KUWAIT CITY, Oct 7, (Agencies): The State of Kuwait on Saturday expressed deep concern at the escalation in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories that happened as a result of the occupation’s blatant violations and attacks on the brotherly Palestinian people.

The State of Kuwait Foreign Ministry affirmed, in a statement, Kuwait’s call upon the international community, namely the United Nations Security Council, to shoulder the responsibilities, halt the ongoing violence, safeguard the brotherly Palestinian people, stop the provocative practices by the occupation, namely the recurring desecrations of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the policy of expanding the settlements.

It also affirmed the State of Kuwait’s unwavering and principled stand of standing on the side of the brotherly Palestinian people in their struggle to attain their full rights, namely the right to establish the independent state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. The foreign ministry warned that the continuation of the violence without deterrence may jeopardize the efforts aimed at establishing peace and attaining the two states' settlement.

Meanwhile, Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday, killing dozens and stunning the country. Israel said it was now at war with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”

Several hours after the incursion began, Hamas militants were still fighting gunbattle inside several Israeli communities near Gaza. Israel’s national rescue service said at least 40 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years. Also, an unknown number of Israeli soldiers and civilians had been seized and taken into Gaza.

At least 198 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed in Israel’s retaliation and at least 1,610 wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said. The strength, sophistication, and timing of the attack shocked Israelis, with images of Hamas gunmen bringing seized soldiers and civilians into Gaza on motorbikes and parading what appeared to be captured Israeli military vehicles through the streets.

Videos on social media showed what appeared to be at least one dead Israeli soldier within Gaza being dragged and trampled by an angry crowd of Palestinians shouting “God is Greatest.” The assault threatened to spiral into a greater conflict, mirroring previous Hamas- Israel conflicts that brought widespread death and destruction in Gaza and days of rocket fire on Israeli communities. “We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address, declaring 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.” The shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, in turn, said the assault was in response to the continued blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the past year, violence at Al Aqsa - the disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount - increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians and continued growth of settlements.