Hundreds of terrorists crossed from Gaza into Israel early Saturday morning, attacking dozens of Israeli communities and military bases, going house to house executing civilians, and abducting both civilians and military personnel, including women, children, the elderly and disabled, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, said in a video statement posted on X.
Conricus called the attack, which has killed more than 200 civilians thus far, “unprecedented,” but vowed that the Israeli response would be as well. The spokesperson noted, however, that the significant number of hostages the terrorists took will shape Israel’s response and “the future of this war.”
While central and southern Israel faced a barrage of more than 3,000 rocket attacks, the Iron Dome defense system prevented a number of casualties. Instead, the high death count came largely as a result of the close-contact executions.
According to Conricus, Israel is still not fully in control of all of its communities and bases.
Thus, among its first priorities is ensuring Israeli communities are recaptured and safe. Then, Israel will account for all civilians and soldiers, close the border and prevent future attacks, and finally, strike Hamas' military targets, which is ongoing.
“That’s usually the stage when the world starts to count Palestinian deaths and lecture us about humanity and the use of force,” he said. “Let me remind everybody how this started: It started with the butchering and the cold-blooded execution of Israeli civilians by Hamas—unprovoked…”
Whatever happens in the next stage of the war, the blood will be on Hamas’ hands, he said, “they are responsible.”
"For those of you who care about truth and defending democracies…against evil, dark, medieval extremists, then I urge you, speak up, support Israel…and make sure that you stand up to slander of Israel, to misinformation, to bias against Israel, to thinly concealed anti-Semitism and BDS masquerading as support for Palestinians or masquerading as care for Palestinian civilians," he continued.
"I can assure you the IDF will be very measured in its response and that we, unlike our enemies, hold human life dear, but I can also assure you today is a different day and the response Israel will deliver Hamas will be unlike anything we have done in the past,” Conricus vowed. “We will make Hamas pay a price they have never paid before hopefully until their destruction.”
Live briefing from Tel Aviv—with an IDF Spokesperson LTC (Res.) Jonathan Conricus https://t.co/nOU4IDlsQx
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 7, 2023