Hamas launches wave of attacks on Israel leaving hundreds dead, thousands injured

The world was in shock over the weekend after Hamas initiated an unprecedented wave of brutal attacks on Israeli military and civilian targets, leaving at least 700 dead and thousands injured, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare his nation to be “at war,” as Fox News reported.

Hostilities began when Hamas terrorists made their way into southern Israel and rocket attacks were launched from the Gaza Strip, initiating what a senior military commander from the militant group declared “the day of the greatest battle to end the last occupation on earth.”

Harrowing scenes emerge

One of the first indications of the severity of the incursion from Hamas came by way of video footage posted on X by British commentator and former Parliamentary candidate Jim Ferguson depicting an Israeli military checkpoint that had been overrun by militants.

The bloodied bodies of murdered Israeli soldiers can be seen lying on the ground, and Ferguson's take on the situation was clear.

“Israel is in significant danger right now,” Ferguson wrote, though the full scope of what the day would bring had not yet come into view.

Horrifying videos began to circulate online of Hamas militants kidnapping Israeli women and children and desecrating the bodies of those they had killed.

Hostages were also taken and reportedly transported to the Gaza Strip where it was believed they would be used as human shields during the anticipated Israeli military response.

Israel's Pearl Harbor

With the death toll still rising and the eventual tally of casualties yet unknown, Israelis and Jewish communities worldwide are grappling with a tragedy many have likened to the terror attacks of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, as the Jerusalem Post reported.

Daniella Greenbaum, formerly with ABC's The View opined, “Not since the Holocaust has this large a number of Jews been killed in a single day. Let that sink in.”

Former Israeli presidential spokesperson Eylon Levy echoed those sentiments, saying, “It's no exaggeration to say yesterday was the darkest day in Jewish history since the end of the Holocaust.”

Conflict just beginning

The coming days and weeks promise no end to the death and destruction following in the wake of the Hamas attacks, with Netanyahu pledging to exact “mighty vengeance for this black day” and the Israeli military mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists ahead of what is anticipated to be a massive ground operation in Gaza.

With Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad telling the BBC on Sunday that Iran lent its support and assistance to the multi-front attack on Israel, the global community remains on edge amid the possibility that the conflict may spread to become a larger regional affair with far-reaching – and very dangerous – implications.