Israel goes to war

<p>On Saturday the militant Palestinian group Hamas launched an unprecedented terrorist attack on Israel, killing more than 900 people in Israel and taking up to 130 hostages.</p><p>In response, Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, declared war and launched airstrikes killing almost 690 people in Gaza. His defence minister ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, which aid organisations have warned could end up amounting to “war crimes”. Meanwhile, Hamas has threatened to execute a hostage for every Israeli attack on Palestinian homes without “prior warning”.</p><p>Our correspondent in Israel explains why all this has happened now – and what the consequences could be.</p><p><strong>Mentioned in this episode: </strong>You can find a <a href="https://nuk-tnl-deck-prod-static.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/37c87ba3a2d3fed80fe01e02b5a61a22.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">map of the region here</a>.</p><p><em>This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. </em></p><p><strong>Guest: </strong>Anshel Pfeffer, Times correspondent in Israel.</p><p><strong>Host: </strong>Manveen Rana.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Get in touch: </strong>storiesofourtimes@thetimes.co.uk</p><p><strong>Clips:</strong> BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera English, NewsNation.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>