the president says. “There is never justification for terrorist attacks.”

2:15 P.M. — Israel’s National Security Council is warning Israelis living abroad to be on the lookout for potential attacks as Hamas continues its deadly assault on Israel.

2:05 P.M. — Hamas has kidnapped an “elderly women with dementia,” during its terror attack on Israel, Sky News, citing Israel television, reports. 

Click here to see a photo of the abduction. 

2:00 P.M. — President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks on the Hamas terror attack on Israel at 2:30 P.M. EST.

1:55 P.M. — Hamas terrorists are once again claiming that the armed wing of Hamas– the Izzedine al Qassam Brigades–has captured numerous Israelis, CNN says.

“We bring good news to our (Palestinian) prisoners and our people that the al Qassam Brigades have dozens of captured (Israeli) officers and soldiers in their hands,” a spokesperson for the group writes in a Telegram post.

“They have been secured in safe places and resistance tunnels,” the spokesperson adds.

1:50 P.M. — An unspecified number of rockets fired by terrorists in Gaza have hit Tel Aviv, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue service announces.

“Following the red alert sirens in the last few minutes, Magen David Adom teams are conducting searches in the areas where rocket hits have been reported,” the organization says, CNN reports.

The number of causalities in the attack is unknown.

1:40 P.M. — The death toll in Israel is rising quickly, according to local reports. 

Via Times of Israel: 

The death toll from the Hamas terror group’s massive attack on Israel rises to more than 200, Hebrew-language media reports say.

The toll is expected to rise higher.

At least 1,100 have been wounded, many seriously.

1:30 P.M. — The latest death toll in Israel hits 150 amid Hamas’s terror attack on the country, according to local media, and 1,104 people have been wounded, according to the Health Ministry.

1:20 P.M. —A former Israel Defense Forces international spokesperson says Hamas’s terror attack on Israel is a “Pearl Harbor type of moment” for the Jewish state.

“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,” Jonathan Conricus said, according to CNN. “This is a Pearl Harbor type of moment for Israel, where there was reality up until today, and then there will be reality after today.”

1:10 P.M. — Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is in Iowa campaigning for president, declares “America stands with Israel.”

“This is what happens when you have a president like Joe Biden who spends the last two and a half years projecting weakness on the world stage,” Pence says, according to the Des Moines Register.

1:10 P.M. —  Sirens and multiple “loud booms” are ringing out in Tel Aviv, according to CNN. It’s unclear if the booms are rockets.

1:02 P.M. — Biden’s State Department makes a social media blunder. More details to come. 

12:30 P.M. — CNN reports that it has authenticated multiple videos appearing to show Hamas terrorists holding Israelis soldiers and civilians hostage

The news outlet reports:

In one of the videos, geolocated by CNN to the neighborhood of Shejaiya in Gaza, a barefoot woman is pulled from the trunk of a Jeep by a gunman and then forced into the backseat of the car. Her face is bleeding, and her wrists appear to be cable-tied behind her back. The jeep also appears to have an Israel Defense Forces license plate, suggesting it may have been stolen and brought into Gaza.

Another video, which appears to show Hamas militants taking multiple Israelis captive, was geolocated by CNN to Be’eri in southern Israel, which is a village close to Gaza.

12:15 P.M. — EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemns Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, saying that the Jewish state has the right to defend itself.  

The bloc “stands in solidarity with Israel which has the right to defend itself in line with international law, in the face of such violent and indiscriminate attacks,”Borrell says. 

12:01 P.M. — A top Hamas official claims the terror organization is prepared for the “worst-case scenario” as Israeli forces respond to the ongoing terror attack launched from Gaza.

“We are ready for the worst-case scenario, including a ground invasion, which will be the best for us to decide the ending of this battle,” Saleh al-Arouri says in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, according to CNN.

11:45 A.M. — Florida Governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis issues a statement condemning Hamas’s terror attack on Israel and criticizes President Joe Biden’s policy toward Iran, a key funder of the Palestinian terror organization. 

“Israel is now under attack by Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists. Iran has helped fund this war against Israel and Joe Biden’s policies that have gone easy on Iran have helped fill their coffers.” Desantis wrote on social media. “We are going to stand with Israel as they root out Hamas and we need to stand up to Iran.”

The Biden administration is said to have recently greenlit an agreement with Iran to pay the terror-support regime $6 billion in exchange for five detained U.S. citizens.

Breitbart News previously reported:

The deal, according to the Associated Press (AP), entailed the Biden administration issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without U.S. sanctions. The money would then be held in Qatar’s central bank for Iran to use, reportedly for the purchase of humanitarian goods.

In addition, the Biden administration agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the U.S.

According to the AP, Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the deal late last week, but Congress was not notified of the deal until Monday, which was also 9/11, the 22nd anniversary of the U.S. suffering terrorist attacks by Islamic fundamentalists.

The deal appears to go against the U.S. policy of not paying countries to release American prisoners so as not to incentivize the behavior.

11:40 A.M. — Yahya Rahim Safavi, who serves as a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, lauds Hamas’s terror attack on Israel. 

“We congratulate the Palestinian fighters,” Safavi says, according to Reuters. “We will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem.”

