The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years on Saturday in a surprise assault that combined gunmen crossing into several Israeli towns with a heavy barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. Israel said it was on a war footing and began its own strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza, with Israeli media reporting gunbattles between bands of Palestinian fighters and security forces in southern Israel. For more on the situation, FRANCE 24's Will Hilderbrandt is joined by Ofer Bronchtein, co-founder of the International Forum for Peace and former advisory to Yitzhak Rabin.