Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas:
Mahmoud Abbas, the President of Palestine, said that the Palestinian people have the right to protect themselves against the “terror of settlers and occupation troops,” the official news agency WAFA cited him as saying.
He told at an emergency meeting held in Ramallah with several top officials from the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
Benjamin Netanyahu, the President of Israel, said Israel was at “war” with the Palestinian militant group Hamas following barrages of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Saturday.
“We are at war, not in an operation or in rounds, but at war,” the Israeli leader said in a statement, adding Hamas had launched a “murderous surprise attack” on Israel and its people.
He said, “I have ordered an extensive mobilization of reserves and that we return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known. The enemy will pay an unprecedented price.”