Rockets are launched by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, in Gaza, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land, and sea and catching the country off-guard on a major holiday. 

In a separate statement, Iran’s foreign ministry is also lauding the attack.

“Today’s operation marked a new page in the field of resistance and armed operations against the occupiers,” spokesman Nasser Kanani says.

“The resistance has so far achieved brilliant victories during this operation, and this is a bright spot in the history of the Palestinian people’s struggle against the Zionists,” he adds.

11:35 A.M. — Israeli police officers rush to evacuate a woman and a child as rockets rain down on the city of Ashkelon. The photo was captured by Tsafrir Abayov of the Associated Press.  

11:29 A.M. — President Joe Biden issues a statement condemning Hamas’s terror attack on Israel.

“The United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, and I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel,” Biden says.

“Israel has a right to defend itself and its people,” the president adds. “My Administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering. My team and I are tracking this situation closely, and I will remain in close touch with Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

Biden has acted frostily towards Netanyahu since the Israeli prime minister returned to power in November. They two world leaders finally met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month. During the sit-down,  Biden  offered a long-awaited White House visit by the year’s end.

11:25 A.M. —  At least 985 people have been hospitalized in connection to Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, according to the Jewish state’s Health Ministry.

SDEROT, ISRAEL – OCTOBER 07: Firefighters respond after a fire broke out in a building as a result of Palestinian factions firing rockets in response to Israeli airstrikes in Sderot, Israel on October 07, 2023. Israeli Army Radio says more than 100 Israelis killed, about 1,000 others injured in latest escalation with Palestinian groups. 

11:19 A.M. — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues another statement outlining Israel’s key objectives in its fight against Hamas. 

“Our first objective is to clear out the hostile forces that infiltrated our territory and restore the security and quiet to the communities that have been attacked,” Netanyahu says. 

“The second objective, at the same time, is to exact an immense price from the enemy, within the Gaza Strip as well,” the prime minister continues. 

“The third objective is to reinforce other fronts so that nobody should mistakenly join this war. We are at war. In war, one needs to be level-headed. I call on all citizens of Israel to unite in order to achieve our highest goal – victory in the war,” he added. 

11:07 A.M. — An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson hopes all Hamas terrorists that infiltrated Israel will be neutralized within the next 24 hours.

“We are very much focused on saving forces, where there is ongoing fighting as we speak and handling these terrorists, hopefully by the end of the day there will be no more live terrorists inside Israel,” Richard Hecht tells CNN.

“We are fully deployed and focused on air coverage to see what is happening, we deployed forces to the infiltration points and again we are slowly securing the area and trying to take care of all these people that came in,” Hecht continues.

Hecht also notes that Israel stands ready to defend itself against possible attacks from Lebanon and Syria.

“We are ready in the north [in] case there is some Palestinian faction, in case they decide to come into it we will be ready, something we are looking at and we are ready for it,” he tells the news outlet.

11:02 A.M. — Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, who serves as Israeli military’s top liaison to the Palestinians, says Hamas has “opened the gates of hell” due to its deadly attack.

Fire and smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land, and sea, killing dozens and stunning the country. 

”I want to say one thing — Hamas has opened the gates of hell into the Gaza Strip. Hamas made the decision, and Hamas will bear the responsibility and pay for its deeds,” Alian says.

10:57 A.M. — President Joe Biden and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone on Saturday, according to CNN.  The Israeli government released a statement revealing that Biden phoned Netanyahu and affirmed his support for the Jewish state in the face of the unprecedented terror attack.

The statement reads: “US President Joe Biden called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and emphasized that the US stands by Israel and fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself. The Prime Minister thanked the US President for his unreserved support and made it clear that a prolonged and powerful campaign would be required in which Israel would win.”

10:46 A.M. — Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirms that terror attacks are still ongoing in 22 locations. Hostage situations are unfolding in Kibbutz Be’eri and the city of Ofakim. Additionally, heavy gun fire between Israel troops and Hamas terrorists have led to multiple injuries, according to the Times of Israel via Channel 12.

10:44 A.M. —Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin says the U.S. will ensure that Israel has the tools to defend itself against Hamas.

“Over the coming days the department of defence will work to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians from indiscriminate violence and terrorism,” Austin stated.

10:38 A.M. — Hamas has taken a number of Israelis as hostages to the Gaza Strip, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces confirms. The spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, also confirms that Israeli Defense Force soldiers have been killed in the terror attack.

Palestinians celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land, and sea and catching the country off-guard on a major holiday. 

“There are hostages and prisoners of war that Hamas took. There are also deaths among IDF soldiers. We don’t have an exact number yet – we are at war” Hagari says.

10:00 A.M. — Former President Donald Trump issues a statement on Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, describing the deadly assault as a “disgrace” and suggests U.S. taxpayer dollars helped contributed to the shocking events.

“Sadly, American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks, which many reports are saying came from the Biden Administration,” Trump said.

“We brought so much peace to the Middle East through the Abraham Accords, only to see Biden whittle it away at a far more rapid pace than anyone thought possible. Here we go again,” the former president continued.

Israel “has every right to defend itself with overwhelming force,” he added.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/10/07/live-updates-hamas-launches-unprecedented-terror-attack-on-israel/