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The day after militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, the two sides were engaged in all-out war, with at more than 1,100 dead — least 700 in Israel and 424 in Gaza, officials said.
Three sources familiar with a phone briefing of U.S. legislators late Sunday said they were told that at least four Americans have been killed in the Hamas attacks and that the number would most likely rise.
Calling it a sign of the U.S.’ “ironclad support” for Israel, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said U.S. armed forces were moving an aircraft carrier strike group and military aircraft closer to Israel.
Earlier in the day, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group fired dozens of rockets and shells at Israeli positions in a disputed area in the north. Hezbollah said it did so in solidarity with Hamas. Israel returned fire.
A growing number of voices said Iran’s influence in the surprise attack was apparent. Three former senior intelligence officials and a former senior military officer said elements of the attack — using speed boats, taking hostages, and swarming the enemy — showed signs of an operation planed by Iran or its proxies.
A senior Israeli diplomatic source said the nation was not concerned about the possibility of direct war with Iran.
Among those attacked on the ground during Hamas’ initial offensive were attendees of a trance music festival near Gaza. A nongovernmental rescue organization in Israel estimated that 260 people were killed at or near the Supernova two-day party.
What we know
- Fighting raged into a second day after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, with battles continuing in the country's south and retaliatory strikes leveling buildings in Gaza.
- U.S. lawmakers were told tonight that four Americans were among the dead in the attack.
- Some U.S. citizens were still missing after the attacks, a National Security Council official, who declined to say whether they are among the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
- The U.S. plans to move Navy ships and military aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support, said two U.S. officials familiar with the planning.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel would take "mighty vengeance" as his government's Security Cabinet officially approved a “war situation.”
- At least 700 people have been killed in Israel, according to a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces. The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported at least 493 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza.
- NBC News’s Raf Sanchez is reporting from southern Israel.
Shoam Gueta, 24, said he hid in bushes and remained as silent as possible for roughly six hours as Hamas militants came within a few meters of his position. He said about 20 people hid in bushes on the festival grounds as others were mercilessly attacked.
Israeli forces strike more than 500 enemy targets
Israeli Defense Forces said more than 500 enemy targets were struck overnight following Hamas' surprise attack.
The targets included seven command centers used by Hamas and one used by Islamic Jihad, a paramilitary group in Gaza, the IDF said in a statement in Hebrew translated by NBC News.
One of the command centers was a multistory building that also included the residence of Ruhi Mashtaa, secretary of the Hamas, IDF said. In one case, an "asset" inside a mosque was targeted, IDF said.
Three tunnels used by enemy forces in the area of Beit Hanoun were also targeted, it said. Fighter jets, helicopters, and artillery took part in the offensive, the IDF said.
"The IDF will continue striking in the Gaza Strip and degrade the capabilities of the terrorist organizations," it said.
U.S. lawmakers told at least 4 Americans dead in Hamas attacks
U.S. lawmakers briefed on the situation in Israel were told at least four Americans have died in the Hamas attacks, and that the number would likely rise, three sources familiar with the briefing said.
The House and Senate legislators were briefed by phone by Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Sasha Baker, according to a Senate source.
During the call, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked for a classified briefing this week for all senators. Another source said lawmakers were told that the U.S. was supporting Israel at a high level, but it was still to be determined what new funding or aid would be needed.
Hamas attack bears hallmarks of Iranian involvement, former U.S. officials say
The unprecedented scale and the sophisticated tactics Hamas used in its attack on Israel indicate Iran most likely played a significant role in the multipronged assault, former U.S. intelligence and military officers say.
From the use of fast boats to hostage-taking to swarming an adversary, the Hamas operation displayed an approach Iran and its proxies often use against opponents with superior conventional forces, said three former senior intelligence officials and a former senior military officer.
“The sophistication and the complexity of the attack seems beyond what Hamas could do on its own,” a former senior U.S. intelligence official said.
But in an interview, Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official, denied that Iran supported or sanctioned the operation. “It was a surprise to everyone, including Iran,” said Baraka, the head of Hamas’ National Relations Abroad.
Baraka, speaking in Beirut, noted that Iran supports Hamas, but he insisted that “we did not inform them that there was an operation that would happen at dawn on Oct. 7.” He added, “After the operation began, we informed Iran.”
American tourists in Israel look for ways out amid clashes
Visitors from the U.S. were sheltering in place today as they looked for safe passage from Israel.
A group of about 15 tourists from Texas were lying low in their accommodations in Israel, awaiting word that they can pass out of the country safely, their travel adviser said.
Kane Adkins, his wife and their two children were in a similar situation in another part of the country, he said. They scheduled a return flight to depart last night, but it was canceled amid Hamas-Israel clashes.
