Hamas took babies hostage during surprise terror attack that has left more than 300 dead and 1,500 injured, says ex-PM of Israel

The Hamas gunmen who launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel took babies and elderly women hostage, according to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Bennett revealed the sickening details of the ongoing assault in an interview with CNN Saturday night, as gunfights continued on the streets of Israel more than 24 hours after the assault began.

‘It was a very difficult day for the state of Israel, for the citizens of Israel. The numbers of Israelis killed are huge,’ Bennet said.

‘We have babies kidnapped to Gaza. We have an 80-year-old woman with what appears to be dementia who was abducted to Gaza. So it was one of the most difficult days in Israel’s history,’ he continued.

Published reports from Israel indicate that more than 300 Israelis have been killed and 1,590 injured since Hamas launched its blitzkrieg of rockets and gangs of roving gunmen, who have attacked civilians and soldiers alike across dozens of locations.

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Jonathan Conricus told CNN that up to 1,000 armed Hamas fighters were believed to have entered the border early Saturday, in conjunction with fusillades of rocket attacks throughout the day.

Hamas claims that dozens of Israeli hostages are being held in Gaza, which the militants likely hope to use as bait to lure IDF soldiers into a deadly ambush.

“Hamas in their gruesome brutality kidnapped women, children, the elderly and even the disabled elderly and dragged them – some of them alive, some of them dead – to Gaza, and paraded them in the streets,” said. Conricus.

Conricus said the number of hostages was “significant,” but declined to provide a specific number, calling the situation “extremely delicate.”

It is by far the deadliest day of violence in Israel since the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago, and fighting continued into the early hours of .

More than 230 Gazans were also killed as Israel responded with one of its most devastating days of retaliatory attacks. Fighting continued into the night.

“We will take mighty revenge or this wicked day,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“Hamas has launched a cruel and wicked war. We will win this war, but the price is too heavy to bear,” he said.

“Hamas wants to kill us all. This is an enemy that kills mothers and children in their homes, in their beds. An enemy that kidnaps the elderly, children, teenage girls.”

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault that began in Gaza would spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Developing story, more to follow.