Opposition Leader Urges Unity Government After Attack

Opposition leader Yair Lapid urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a unity government after the attack by Hamas on Saturday morning. The two met Saturday evening, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lapid said afterward that the prime minister realizes successfully running a war isn't possible with the current far-right coalition. Netanyahu needs "an emergency, narrow, professional government with him to manage the difficult and complex operation ahead of us," Lapid said.

Lapid and Netanyahu have been battling over issues including the prime minister's plan to change the nation's judiciary, which has brought a series of mass protests and US concern. Lapid said Netanyahu's right-wing partners have limited security experience. "We need to put politics aside now," Lapid said Saturday, per the Washington Post. The national rescue service reported that at least 200 people were killed and 1,100 wounded in Israel. In the Gaza Strip, at least 198 people have been killed and 1,610 wounded in strikes by Israel, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, per the AP. (More Israel stories.)