First Thing: IDF decries surprise Hamas attack as ‘worst day in Israeli history’

IDF says conflict could be a 9/11 and a Pearl Harbor wrapped into one' as Supernova festival-goers describe attack

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Good morning.

The death toll after the surprise Hamas attack on Israel over the weekend has surpassed 1,100. The Israeli toll has risen to at least 700, including 44 soldiers, as the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel was embarking on a long and difficult war". In Gaza, which was pummelled by Israeli airstrikes, officials have reported at least 413 deaths.

What has the US said? The US special antisemitism envoy, Deborah Lipstadt, called the Hamas attacks the most lethal assault against Jews since the Holocaust". She said there was no justification" for the heinous, barbaric terrorism against Israeli civilians" and mass murder. No one has the right to tell Israel how to defend itself and prevent and deter future attacks."

The permanent observer mission of the state of Palestine to the UN said: These developments did not occur in a vacuum. They are preceded by the killing this year of hundreds of Palestinians ... and preceded by decades of Israel's unrelenting military raids on Palestinian villages, towns, cities and refugee camps."

What did McCaul say? In an interview with CNN's State of the Union show on Sunday morning, he said it was important for the House, which could not pass legislation without a speaker, to reboot so that we can get things to the floor", such as a bipartisan resolution condemning the attack by Hamas militants on Israel and action to help with Israel replenishing" its Iron Dome anti-missile system.