By Andrew Raine, Chris Lau, Joshua Berlinger, Aditi Sangal, Thom Poole and Matt Meyer, CNN
From CNN's Hadas Gold in Jerusalem
Following Saturday's surprise attacks from Hamas, the death toll in Israel rose to at least 300, an Israeli official told CNN early on Sunday morning.
According to Israeli media, more than 1,500 others have been injured.
Fighting carried on throughout the day, and a fresh round of rocket attacks hit Tel Aviv and other areas on Saturday evening.
From CNN's MJ Lee
The US cannot say whether Iran played a direct role in the attack on Israel, a senior administration official said Saturday, though the administration is planning to look into the matter.
It is “too early to say whether the state of Iran was directly involved,” the official said. “We’re going to be looking at them very closely.”
The official added that there is absolutely no question that Hamas is funded, equipped and armed by Iran, and emphasized that the US will continue to take actions to hold Iran accountable.
“Hamas is a terrorist group. Full stop,” the official said.
As for the billions of dollars that were unfrozen in exchange for American detainees earlier this year – which some of President Biden’s critics have incorrectly said was linked to the attack on Israel – the official reiterated that those funds will not be accessed by Iran, none of it has been spent so far, and in the future, can only be spent for humanitarian purposes.
From CNN's Kevin Liptak
The US could announce new assistance to Israel as soon as Sunday, a US official said, as the Biden administration works to bolster its Middle East ally in the wake of Saturday's unprecedented attack by Hamas.
At the same time, the current dysfunction in Congress remains an open question for American officials as they work to provide Israel what it needs. Without a sitting House Speaker, administration officials are unclear about what can be accomplished.
“It's actually something we were discussing today,” the official said. “Without a speaker of the House, that is a unique situation we're gonna have to work through.”
Top American and Israeli officials have been working throughout the day to identify where Washington can be of assistance as Israel prepares to respond to the attack, including at the Pentagon, State Department and the White House.
“We are in deep discussions with the Israelis about some of their particular needs as they respond to this,” a senior US administration official said Saturday.
The official said “we might have more to say about it as early as tomorrow.”
When Biden spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier Saturday, the President reinforced the US would provide Israel what it needed to defend itself, though not at a level of specificity to include particular weapons or hardware.
The official said the Israelis would likely be “looking closely” at what intelligence if any existed ahead of the attack.
But they said there was no “specific warning or indicator from another country” that would have predicted such an assault.
“In terms of the level of sophistication of what transpired overnight here, and what continues to transpire, that's a very different, a different issue, and I've not seen anything, support that,” the official said.
The US “always share(s) timely intelligence about threats in the region, with Israel and other partners,” the official said.
The official insisted it was “really premature to speculate” whether Saturday’s attack would scuttle attempts by the Biden administration to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Still, the official said “terrorist groups like Hamas will not derail any such outcome.”
From CNN's Shirin Zia Faqiri, Kareem Khadder and Mohammed Tawfeeq
The number of Israeli nationals captured by Hamas is "unprecedented", the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have told CNN as the militant group said that the hostages its fighters had taken were being held across Gaza.
"It is unprecedented in our history that we have so many Israeli nationals in the hands of a terrorist organization," IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Saturday.
“These are extremely disturbing scenes for any Israeli to see. I don’t even want to imagine what the fate of this Israeli person will be at the hands of these blood-thirsty animals."
"I can assure you that the IDF will be focused on getting each and every Israeli back”, Conricus said, adding that the number of civilians and soldiers captured by Hamas is an “unfortunately, a significant number.”
“These are numbers that we have never, ever seen before and these are, they’re unprecedented, and they will force an unprecedented response from Israel,” said Conricus.
In a statement Saturday, Hamas said the captured Israeli hostages are being held across the Gaza strip and warned against attacks in the area.
"Threatening Gaza and its people is a losing game and a broken record," Al Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obaida said in a recorded audio message late on Saturday.
"What happens to the people of the Gaza Strip will happen to them and beware of miscalculation," Obaida added.
Some context: The Izzedine al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed earlier on Saturday to have captured "dozens" of Israelis during Saturday's surprise attack.
After the attack, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "destroy" Hamas.
"We will forcefully avenge this dark day that they have forced on the State of Israel and its citizens," Netanyahu said in a televised speech late on Saturday. "I say to the residents of Gaza: Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere."
