Cars burn after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a car park and a residential building in Ashkelon, southern Israel on Saturday, October 7, 2023. © Tsafrir Abayov, AP
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years on Saturday, killing at least 40 people and wounding hundreds in a surprise assault that combined gunmen crossing into Israel with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza. Israel said the Iran-backed group had declared war as its army confirmed fighting with militants in several Israeli towns and military bases near Gaza, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate.