Hamas says militants have taken ‘dozens’ hostage after attack on Israel

Hamas says it has captured ‘dozens’ of Israelis since its deadly and surprise attack on Israel Saturday morning.

In an attack which shocked world leaders, the Palestinian militant movement that runs the besieged Gaza launched an early-morning assault on southern Israel.

As militants entered 22 Israeli towns and army bases with thousands of rockets soaring above them, Israel retaliated with sprawling strikes on Gazan cities.

A ‘significant number’ of Israelis have been abducted and taken to Gaza, a strip of land just 25 miles long, the Israeli military said Saturday evening.

Follow the latest on the Israel-Palestine conflict over on our live blog.

Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al-Jazeera the group has enough Israeli captives to make Israel free all Palestinian prisoners in its jails.

Arouri said: ‘We managed to kill and capture many Israeli soldiers. The fighting is still on.

Hamas militants say they have taken Israelis into Gaza (Picture: AP)

Video footage on social media has appeared to show Israelis being kidnapped (Picture: X/@nasserlaham4)

Israel responded to the initial wave of Hamas strikes with warplanes (Picture: EPA)

‘As to our prisoners I say, your freedom is looming large. What we have in hand will see you set free.

‘The longer fighting continues, the higher the number of prisoners will become.’

Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigade. said on Telegram that the militant group has hidden ‘dozens of hostages’ in ‘safe places and the tunnels of the resistance’.

According to Addameer, a prisoners’ rights NGO, nearly 5,200 Palestinians are in Israeli jails, including 33 women, 170 minors and more than 1,200 placed under administrative detention.

The Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement shared on X by the Palestinian news network Al-Qastal that it will share the ‘number of Israeli prisoners we have within hours’.

Hamas has also claimed to have captured Major General Nimrod Aloni of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in allegations dismissed by the national military.

Palestinians transport a captured Israeli civilian from Kibbutz Kfar Azza into Gaza (Picture: Hatem Ali/AP)

Social media footage has appeared to show Israeli troops and civilians being taken away by Hamas fighters.

Residents of Israeli settlements along the Gaza border have described hunkering down in their houses, according to news channel N12.

Up to 50 Israelis have been taken hostage by Hamas fighters in Be’eri Kibbutz, about five miles from the Gazan border, with video verified by The New York Times showing five people with their hands tied behind their backs being led along a road by armed men.

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News outlet HM News reported a number of Israelis taken hostage in Ofakim, an Israeli city on the border of Gaza, have been freed.

Israel and Palestine being on war footing followed one of the deadliest periods in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in nearly two decades.

Several Israeli military raids in Palestinian towns and cities erupted this year.

Israel and Palestine are on a war footing (Picture: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)

In an operational update, the Israeli Embassy to the US said the single-day death toll is more than 300, with 1,800 injured and 100 ‘kidnapped civilians and soldiers’.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Facebook at about 10.25am local time that Israel has killed at least 313 Palestinian civilians since the beginning of the conflict.

As Israeli warplanes launch strikes in response to an incursion, the death toll includes 20 children, ‘and 1,788 citizens were injured with various wounds, including 121 children’, health officials added.

The IDF told reporters today that the soldiers have killed more than 400 Palestinian militants in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip and captured dozens more.

MORE : Missing Brit in Israel could be dead or taken hostage, embassy says

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