Israel’s security cabinet voted on Saturday night to officially go to war following a major attack on the country by Palestinian armed group Hamas, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
The invocation of Article 40 of Israel’s Basic Law allows the government to take “significant military action that may lead, with a level of probability close to certain, to war,” Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday.
Under the legislation, the prime minister will be able to make certain decisions regarding the war with just the approval of the security cabinet, it added.
Netanyahu’s office also said the government had asked the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, to activate emergency regulations allowing for detainees to be held in custody for a longer period without being brought before a court.
Netanyahu declared that Israel was at war in his first message a few hours after Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel and sent its fighters into Jewish settlements near the border with Gaza on Saturday morning.
“Citizens of Israel, we are at war. And we will win,” the prime minister said in his address. “The enemy will pay a price like they have never known before,” he vowed, referring to Hamas.
