Israel retaliates after Hamas attacks, deaths pass 1,100

Hamas fighters' rampage through Israel towns on Saturday was the deadliest such incursion since Egypt and Syria's attacks in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago and has threatened to ignite another conflagration in the never-ending conflict.

In response, Israeli air strikes hit housing blocks, tunnels, a mosque and homes of Hamas officials in Gaza, killing more than 400 people, including 20 children, in keeping with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow of "mighty vengeance."

"The price the Gaza Strip will pay will be a very heavy one that will change reality for generations," said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in the town of Ofakim, which suffered casualties and had hostages taken.

"My two little girls, they're only babies. They're not even five years old and three years old," said Yoni Asher who recounted seeing a video of Palestinian gunmen seizing his wife and two small daughters after she took them to visit her mother.

Uri David told a news conference he spent 30 minutes on the phone with his two daughters, Tair and Odaya, during an attack until they no longer responded to him and that he did not know their fate.

"I heard shooting, shouting in Arabic, I told them to lie on the ground and hold hands," he said, breaking down in tears.

Captives

Israel's military, which faces awkward questions for not thwarting the attack, said it had regained control of most infiltration points along security barriers, killed hundreds of attackers and taken dozens more prisoners.

The military said it had deployed tens of thousands of soldiers around Gaza, a narrow strip of land that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, and was starting to evacuate Israelis around the frontier.

"This is my fifth war. The war should stop. I don't want to keep feeling this," said Qassab al-Attar, a Palestinian wheelchair user in Gaza whose brothers carried him to shelter.

Israel has not released an official toll but its media said at least 700 people were killed, children among them. Military spokesperson Daniel Hagari called it "the worst massacre of innocent civilians in Israel's history."

At least three Americans were among those killed by Hamas gunmen, CNN reported, citing an internal U.S. memo.

The shocking flare-up may undermine U.S.-backed moves towards normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia - a security realignment that could threaten Palestinian hopes of self determination and hem in Hamas' main backer, Iran.

Tehran's other main regional ally, Lebanon's Hezbollah, fought a war with Israel in 2006 and said its "guns and rockets" stand with Hamas.

With debris from the attacks still strewn around southern towns and border communities on Sunday, Israelis were reeling from the sight of bloodied bodies in streets, cars and even their homes.

About 30 missing Israelis attending a dance party that was attacked by gunmen emerged from hiding on Sunday, Israeli media reported, putting the death toll at the outdoor gathering at 260.

Palestinian fighters took dozens of hostages to Gaza, including soldiers and civilians, children and the elderly. A second Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, said it was holding more than 30 of the captives.

The capture of so many Israelis, some pulled through security checkpoints or driven bleeding into Gaza, is another conundrum for Netanyahu after past episodes when hostages were exchanged for many Palestinian prisoners.

Among the hostages were believed to be a Mexican man and woman.

"The cruel reality is Hamas took hostages as an insurance policy against Israeli retaliatory action, particularly a massive ground attack and to trade for Palestinian prisoners," said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.