On Saturday, the army of Israel said that it was fighting Gaza militants who entered Israel by land, sea, and air using paragliders after a barrage of rockets was fired at Israel from the Palestinian enclave.
Army spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters, “It was a combined ground raid which happened through paragliders, through the sea and through the ground.”
He added, “Right now we’re fighting. We’re fighting in certain locations around the Gaza Strip… our forces are now fighting on the ground in Israel.”
Hecht confirmed there were deaths but would not be drawn on details, nor discuss any other reports that numerous Israelis had been captured by Palestinian militants.
Thousands of military reservists are planned to be drawn up for Gaza, as well as northern Israel, near rivals Lebanon and Syria, and the occupied West Bank.
Hecht said, “We’re looking at all arenas… we understand this is something big.”
The head of a regional council for Israeli border areas northeast of the Gaza Strip was killed on Saturday in a firefight with militants from the Palestinian territory, the council said.
At least 2,200 rockets were shot from Gaza by around 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT), the spokesman said, while Hamas militants set the figure at more than 5,000.
Citing the Israeli ambulance service, Israel’s N12 News reported that at least 22 Israelis have been killed in the surprise attack launched by the Palestinian Hamas movement on Saturday.
Israel set a crippling blockade of Gaza in 2007 after Hamas grabbed control and there have been numerous cross-border battles since.
