Iran on Monday denied involvement in the Hamas attacks and the Israeli invasion. The Iranian delegation to the UN released a statement saying: “The decisive steps taken by the Palestinians are a perfectly legitimate defense against seven decades of occupation and heinous crimes. We support Palestine unconditionally. However, we are not involved in the Palestinian response, Iranian officials say.

Events on the sudden war of Hamas against Israel, LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro:

07:55 Israeli forces found a tunnel near Kfar Aza through which about 70 terrorists entered Beer during the night. Most of them died in battles; Cabinet secretary says new war with Gaza ‘planned’ to be last

07:51The spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, denies rumors about the lack of equipment in the army fund. “The IDF (Israeli Armed Forces) has no shortage of equipment,” he says. “It takes time to move some of the equipment, but there is no shortage.”

07:36Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters that six active outbreaks of fighting are still ongoing in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. “Fighting continues in Beer, Kfar Az, Nirim and Alumim,” he says. Some of the terrorists had been in Israel since the previous attack on Saturday, while others crossed the border in the past two days. Hagari says that during the night about 70 terrorists entered Beeri. Most of them died in the battle with the IDF forces, but the rest are still hiding in the houses of the kibbutzim.

07:17American diplomat and historian Deborah Lipstadt, one of the leading scholars of the Holocaust, called the attacks by Hamas “the most barbaric attack on Jews since the Holocaust.” Lipstadt said there was “no excuse” for “heinous, barbaric terrorism against Israeli civilians.”

06:07 Iran on Monday denied involvement in the Hamas attacks and the Israeli invasion. The Iranian delegation to the UN released a statement saying: “The decisive steps taken by the Palestinians are a perfectly legitimate defense against seven decades of occupation and heinous crimes. We support Palestine unconditionally. However, we are not participating in the Palestinian response, the Jerusalem Post daily reports

05:45A source close to Hamas told Reuters the terrorist organization had waged a years-long campaign to make Israel believe the group did not want armed conflict and could be appeased by economic incentives to maintain relative calm.

“Hamas has created the impression in Israel that it is not ready to fight,” the quoted source said. “Hamas has deceived Israel in recent months, creating the impression that it does not want to engage in a confrontation with Israel in preparation for this operation.”

05:35The Israeli military says planes are continuing to bombard the Gaza Strip with rockets to “destroy the capabilities of the terrorist group Hamas.” Among the targets hit in the last hours are several command posts; a building where Hamas militants live; a command center used by a senior Hamas naval official; an “operational asset used by Hamas” located in a mosque in Jabalia; and an asset that a terrorist group uses for intelligence.

05:33In a statement, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said it was “horrified” by reports that Israeli civilians had been taken hostage from their homes.

05:00Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Iran was partly responsible for the large-scale attack by Hamas, adding that the war would not end quickly, dpa reported.

01:08The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officially announced Sunday night that more than 700 Israelis had been killed since Saturday morning and 2,150 wounded, CNN reported. According to the IDF, 3,284 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip (Hamas says the number is higher – 5,000), Israel hit 653 Hamas targets.

23:31The bodies of more than 260 people were found and pulled out in the Israeli countryside, not far from the demarcation fence with the Gaza Strip, where a music festival was held, where Hamas fighters drove up from their cars and opened fire indiscriminately on people, the BBC writes.