A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said late today that order has not been restored amid Hamas' surprise attack on Israel and the latter's wartime response.

"The situation in Israel is still not fully under control," Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said in an address posted to social media, adding that hundreds of Hamas militants remained in Israel. He said troops were going "house to house" to ensure the militants were gone.

More than 200 Hamas militants have been killed, as have more than 200 Israelis. Most Israeli deaths have been from close-contact fighting, Conricus said.

Israeli injuries numbered more than 1,200, he said.

The casualty numbers on both sides may rise overnight, he added.

"The first priority of the IDF is to restore the situation in the south," Conricus said.

The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigration urged the international community to apply pressure on Israel for a peace deal.

Aa statement posted on X in Arabic and translated by the country's state news agency links the current Hamas-Israel war to "Israel’s continued occupation of the Palestinian territories."

Lebanon's ministry warned that "the failure to find a just, lasting and comprehensive solution based on ending the occupation of Arab lands and resolving the Palestinian issue threatens international peace and security."

Part of a potential solution the ministry has suggested is the establishment of a Palestinian state and the right for Palestinians to return home.

According to the United Nations, there are more than 489,000 registered Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, which is currently suffering an economic crisis.

The United Nations' child advocacy group, UNICEF, called for fighting to cease immediately following Hamas' ambush of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's acknowledgement of war.

Noting that clashes between the two have claimed the lives of 299 children in the last three years, UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell said children in the region have the right to grow up in peace.

“UNICEF calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities, and for all parties to protect children from harm and afford them the special protection to which they are entitled, in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law," Russell said in a statement.

UNICEF began as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and now focuses on vaccines, healthy food, disease prevention, safe water and sanitation for children in 190 countries and territories.

"I am deeply concerned for the wellbeing of children in Israel and the State of Palestine," Russell said.

Palestinian activist Nour Odeh, a former Palestinian Authority spokesperson, said Hamas' attack on Israel Saturday "is not the beginning of the story."

"This is one episode of a story that has lasted for over half a century," Odeh told NBC News. "Israel occupied the West Bank, it controls every aspect of life in Gaza. And for more than a year now, experts have been warning that things are reaching a boiling point."

Odeh was referring to the over 50 years of occupation of Palestinian territories by Israeli forces. Violence has spiked in the region over the last year, with at least 700 attacks on Palestinians attacked by Israelis in 2023, a record-breaking number, according to the Institute for Middle East Understanding.

"It’s a record-setting year of the number of Palestinians killed, the number of Palestinian children killed, the number of homes demolished, the number of attacks by armed settlers that, you know, burned down homes and attack people and wounded and killed Palestinian civilians," Odeh said.

Odeh added that today's events are "unprecedented."

"You know, there was nowhere for the story to go except a breaking point with a right-wing Israeli government that doesn’t recognize that Palestinians exist, doesn’t want to talk about Palestinians having freedom and a country of their own and a world that is ready to, kind of, appease that and work with it and just throw money at the Palestinians or condemnations and hope that things will be maintained."

Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Michael Herzog, said Saturday: “This is war. We will fight to win and deter the terrorists from any future attacks.”

Herzog condemned the Saturday attacks that exploded as Israelis were celebrating the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. 

“The scenes on the ground are horrific and the number of Israeli casualties is high as Hamas continues to commit war crimes,” he said, pointing to Iran, which has long backed Hamas, as “evidently behind the scenes.”

“Those of our enemies who believe that Israel is weak because of its internal debate have totally miscalculated,” he said. “Those who calculated that by waging war they can undermine the efforts to expand the circle of peace in the Middle East will be proven wrong."

Herzog called for the international community to “unequivocally stand up and condemn this heinous, unprovoked attack on civilians.” 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday promised "mighty vengeance” for Hamas' attack against Israel, as the number of dead on both sides of the conflict reached into the hundreds. 

In a televised address Saturday night, Netanyahu said Israel will unleash its military strength in revenge for "this black day" as rockets continued to explode into the night.

He warned that Hamas was responsible for the well-being of Israeli hostages, calling the bloody attacks unprecedented.

Amber Sella, an American who has been living in Israel for 10 years and has experienced rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza multiple times, said this attack feels different.

"It's pure terror," she said. "It’s the first time where we feel unprepared and we don’t know what’s next."

Sella said the break in the border wall between Israel and Gaza is "shocking."

"We don’t know how many people came through the break in the wall, we don’t know where they’ve gone, we don’t know what’s been contained, what’s not been contained," she said. "This is new. This time no one is outside. It’s a war, you feel it’s different."