Israel PM Netanyahu vows to turn Hamas hideouts into “rubble”, tells Gaza residents “to leave those places now”

Tel Aviv [Israel]: As the toll from the Hamas rocket fire and ground assault soared past 300, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to turn all known hideouts of the militant outfit into “rubble”.

He warned all Gaza residents to leave, adding that the country would immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas’s capabilities.

Netanyahu said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are going community by community, house by house, and are “restoring control by clearing the terrorists out of the last communities”.

Taking to his official handle on social media platform X, Netanyahu posted, “The IDF will immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas’s capabilities. We will destroy them and we will forcefully avenge this dark day that they have forced on the State of Israel and its citizens. As Bialik wrote: ‘Revenge for the blood of a little child has yet been devised by Satan’.”

“All of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble. I say to the residents of Gaza: Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere,” he added.

A major upheaval took place in the Middle East on Saturday, when the Hamas terror group launched a “surprise attack”, firing a barrage of rockets into southern and central Israel.

“At this hour, the IDF is clearing the terrorists out of the last communities. They are going community by community, house by house, and are restoring our control. I embrace and send heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families whose loved ones were murdered today in cold blood and endless brutality,” Netanyahu said.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the Hamas terror group’s multi-front attack on Israel went past 300, local media reports stated, citing medical officials, according to The Times of Israel.

The toll is expected to mount, according to reports.

As many as 1,590 people were wounded, many seriously. Several civilians as well as IDF soldiers are believed to have been abducted and brought to Gaza, The Times of Israel reported, adding that Hamas has boasted that the number of hostages is higher than Israel knows.

Around 6.30 am (local time) on Saturday, a barrage of rocket fire began from Gaza into Israel, hitting several cities including Tel Aviv, Rehovot, Gedera and Ashkelon.

This was followed by several Hamas terrorists entering Israel from the Gaza Strip and unleashing mayhem in Israeli towns.

Hamas military commander Muhammad Al-Deif said the assault on Israel was a response to attacks on women, the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the ongoing siege of Gaza.