* We are at war, Prime Minister Netanyahu declares
U.S President, Joe Biden, has offered Israel “all appropriate means of support” after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a blitzkrieg attack against Israel early Saturday.
Biden warned “any other party hostile to Israel” not to seek advantage.
The attack from the Iran-backed Islamist group erupted amid efforts by Biden and his team to negotiate a landmark normalization agreement between foes Israel and Saudi Arabia and a U.S-Saudi defense pact.
Biden spoke by phone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to offer U.S support, with scenes of violence playing out on American news networks.
The two leaders have had strained relations but met in New York last month in a show of solidarity.
“I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the government and people of Israel,” Biden said in a statement issued after their call.
Biden also issued a blunt warning saying:
“Israel has a right to defend itself and its people. The United States warns against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation.”
Meanwhile, the Israel death toll from the Hamas surprise attack Saturday has surged to more than 200, the army said, accusing the Palestinian militants of breaking into homes and “massacring civilians”.
“Terrorists rampaged and broke into homes, massacring civilians,” the army said, adding that more than 200 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the assault that began at dawn.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to avenge what he said was a “black day” for Israel, saying the army will strike back at Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza with full force.
“The IDF (army) is about to use all its force to destroy Hamas’s capabilities,” Netanyahu said in a brief televised statement.
“We’ll strike them to the bitter end and avenge with force this black day they brought on Israel and its people,” he said, after Hamas militants launched a surprise dawn attack, sending hundreds of militants into Israel under cover of a huge rocket barrage.
Gun battles raged into the night after Hamas’ large-scale attack against Israel Saturday, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and sending fighters to kill and abduct soldiers and civilians.
The attack signals the first of such combined ground, air and sea offensive, half a century after the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
“We are at war,” Netanyahu told the stunned nation as the army retaliated by pounding targets in the blockaded enclave, where several residential tower blocks were reduced to rubble.
