Palestinians have right to defend themselves against ‘terror’: Palestinian President Abbas

Tel Aviv [Israel]: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas chaired a high-level meeting with some top defence officials on Saturday and said that the Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves against the “terror of settlers and occupation troops”, the official news agency WAFA quoted him as saying.

In the emergency meeting, President Abbas directed officials “to provide protection for the Palestinian people and provide all that is necessary to bolster the resilience and steadfastness of the Palestinian people in facing the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation and settler gangs”, WAFA reported.

As per the WAFA news agency, he also gave directions to provide all that is necessary to bolster the resilience and steadfastness of the Palestinian people in facing the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation and settler gangs.

According to the latest reports, at least 5 people have been killed and over 100 injured in the Hamas rocket fire.

The centre and south of Israel came under heavy rocket fire for over 3.5 hours on Saturday morning, The Times of Israel reported.

“Israel is in an emergency” and Lapid would back a “harsh military response” to Hamas’s coordinated attack, a statement from the Opposition’s leader’s office said.

Earlier today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that hundreds of rockets fired by Hamas terrorists hit Israel today.

“Citizens of Israel, we are at war. Not an operation not an escalation- at war,” Netanyahu said in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“We are at war and we will win,” he asserted in a video statement according to translation provided by Reuters. “Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known,” he added.

The Israeli PM’s statement followed after rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel
Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant approved the draft of reserve soldiers in accordance with the Israel Defence Force’s requirements.

He further announced a “special security situation” in Israel’s Homefront, within a 0-80 km radius of the Gaza Strip, The Jerusalem Post reported, adding that this further enabled the IDF to provide civilians with safety instructions at “close and relevant sites”.

The daily reported earlier that after a barrage of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel.

Following the attack, red alert warning sirens were activated in Tel Aviv, located around 70 kilometres from the Gaza Strip, as well as, Sde Boker, Arad, and Dimona in the south.

In his first reaction after Hamas launched a “surprise attack”, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said Israel “was at war” and has ordered mobilization of reserves to give it back with the magnitude the enemy has not expected, asserting that they will “win it.”

In a video statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Netanyahu stated, “We are at war, not in an operation or in rounds, but at war. This morning, Hamas launched a murderous surprise attack against the State of Israel and its citizens. We have been in this since the early morning hours. I convened the heads of the security establishment and ordered, first of all, to clear out the communities that have been infiltrated by terrorists.

This currently is being carried out.”

Netanyahu has ordered the mobilization of reserves. He called on people of Israel to adhere to the directives of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Home Front Command.

“At the same time, I have ordered an extensive mobilization of reserves and that we return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known. The enemy will pay an unprecedented price.

In the meantime, I call on the citizens of Israel to strictly adhere to the directives of the IDF and Home Front Command. We are at war and we will win it,” Netanyahu said.