'We stand in solidarity at this difficult hour': PM Modi on attacks in Israel

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed shock after the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years.

“Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour,” said PM Modi.

Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 7, 2023

Thanking PM Modi for his support, Naor Gilon, Ambassador of Israel to India, said, “India’s moral support is much appreciated. Israel will prevail.”

Several hours after the invasion began, Hamas militants were still fighting gunbattles inside several Israeli communities in a surprising show of strength that shook the country. Israel’s national rescue service said at least 22 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years.

The Soroka Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba said it was treating at least 280 casualties, with 60 in serious condition. The Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, near Gaza, said it was treating 182 wounded people, including 12 in critical condition, reported The Associated Press.

“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address, declaring a mass army mobilization. “Not an ‘operation,’ not a ‘round,’ but at war.”

“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added, promising that Israel would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.”

In a televised address, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Hamas had made “a grave mistake” and promised that “the state of Israel will win this war.”

Western nations condemned the incursion and reiterated their support for Israel. The acting US ambassador to Israel, Stephanie Hallett, condemned the “indiscriminate rocket fire by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians” and said the US supports “Israel’s right to defend itself from such terrorist acts.”

With inputs from agencies