Israel goes to war
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
On Saturday the militant Palestinian group Hamas launched an unprecedented terrorist attack on Israel, killing more than 900 people in Israel and taking up to 130 hostages.
In response, Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, declared war and launched airstrikes killing almost 690 people in Gaza. His defence minister ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, which aid organisations have warned could end up amounting to “war crimes”. Meanwhile, Hamas has threatened to execute a hostage for every Israeli attack on Palestinian homes without “prior warning”.
Our correspondent in Israel explains why all this has happened now – and what the consequences could be.
Mentioned in this episode: You can find a map of the region here.
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Guest: Anshel Pfeffer, Times correspondent in Israel.
Host: Manveen Rana.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It all began early on Saturday morning, so at 6.37 a.m. Saturday morning which was also |
| 0:24.6 | Sinchat Torah which is an important Jewish festival. There was a massive barrage of about 2,000 |
| 0:32.0 | rockets launched from from guys that towards both Southern and Central Israel. |
| 0:37.1 | It was an unprecedented terrorist assault by the militant Palestinian group Hamas. |
| 0:55.3 | That rocket attack was a distraction from what Hamas were carrying out on the ground. |
| 1:07.1 | Young Israelis near the Gaza border had been at a music festival and were still dancing as the sun rose. |
| 1:18.1 | In this video, just before the attack you can see militants on paragliders dotted across the sky. |
| 1:26.1 | Party goers didn't realise what was about to happen as they landed. Hundreds were slaughtered. |
| 1:35.1 | Those who survived ran for their lives. |
| 1:44.1 | While paragliders brought terror from the skies, trucks from Gaza were storming through Israel's defenses. |
| 2:00.1 | They used bulldozers and also explosives to breach the fence and hundreds were hearing as many as a thousand. |
| 2:08.1 | Hamas gunmen streamed into Israel. |
| 2:14.1 | This propaganda footage, released by Hamas, shows the moment the border posts were stormed. |
| 2:21.1 | The fence between Gaza and Israel was blown wide open. |
| 2:27.1 | And they said about attacking Israeli communities, military bases and also just civilians who were out. |
| 2:38.1 | Gunmen were walking through a border town, knocking on front doors, battering them down and taking people away. |
| 2:47.1 | Gun battles broke out on the highway. |
| 2:51.1 | We now know about 900 Israelis who were killed in those few hours. |
| 2:58.1 | Dozens were taken captive and taken into Gaza, including small children, elderly people, women, many civilians and also soldiers. |
| 3:08.1 | And we're currently waiting to hear more about their fate inside Gaza. |
| 3:13.1 | And there were skirmishes going on, I think, until early this morning. |
| 3:22.1 | Israel retaliated by pounding Gaza with airstrikes, killing at least 560 Palestinians. |
... |
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