Instead of enjoying the comforts of home in Mesa, Arizona, the Adkins clan has been holding on in a multistory building that rocks when ordnance explodes nearby.
"It's like being in a movie," Adkins said. "It's been a little bit scary. Last night the building was shaking quite a bit from the bombs falling around us. We spent a portion of the night in the stairwells."
Another party of visitors, the group from Texas, was part of a tour organized by a Florida-based concern, Mejdi Tours, that specializes in exposing Americans to different sides of life in a region long animated by religious and political divisions.
Its co-founders, Aziz Abu Sarah and Scott Cooper, who have Palestinian and Jewish backgrounds, respectively, create tours of Israel and occupied territories that include one Jewish or Israeli and one Palestinian guide who have knowledge about the momentous history of their people in the region.
Sarah said the Texas group hoped to leave by ground through Jordan tomorrow.
"Our tour guides have decided to stay with them," he said. "They are obviously heartbroken. The overall mood in the country is depression, is loss, is hopelessness."
Mejdi had about 50 American tour customers in Israel as the Hamas attack began yesterday, he said; a majority have been able to get out through Jordan.
He hopes that as the hostilities between Hamas militants and Israeli forces continue, reason can prevail.
Sarah said: "There's this wall of ignorance, this wall of fear and this wall of hatred that is dividing us. What we want it to do is just put cracks in this world. We're banging our heads against this wall and say there is another way."
Family and friends describe agony of missing loved ones
Family members and friends of those missing after the Hamas attacks described the agony of losing contact with their loved ones at a news conference near Tel Aviv.
Meirav Leshem Gonen, speaking at the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel, said she hasn’t heard anything about her daughter’s whereabouts since the morning of the attack.
Meirav’s daughter, Rami, 23, called about 6:30 a.m. yesterday as sirens went off indicating an attack. Her daughter was at a party — and the rockets were exploding nearby.
Meirav told her daughter to flee. Soon, gunmen attacked.
“And then it was — I don’t know, a nightmare — that’s the best word I can have for that. We heard the firing, the guns. They shot everywhere,” Meirav said.
Meirav said Rami hid in some bushes with a group of young people as she talked on the phone.
“She was calling me and saying: ‘Mommy, I don’t know what to do. There are a lot of Arabs here, and they are shooting at us. I don’t know where to hide.’”
Later, she found a car and tried to flee.
“A few minutes later at 10 o’clock, she called us and said: ‘Mommy, we were bombed. They shot at us. The car was shot. We cannot drive. Everybody here is hurt.”
Then, Meirav heard the voices she believed were those of were attackers, speaking excitedly.
Meirav said she has heard little since then and is struggling to get answers from the Israeli government and political leaders.
“She’s 23, and she’s so beautiful,” Meirav said in an interview with NBC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella. “We don’t know where she is. We don’t know if she’s alive. We don’t know anything.”
Yifat Zailer, who spoke from a home in Herzliya tonight, said she feels she cannot rest until her relatives are returned home.
Six members of Zailer’s family were kidnapped from their kibbutz in southern Israel: Shiri Bibas, 30, a cousin; Shiri’s husband, Yarden Bibas, 37; their 9-month-old and 3-year-old boys; and Shiri’s parents, Yosi and Margit Silverman, who are in their late 60s.
Zailer learned the news after a friend messaged her a video showing Hamas militants capturing Shiri Bibas as she clutched her two small children in her arms. Zailer assumes the other family members were also taken, because their bodies were not among the hundreds found in the area.
“I miss my family. I need them close,” Zailer said, breaking down in sobs. “I need to know they’re OK.”
Zailer said she hopes people around the world who are following the news better understand “the gravity and the complexity” of the situation in the Middle East, adding: “It’s not about sides anymore. It’s about stopping innocent civilians from dying.”
If she could reach her loved ones directly, she would want them to know she is thinking about them nonstop. “I will go to sleep when they are back here, sleeping in their beds,” she said.
Some U.S. citizens remain missing after attacks
U.S. citizens remain unaccounted for, a National Security Council official said today, declining to confirm whether Americans are among the hostages being held in Gaza.
Earlier today, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said U.S. citizens were among those taken to Gaza as hostages.
A National Security Council spokesperson earlier today confirmed the deaths of several U.S. citizens.
Sen. Booker condemns use of terror
Sen. Cory Booker posted an update to Instagram about having been in Israel when the surprise attack began.
In the video, he recalled jogging in the Old City when his chief of staff called, telling him to return to the hotel quickly because Israel was under attack.
Booker said that upon returning, he sheltered in a stairwell alongside other people and families.
“There was a sense of fear and worry and a knowledge to many of us that there were horrific things going around the country at that time,” he said.
“We who believe in peace and freedom and human rights for Palestinians, for Israelis, for all humankind must reject those who use terror as their weapon.”
