At least 700 Israelis killed in Hamas attack; more than 370 Palestinians dead

Fighting between Hamas militants and Israel’s Defense Forces continued today as Israeli air strikes hit Hamas targets in Gaza overnight. Hamas kept up its rocket attacks on Israel today, seriously wounding one man and injuring three other people in the Israeli city of Sderot, according to the New York Times. Nine more residential neighborhoods and military bases in southern Israel remain under attack as of this afternoon.

Meanwhile, the conflict has spread north to Israel’s border with Lebanon. The militant Palestinian militia Hezbollah attacked an Israeli military outpost along the border in an area the militant group considers to be occupied by Israel. Hezbollah hit the outpost with artillery and guided missiles. It is not known how many were killed or injured in the attack, if any. Israel hit what the country called “Hezbollah infrastructure” with armed drones in retaliation. The Times reports that an Israeli military spokesman said that the army is “looking to the north with full readiness.”

This is Israel’s nightmare scenario, similar to what the country went through in 1973, when Israel faced fighting on both its north and south borders, that Israel will be drawn into conflicts against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Already there are fears about what might happen in the West Bank. The BBC reported this morning that “Hamas militant commander Mohammed Deif has called on Palestinians and other Arabs to join the militants' operation to ‘sweep away the [Israeli] occupation’." The Washington Post reported that a Hezbollah official, Hashem Safieddine, addressed Hamas at a rally in Beirut earlier today and said, “Our hearts are with you. Our minds are with you. Our souls are with you. Our history and guns and our rockets are with you.” In Iran, the chief backer of Hamas, people celebrated in the streets last night, cheering on the Hamas attack on Israel.

None of these expressions of solidarity by other countries and militant organizations bode well for Israel or for the world in general.

The Israeli cabinet has issued a formal declaration of war and called up its military reserves and is in the process of reinforcing defenses everywhere in the country, including along its northern border with Lebanon and inside the West Bank.

The attack by Hamas yesterday and the spreading of the conflict today represent the biggest threat Israel has faced in more than a generation. This war is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better at all.