Gaza Plunges Further Into Darkness As Israel Cuts Power to War-Torn Strip, Hamas Launches More Rockets

Israel's energy minister on Saturday ordered the supply of electricity cut to Gaza, leaving much of the region in the dark as Israel continued its explosive retaliation for an unprecedented Hamas invasion.

The Times of Israel reported the order around 8 p.m. local time, as night moved in on Gaza hours after Hamas militants launched a wave of assaults that saw over 300 people killed, according to a report from ABC News.

At least another 1,452 were wounded, according to Haaretz, while dozens were purportedly captured and bodies were desecrated in the streets.

Energy Minister Israel Katz signed an order directing the Israel Electric Corporation to cut off electricity to Gaza, which largely relies on Israel and imported fuel for its power supply, according to the Times of Israel.

“It’s not going to be how it was,” said Katz in a statement announcing the shutdown.

Hamas, however, kept up its barrage even as darkness fell, with rockets continuing to light up the night sky over Gaza. Thousands of rockets were estimated to have been fired since the violence broke out.

As the unprecedented Hamas invasion unfolded — breaking the peace of the Jewish sabbath and the ongoing holiday of Sukkot — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the nation "at war."

In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip, including towns and other communities as far as 15 miles from the Gaza border.

In some places, they roamed for hours, gunning down civilians and soldiers as Israel’s military scrambled to muster a response. Gunbattles continued well after nightfall, and militants held hostages in standoffs in two towns.

Israel simultaneously, took the fight to Gaza, launching a series of retaliatory strikes. At least 198 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed and at least 1,610 wounded in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

After nightfall, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza intensified, flattening several residential buildings in giant explosions, including a 14-story tower that held dozens of apartments as well as Hamas offices in central Gaza City. Israeli forces fired a warning just before, and there were no reports of casualties.

Soon after, a Hamas rocket barrage into central Israel hit four cities, including Tel Aviv and a nearby suburb, where two people were seriously injured.

The strength, sophistication and timing of the Saturday morning attack shocked Israelis. Hamas fighters used explosives to break through the border fence enclosing the long-blockaded Mediterranean territory, then crossed with motorcycles, pickup trucks, paragliders and speed boats on the coast.

Bodies of dead Israeli civilians and Hamas militants were seen on streets of Israeli towns. Images showed fighters parading captured Israeli military vehicles through Gaza streets.

“We are at war,” Netanyahu said in a televised address, ordering a mass army mobilization. “Not an ‘operation,’ not a ‘round,’ but at war.”

“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added, promising that Israel would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.”

With Associated Press