WEST BANK (Dispatches) – An Israeli official on Sunday admitted “serious intelligence failure” during the past few days that led to the escalating conflict between the Zionist regime and Palestine.
The official, requesting anonymity, stated that the war is expected to extend for “weeks,” according to Hebrew Channel 13.
Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on Saturday and said the surprise attack was in response to the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence. It said it fired rockets and captured many Israelis.
In turn, the Israeli army initiated Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, an Israeli lawmaker told Al Jazeera that his party warned about events like Saturday’s Hamas attack on Israel if the occupying regime continued its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.
Ofer Cassif, a member of the Knesset and leftist Hadash coalition, said he warned the situation would “erupt” if the cabinet of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not change its policies towards Palestinians. Hadash has four seats in the 120-member Knesset.
“We condemn and oppose any assault on innocent civilians. But in contrast to the Israeli regime that means that we oppose any assault on Palestinian civilians as well. We must analyze those terrible incidents [the attacks] in the right context – and that is the ongoing occupation,” Cassif said.
“We have been warning time and time again… everything is going to erupt and everybody is going to pay a price – mainly innocent civilians on both sides. And unfortunately, that is exactly what happened,” he said.
“The Israeli regime, which is a fascist regime, supports, encourages, and leads pogroms against the Palestinians. There is an ethnic cleansing going on. It was obvious the writing was on the wall, written in the blood of the Palestinians – and unfortunately now Israelis as well,” he added.
Many countries have also blamed the Zionist regime and the U.S. support for the recent escalation.
Iraq on Saturday condemned the occupying regime’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, saying it always stands by the Palestinians.
Government spokesman Bassim al-Awadi called on the international community to stop the injustice done to the Palestinian people and to intervene to restore the rights of the Palestinians.
Al-Awadi warned that the escalation and continuation of the tension in Palestinian territories will have negative repercussions on the region. He also called for an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said the realization of an independent, and geographically integrated Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, with East Al-Quds as capital, could not be delayed any longer.
“Lasting peace in the Middle East is only possible through a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” Erdogan said at the opening ceremony of Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church in Yesilkoy on the European side of Istanbul.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Sunday said the international community continues to take one-sided actions regarding all forms of cruelty and oppression against the Palestinian people.
“The confiscation of land and property belonging to the Palestinian people is done relentlessly by the Zionists. As a result of this injustice, hundreds of innocent lives were sacrificed,” Anwar said in a post on X, according to Anadolu Agency.
“Malaysia remains in solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people,” he maintained.
Japan, Brazil, Indonesia are among mammy countries that called for a ceasefire.