This is our 9/11, they got us: Israeli military

Jerusalem, Oct 9 (IANS) As Israeli forces are still fighting Hamas gunmen, the Jewish state's military on Monday termed the unprecedented attacks launched by the Palestinian militant group from Gaza as "this is our 9/11, they got us".

This was in reference to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks carried out by the Al Qaeda against the US.

In a statement on Monday, military spokeperson Major Nir Dinar said: "This is our 9/11... They got us," the BBC reported.

The spokesperson's comment echoed Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus's remark in which he not only compared the Hamas attacks to 9/11 but also to Pearl Harbor -- the surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the American naval base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

"This could be a 9/11 and and a Pearl Harbor wrapped into one," he said.

"It is, by far, the worst day in Israeli history. Never before have so many Israelis been killed by one single thing let alone enemy activity on one day."

As airstrikes continued on the Gaza Strip on Monday, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) claimed that more than 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the coastal enclave were hit overnight, the BBC reported.

The IAF said that fighter jets, helicopters, aircraft and artillery struck the targets, adding that seven Hamas command centres and an Islamic Jihad command centre were hit.

In its latest update on Monday morning, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said they were still fighting Hamas gunmen at seven to eight sites in southern Israel close to the Gaza Strip.

These sites include Be’eri, an agrarian community, which was infiltrated by Hamas fighters overnight. 

Many of the militants have been killed, but others are still hiding in homes in the kibbutz, the BBC quoted the IDF as saying.

The Israeli military added that it has attacked more than 1,000 targets in Gaza.

"The scope of this operation is something completely different... It’s taking more time than we expected to get things back to a defensive, security posture," Lt Col Richard Hecht told reporters.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Gaza has increased to 436, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Monday.

The Ministry said that 81 children and 61 women were among the fatalities.

At least 2,271 people have been injured in Gaza, including 244 children and 151 women, it added.

Meanwhile, the IDF has put the death toll in Israel at 700.