The death toll from the shocking Palestinian attack on south Israel is estimated at hundreds of people, mainly Israeli civilians, and dozens have been kidnapped and are held in Gaza. In response, Israel cut power off to the large coastal city and is bombing buildings from which the Hamas organization is suspected to operate.

The attacks are considered to be the largest failure of Israeli intelligence, as hundreds of Palestinian gunmen were able to simply drive and even fly and sail into Israeli towns and attack civilians. The Palestinian organization also fired thousands of rockets into Israel, many of them overcoming Israeli missile defenses. Pictures of fleeing Israeli civilians, killed and raped Israelis, dead soldiers and destroyed and captured armored vehicles shocked the country and the world, accustomed to seeing Israel easily repulse such attempts.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the country is in a state of war, and the Israeli Government accused Iran of helping organize the unprecedented attack.