From CNN's Paul P. Murphy
It took dozens of Gaza militants — armed with guns, grenades and bomb-dropping drones — to take control of an Israeli military base just outside of Nahal Oz, Israel, a CNN analysis of videos released by Hamas has found.
At least two Israeli soldiers were killed by the militants, and at least six female soldiers at the base were seen being taken prisoner in the videos.
The videos have all been geolocated and authenticated by CNN.
Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the densely populated Gaza Strip, heavily edited the videos to obscure the identity of their militants and to flaunt the success of their attack.
The clips offer the first glimpse into how Hamas organized and executed its attack on Israel early Saturday morning.
How the ambush unfolded: It begins with armed men sneaking between two earthen berms near a gate along the Israel-Gaza border fence. They are then seen approaching and moving past a watchtower — the military base's large communication tower is seen in the distance.
Once past, the militants — dozens of them, dressed in dark clothes — are seen moving across the open space toward the base.
A second video, taken around the same time by a weaponized drone, appears to show the start of the ambush. Three Israeli troops standing near a van on the southern portion of the base are seen before the drone drops at least two bombs on them. One Israeli appears to be badly wounded as the troops take cover next to a nearby military vehicle.
The videos indicate that, although the militants were traveling from the north, they circled around the base and began the assault from the south.
One of the videos shows militants throwing a grenade on top of a moving Israeli military vehicle just outside the base.
It's unclear from the videos how many troops were stationed at the base, or if there were extensive firefights there.
An additional video shows a number of individuals — some appear to be looting the base — on top of and around a few tanks on the property. At some point during the storming, something on the base caught fire, and a thick plume of black smoke appears.
The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed earlier on Saturday that fighting was taking place in Nahal Oz.
From CNN's Lauren Izso and Jonny Hallam
Israel's Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant expanded the country's "special security situation" to the entirety of Israel's territory late Saturday, according to his communications office.
This enables the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to provide security instructions to civilians and to close public sites as needed for security, the minister's office said.
A “special security situation” area, within an 80-kilometer (48-mile) radius of the Gaza Strip, had been established earlier on Saturday.
Today we saw the face of evil. The Hamas (terrorist organization) has launched a brutal attack against the citizens of the State of Israel - attacking men, women, children, and the elderly, indiscriminately," Gallant said in a statement.
"Hamas will understand very quickly that it has made a mistake - a grave mistake and will pay a (heavy) price," he said.
Latest attacks: The defense minister's statement comes after Gaza militants fired a fresh round of rockets on Saturday evening, making direct hits on multiple locations inside Israel, including in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli authorities.
In a Telegram post, the armed wing of Hamas — the militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, and Israel — said it had fired an additional 150 rockets in response to the bombing of a residential tower in Gaza City.
A vow of change: In his statement, Gallant claimed he had been close to destroying Hamas 15 years ago, when he headed the military's Southern Command, but that he was stopped by "the political echelon."
"This phenomenon will not continue. We will change reality on the ground in Gaza for the next 50 years," he continued. "What was before will be no more. We will operate at full force."
"I ask Israel's citizens to remain determined and to support our security forces,” he added.
Analysis by CNN's Joshua Berlinger
The gunmen came from air, sea and land. They shot at civilians, took hostages and forced families to barricade themselves indoors, fearing for their lives.
A day that began with air raid sirens blaring out in the early morning had by lunchtime turned into one of the most terrifying attacks Israel has known in the 75 years of its existence. Assailants from Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the impoverished and densely populated Gaza Strip, had by nightfall killed hundreds of people and wounded hundreds more.
An attack with no warning: Though Israel is no stranger to terrorist attacks, Saturday’s assault was unprecedented – not least because of the lack of warning. Israel’s military on Saturday found itself caught off-guard, despite decades in which the country became a technology powerhouse that boasts one of the world’s most impressive armed forces and a premier intelligence agency.
The questions for Israeli authorities are legion. It has been more than 17 years since an Israeli soldier was taken as a prisoner of war in an assault on Israeli territory. And Israel has not seen this kind of infiltration of military bases, towns and kibbutzim since town-by-town fighting in the 1948 war of independence. How could a terror group from one of the world’s poorest enclaves manage to launch such a devastating attack?
