Isreal Defense Forces Tagets Hamas and Gaza.

Around 6:30 a.m. local time on Saturday, when many Israelis were likely to have been asleep, sirens were heard as far as the Tel Aviv area as rockets flew over Israel.

Militants from Gaza then entered Israel by land, sea and air, with some using paragliders, the IDF said.

The IDF said around 2,200 rockets were fired at Israel. Hamas put the figure at 5,000. To put that in context, some 4,000 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel during the 50-day war between the two sides in 2014.

Hamas military commander Muhammad Al-Deif called the operation “Al-Aqsa Storm” and said that the assault on Israel was a response to attacks on women, the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the ongoing siege of Gaza.

Hamas said it captured Israeli soldiers, posting videos of soldiers it allegedly captured on its social media accounts.

“There are hostages and prisoners of war that Hamas took. There are also deaths among IDF soldiers. We don’t have an exact number yet – we are at war,” said IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

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