The Western world, much of which by and large supports Israel, woke up to shocking scenes on Saturday of Israeli civilians being taken captiveand driven or in some cases literally walked across the border into Gaza.
Today marks the biggest Hamas assault on Israel amid signs of a general Palestinian uprising in a couple of decades. Israeli PM Netanyahu has promised a wider war, likely to come in the form of a ground invasion of Gaza in an attempt to root out Hamas once and for all.
This conflict will get worse before it gets better, and is sure to last weeks or possibly months. The danger of escalation with Hezbollah in the north will only grow.
Washington has already vowed to support Israel as it retaliates and attempts to free the Israeli soldiers which Hamas has taken captive, though numbers of troops and civilians in Hamas hands can't be confirmed at this point.
Shocking videos of Israeli civilians being taken captive...
Multiple disturbing videos like the below are coming out of the region...
This is the worst attack I’ve seen since moving to Israel 9 years ago—Israeli civilians captured by Hamas terrorists, Israeli towns overrun by Hamas. IDF was caught completely unprepared for this sneak invasion. Preparing now for all-out war. Terrifying.
Israeli civilians are being kidnapped off the streets of southern Israel...
Wild: Israel has completely lost control of settlements near Gaza, Hamas is straight up carrying off Israeli captives a mix of civilian and military, men and women alike pic.twitter.com/GStZnz0ZPD
— ib (@Indian_Bronson) October 7, 2023
Below is initial world reaction, via Middle East Eye...
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Saudi Arabia
For several weeks, rumours have swirled that Saudi Arabia is edging closer to normalizing ties with Israel as Israeli ministers visited the Gulf kingdom.
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry offered a mild statement, calling for an "immediate cessation of violence".
"We are following the unprecedented developments between a number of Palestinian factions and Israel occupation forces which has led to a high level of violence on a number of fronts," the foreign ministry said.
Iran
An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday congratulated Palestinian fighters for launching the biggest attack on Israel in years, the semi-official ISNA news site reported.
"We congratulate the Palestinian fighters," it quoted Yahya Rahim Safavi as saying. "We will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem."
Iran's state television showed parliament members rising from their seats on Saturday to chant "Death to Israel" and "Palestine is victorious, Israel will be destroyed".
Qatar
Qatar's foreign ministry issued a statement saying that Israel alone was responsible for the ongoing escalation of violence with the Palestinian people.
It said Qatar calls on both sides to exercise utmost restraint and on the international community to prevent Israel from using these events as an excuse to launch a disproportionate war against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
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