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hello and welcome to CNN 10 it's Monday
October 9th thank you for spending part
of your day with us I'm Ki wire and we
start with news that broke over the
weekend on Saturday marking A Dark Day
in the history of Israel the islamist
militant group Hamas launched a surprise
attack on Israel the assault began early
in the morning with Hamas firing
thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip
into neighboring Israel the militants
then entered into Israel broke into
homes and claimed to capture dozens of
Israelis Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
nanyo said Israel is now at war with
Hamas after this deadly and
unprecedented surprise Blitz Israel
Defense Forces or IDF responded with
their own air strikes targeting Hamas
inside the Gaza Strip hundreds on both
sides of the conflict ICT have died from
the attack thousands more have been
injured but those numbers continue to
rise the Gaza Strip is an area that's
only about 25 miles long along the
Mediterranean Sea it's surrounded by
Egypt to its West and Israel to its East
it has been hotly disputed for decades
Hamas is now in control of the territory
but Israel controls most of the access
to and from the Gaza Strip before we
continue with more on this latest
conflict CNN's Nick Robertson explains
the history of Gaza and the tensions in
this
region Gaza is only about 25 M long and
7 m wide but this small strip of land is
one of the most fought over in history
it was an Egyptian base a raw city of
the Philistines and the place where the
Hebrew hero Samson betrayed by Delilah
met his death since then much blood has
been spilled the most recent contest for
Gaza began at the end of World War II
when persecuted Jews traveled to Israel
from Europe looking for a new start
after the horrors of the
Holocaust in 1947 the UN created a plan
to split Israel into two countries one
for Jews and one for the Arab people
backed by the US president Harry S
Truman David benan Israel's founder
proclaimed the establishment of the
state of Israel in
1948 Egypt then attacked Israel through
the a strip Israel was Victorious but
Gaza remained under the control of Egypt
and an influx of Palestinian refugees
began in 1967 war broke out between
Israel Egypt Jordan and Syria in what
became known as The Six Day War Israel
seized the Gaza Strip and held it for
about 40 years in 2006 Hamas a group
sworn to destroy Israel and listed by
the United States European union and
others as a terrorist group won a
landslide victory in Palestinian
legislative elections and Israel
unilaterally pulled its forces out of
Gaza that year hamus was now in control
of the territory however Israel still
controls much of the area's access to
and from the Gaza
Strip since then Israel and hamus have
been exchanging
blows Israel maintains hamus is a
violent Terror organization well Hammer
says they represent an oppressed people
being victimized by the Jewish state the
International Community continues to
press for a cease in violence but for
now the strip's population of 1.8
million people are trapped in the
crossfire this surprise attack on Israel
over the weekend came 50 years and one
day since another attack known as the
yam kapor War Israel has since spent
billions to create one of the world's
most formidable security systems but in
this case the Israeli government
appeared to be caught off guard and the
moment is seen as a massive intelligence
failure so why this most recent attack
Hamas says the assault on Israel was in
part to defend the holy site the AL AXA
mosque in Jerusalem in response to what
they claim are attacks on it and the
desecration of it as well as they say an
ongoing Siege of Gaza the holy sight
compound is one of the most revered
places in Islam and Judaism the sacred
grounds known to Muslims as Noble
sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple
Mount have been a flas point of tensions
between Israel and the Palestinians for
decades clashes have frequently broken
out at the site between Palestinian
worshippers and Israeli forces police
raided the compound several times over
the last year violence has been
particularly heightened this year the
number of Palestinians both militants
and civilians killed in the West Bank by
Israeli forces is at its highest in
nearly two decades let's go now to CNN's
Tom Foreman to better understand how
Hamas forces attacked Israel this past
weekend this extraordinary series of
attacks began at 6:30 in the morning
when Israel was asleep with this massive
barrage of rockets flowing out of Gaza
note that this would be the level at
which their most rudimentary Rockets
would hit about six miles or so then you
reach out to maybe 25 miles and they're
most advanced Rockets the ones that
would most seem to rely probably on some
technology Beyond them Iran as many
intelligence people would say would
reach up here to Tel Aviv that's about
45 mies from here whatever the placement
of them was though there were an awful
lot of them we don't have an exact count
but it appears to be in the thousands
that would matter because that would
make it easier to overwhelm Israel's
missile defense system the Iron Dome
system and make sure that some got
through even if many were stopped more
importantly by doing this this all
indications are that laid the groundwork
for what came next at 7:40 an hour and
10 minutes later that's when armed
soldiers Fighters started coming out of
Gaza into Israel some by knocking down
walls and barriers here some coming in
by air with powered parachutes some by
boats going around here this was
something again that indicated it was a
very planned
attack in the early hours of Saturday
Israelis woke to a sudden assault
from Gaza militants the surprise attack
claimed by the Palestinian militant
group Hamas a complex and massive
operation marking a steep escalation of
hostilities the attack began with a huge
barrage of missiles fired from Gaza
thousands of rockets some making direct
hits on targets across Southern Israel
under the cover of the missiles a large
scale infiltration began as Hamas
militants crossed by land sea and air
even using paragliders to cross into
Israel videos from border crossing
stations show Hamas Fighters storming
into Israeli territory a few miles away
in the Border Town of stod Hamas was
seen driving and opening fire at
civilians the gunmen tore through the
streets leaving a trail of casualties
behind the full extent of the casualties
is unclear but hundreds have been killed
and more than a thousand injured on both
sides during the raid some Fighters also
took Israelis as hostages Israel quickly
retaliated hitting multiple targets
along the Gaza Strip in Gaza City two
high-rise buildings collapsed after an
air strike the unrest continuing late
into the night with both sides trading
rocket fire Israeli Prime Minister
benyam nean yahu has been unwavering in
his message that Israel is at War with
Hamas so what happens next for his part
Israel's prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has vowed that his country
will quote take Mighty Vengeance and the
Israeli security cabinet has officially
declared a state of War but Israel is
not only keeping a close eye on the Gaza
Strip but also to others in the Middle
East region which includes one of its
Chief Rivals Iran Iran has already sent
congratulatory remarks on this attack
and support for Hamas another Nation in
the Middle East that could be seen as a
key factor in bringing possible
mediation between Hamas and Israel is
Qatar Qatar which is a backer of Hamas
released this statement saying quote the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs held Israel
solely responsible for the ongoing
escalation due to its continuous
violations of the rights of the
Palestinian people many countries have
condemned this current attack as an act
of Terror Hamas has over the years
claimed many attacks on Israel and has
been designated as a terrorist
organization by the United States the
European Union and Israel on Saturday
President Biden said his
administration's support of Israel's
security is quote Rock Solid and
unwavering and that Israel has the right
to defend itself and its people big
questions now remain and CNN is closely
monitoring the situation and the
responses from those involved in the
region and around the world we'll keep
you posted right here with continued
coverage as events unfold that's all for
today we hope you have a strong start to
your week and we'll see you right back
here
tomorrow