Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Israelis in a statement Saturday night to unite as Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization wages war against the Jewish State.
Since this morning, the State of Israel has been at war. Our first objective is to clear out the hostile forces that infiltrated our territory and restore the security and quiet to the communities that have been attacked.
The second objective, at the same time, is to exact an… pic.twitter.com/MzKs7tfv4M
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 7, 2023
Earlier in the day, the prime minister made it clear that Israelis should prepare for an extended round of hostilities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
"Citizens of Israel,
We are at war, not in an operation or in rounds, but at war. This morning, Hamas launched a murderous surprise attack against the State of Israel and its citizens. We have been in this since the early morning hours. pic.twitter.com/C7YQUviItR— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 7, 2023
Israel’s Foreign Ministry likewise issued a statement via X (formerly Twitter), saying that some of the images of what was happening were “so disturbing we cannot even share them.”
Israel is at war.
Earlier this morning armed Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israeli communities and started going house to house and murdering innocent Israelis.
Some of the images are so disturbing we cannot even share them.
We will take every measure to protect our citizens… pic.twitter.com/RRk6RheyL2
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 7, 2023
The prime minister led a meeting of the country’s Security Cabinet on Saturday afternoon, in which the ministers decided on the objectives for the next several days. On Saturday night Netanyahu convened the entire government cabinet at the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv as well.
Following operational assessments, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant expanded the “special security situation” status to apply to the entire Israeli territory. “This enables the IDF to provide security instructions to civilians and to close public sites in accordance with security needs,” the Defense Ministry explained.
“In war, one needs to be level-headed,” Netanyahu pointed out. “I call on all citizens of Israel to unite in order to achieve our highest goal: victory in the war.”