A system failure: “The entire system failed. It’s not just one component. It’s the entire defense architecture that evidently failed to provide the necessary defense for Israeli civilians,” said Jonathan Conricus, a former international spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces.
“This is a Pearl Harbor type of moment for Israel, where there was reality up until today, and then there will be reality after today.”
Heavy investment in defense: Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, it has spent billions of dollars securing the border from attacks. That has included striking at any weapons fired from Gaza into Israel, and stopping terrorists from trying to cross the border by air or underground using tunnels. To stop rocket attacks, Israel has used the Iron Dome, an effective rocket defense system developed with help from the United States.
Israel also spent hundreds of millions of dollars building a smart border system with sensors and subterranean walls that was, according to Reuters, completed at the end of 2021.
So far, officials have said little: Israeli authorities will almost certainly look at where its systems failed on Saturday, but the country has not yet released figures on how many of the more than 2,000 rockets fired by Hamas militants were intercepted. Nor have officials commented on if the border fence did its job. And the Israeli military has repeatedly dodged questions about whether Saturday’s events constitute an intelligence failure.
Military spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told CNN that Israel was focused on the current fight and protecting civilian lives.
“We’ll talk about what happened intelligence-wise after,” Hecht said.
The al-Aqsa compound is one of the most revered places in Islam and Judaism. The sacred grounds, known to Muslims as Al Haram Al Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Temple Mount have been a flashpoint of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians for decades.
In a statement, Hamas said it had launched Saturday's "Al-Aqsa Storm" attack on Israel — which targeted hundreds of troops and civilians — in part to defend the holy site.
Only Muslims are allowed to pray in the compound under a status quo arrangement originally reached more than a century ago. Non-Muslim visitors are allowed visits at certain times and only to certain areas of the complex.
But many in the Muslims world fear that the right to be the sole worshipers there has been eroded and that the sites themselves are being threatened by a growing far-right Jewish movement and Israel’s far-right government.
Clashes have frequently broken out at the site between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli forces. Police raided the compound several times over the last year.
The complex lies in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state and which most of the international community considers to be occupied territory. Israel captured it from Jordan in its six-day war in 1967 and considers both East and West Jerusalem as its united, “eternal capital.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his country "at war," after Palestinian militants from Gaza fired a deadly barrage of rockets and sent gunmen into Israeli territory Saturday morning. In response, Israel launched air strikes on Gaza, and fighting has continued throughout the day.
The surprise attack and subsequent fighting marks a major escalation of the long-running conflict between the two sides.
Here's the latest developments:
Death toll: Israeli authorities say at least 200 people are dead and more than 1,400 wounded in Israel. Meanwhile, Palestinian authorities say at least 232 Palestinians have died, and more than 1,600 are wounded.
A fresh round of attacks: A new round of rockets fired by Gaza militants on Saturday evening made direct hits on multiple locations inside Israel, including in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli authorities. In a Telegram post, the armed wing of Hamas — the militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Israel — said it had fired an additional 150 rockets in response to the bombing of a residential tower in Gaza City.
Israelis captured: The Israel Defense Forces say Hamas has taken hostages and prisoners of war since it launched its surprise attack Saturday morning. The militant group claims it has dozens of captives. In videos geolocated and authenticated by CNN, Hamas fighters appear to take Israeli citizens and soldiers captive in and near Gaza.
What is Hamas saying: Senior Hamas member Saleh al-Arouri said the militant group, which runs Gaza, is "ready for the worst-case scenario, including a ground invasion, which will be the best for us to decide the ending of this battle."
What is Netanyahu saying: In a televised speech on Saturday evening carried by Reuters, Netanyahu said, "What happened today has never been seen in Israel. We will take mighty vengeance for this black day." He added, "Israel will reach every place Hamas is hiding," and warned residents of Gaza to leave now. He also commented on the captured Israelis. "I tell Hamas, you are responsible for wellbeing of captives. Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them," Netanyahu said.
International reaction: President Joe Biden said in an address Saturday evening that the United States stands with Israel. The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET to address the situation. Countries and leaders from around the world reacted to the news, with many condemning the attacks and others calling for calm and restraint. Meanwhile, airlines have either canceled or dramatically reduced flights to Tel Aviv, and foreign offices and embassies are discouraging travel and advising caution to their nationals present in Israel.
