Mapping the deadly Hamas attack on Israel
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Israel is at war after Hamas militants broke through the border from Gaza to inflict the deadliest attack the country has suffered in half a century. The surprise and highly sophisticated incursion, a major failure of much-vaunted Israeli intelligence, has claimed the lives of more than 700 civilians and soldiers living close to the Gaza border, with the Israel Defence Forces still seeking to root out militants embedded in Israeli settlements two days later. In retaliation, Israel has launched relentless air strikes on Gaza and its tightly-packed civilian population – among whom Israel says Hamas militants are hiding – and has declared a “complete siege” of the enclave by cutting off supplies of electricity, food and fuel. Footage released by Hamas suggests they used drones to blow up border observation posts and weapons systems, with one militant filmed flying into Israel on a motorised paraglide, in a possible ode to the “night of the gliders” incursion during the run-up to the first Intifada uprising in 1987.