October 7 will be remembered as the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan, George Deek said, Azernews reports.
“A war was launched by a surprise when Hamas terrorists launched rockets and invaded our towns in the south of Israel, in order to murder, rape, and kidnap our women and men, our sons and our daughters. The toll of this aggression is staggering, with over 700 Israelis dead, over 100 individuals abducted, and over 2,000 more injured,” said the ambassador.
According to Deek, while the timing was a surprise, the cruelty wasn’t.
“Hamas is a genocidal organization whose leaders openly speak about killing all Jews. It’s written in their charter. This culture of hate is the cause of this barbarism,” said the ambassador.
“What happened today is unprecedented in Israel – and we will make sure it will not happen again. The IDF will immediately use all its force to destroy Hamas’s capabilities. We will eliminate the threat of Hamas. This is war,” he said.
“Unfortunately, it will not be the first war in Israeli history in which we must rise from tragedy. We were attacked before, outnumbered, taken by surprise. We just marked 50 years to the Yom Kippur war when the armies of the Arab world invaded Israel. In the end, the Israeli army was at the gates of Cairo and Damascus. This time as well, we will change the reality of the Middle East,” said Deek.
In addition, Deek noted that there are hundreds of Israelis waiting to donate blood. Hundreds of Israelis volunteering to help the people of the South in their time of need. People flying back from all over the world to join the army and fight the battle of justice.
“We are a nation of lions who will defend their families and their land. We are determined. We are united. And we will win,” he said.
“We were impressed by messages of support from our brothers and sisters in Azerbaijan. I stopped counting how many messages, emails, whatsapps and calls we received from people from all walks of life. The flocks of people laying flowers at the gate of the embassy is truly heartwarming. On behalf of the people of Israel, I want to say to the Azerbaijani people – you touched our hearts, thank you,” said the ambassador.
In addition, the ambassador, addressing the international community, said that this is a war between good and evil, between right and wrong. Be sure to be on the right side and support Israel’s right to defend itself with all means necessary.
“This war will be long, it will be tough – but we will do what we need to do, and win back the peace,” he said.
A combined attack was carried out on Israel on the morning of October 7. From the beginning, a massive rocket attack began from the territory of the Gaza Strip, followed by the penetration of militants by land, water, and air.
The rocket attack killed more than 700 people and injured 2,315.
The Israeli army declared a “state of readiness for war” and fired back with the launch of the “Swords of Iron” operation.