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Israeli warplanes pounded downtown Gaza City, home to Hamas' centers of government, with relentless bombardments into early Tuesday, after Israel’s prime minister vowed retaliation against the Islamic militant group that would “reverberate for generations.” The 4-day-old war has already claimed at least 1,600 lives, as Israel saw gun battles in the streets of its own towns for the first time in decades and neighborhoods in Gaza were reduced to rubble. Hamas also escalated the conflict, pledging to kill captured Israelis if strikes targeted civilians without warning. Israel’s military said it had found the bodies of roughly 1,500 Hamas militants in Israeli territory as it gained effective control in the south and “restored full control” over the border. It was not immediately clear if those numbers overlapped with deaths previously reported by Palestinian authorities. Israel said that Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza are holding more than 150 soldiers and civilians snatched from inside Israel after the attack caught its vaunted military and intelligence apparatus completely off guard. Read: Israel-Hamas war: Humanitarian groups scrambling to assist civilians As the Israeli military activated 300,000 reservists in a massive mobilization, a major question was whether it will launch a ground assault into the tiny Mediterranean coastal territory. The last ground assault was in 2014. The moves, along with Israel’s formal declaration of war on Sunday, pointed to Israel increasingly shifting to the offensive against Hamas, threatening greater destruction in the densely populated, impoverished Gaza Strip. “We have only started striking Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a nationally televised address. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.” The Israeli military said it struck hundreds of Hamas targets in Gaza’s City Rimal densely populated neighborhood, an upscale district of Gaza City that's home to Hamas ministries, as well as universities, media organizations and the offices of aid organizations. After hours of nonstop strikes overnight, some Rimal residents left their homes at daybreak to find some buildings torn in half by strikes, while others were reduced to mounds of concrete and rebar. Cars were flattened and trees burned out in moonscapes that had been residential streets. The devastation in Rimal signaled what could be a new Israeli tactic: warning civilians to leave certain areas and then hitting those areas with airstrikes of unprecedented intensity. The heavy bombardment began in areas of Gaza bordering Israel over the weekend, and overnight shifted to the center of Gaza City. If these types of bombardments continue, Gaza civilians will have fewer and fewer places to shelter as more neighborhoods become uninhabitable. Read: Israel's Netanyahu says offensive against Hamas will 'reverberate' for generations The U.N. said Tuesday that more than 187,000 of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have left their homes — the most since a 2014 air and ground offensive by Israel uprooted about 400,000. UNRWA, the U.N. agencies for Palestinian refugees, is sheltering more than 137,000 people in schools across the territory. Families have taken in some 41,000 others. In a briefing Tuesday, Hecht suggested Palestinians should try to leave through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. A short while later, the Israeli military said the Rafah crossing was closed, but Hamas officials later said Palestinians who had previously registered to enter Egypt would be able to do so. Asked if Israel considered Hamas' civil government, such as parliament and ministries, legitimate targets, Hecht said “if there’s a gunman firing rockets from there, it turns into a military target.” In response to Israel’s aerial attacks, the spokesman of Hamas’ armed wing, Abu Obeida, said Monday night that the group will kill one Israeli civilian captive any time Israel targets civilians in their homes in Gaza “without prior warning.” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen warned Hamas against harming any of the hostages, saying, “This war crime will not be forgiven.” Netanyahu appointed a former military commander to manage the hostage and missing persons crisis. The Israeli military said more than 900 people already have been killed in Israel. In Gaza and the West Bank, 704 people have been killed, according to authorities there; Israel says hundreds of Hamas fighters are among them. Thousands have been wounded on both sides. The surprise weekend attack by Hamas left a death toll unseen since the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria. That fomented calls to crush Hamas no matter the cost, rather than continuing to try to bottle it up in Gaza. Israel is run by its most hard-right government ever, dominated by ministers who adamantly reject Palestinian statehood. Read: Israeli defense minister orders 'complete siege' on Gaza Strip with no electricity, food or fuel Hamas, in turn, says it is ready for a long battle to end an Israeli occupation it says is no longer tolerable. Desperation has grown among Palestinians, many of whom see nothing to lose under unending Israeli control and increasing settler depredations in the West Bank, the blockade in Gaza and what they see as the world’s apathy. Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have razed 790 housing units and severely damaged 5,330, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said early Tuesday. Damage to three water and sanitation sites have cut off services to 400,000. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” on Gaza, saying authorities would cut electricity and block the entry of food and fuel. Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, warned that Israel’s siege would spell “utter disaster” for Gazans. “There is no doubt that collective punishment is in violation of international law,” he told The Associated Press. “If and when it would lead to wounded children dying in hospitals because of lack of energy, electricity and supplies, it could amount to war crimes.” The Israeli siege will leave Gaza almost entirely dependent on its crossing into neighboring Egypt at Rafah, where cargo capacities are lower than other crossings into Israel. An Egyptian military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, said more than 2 tons of medical supplies from the Egyptian Red Crescent were sent to Gaza and efforts were underway to organize food and other deliveries. Hamas has ruled Gaza since driving out forces loyal to the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007, and its rule has gone unchallenged through the blockade and four previous wars with Israel. Meanwhile in the West Bank, Palestinians entered a fourth day under severe movement restrictions. Israeli authorities have sealed off crossings to the occupied territory and closed checkpoints, blocking movement between cities and towns. Clashes between rock-throwing Palestinians and Israeli forces in the territory since the start of the incursion have left 15 Palestinians dead, according to the U.N.

Humanitarian groups are scrambling to assist civilians caught in the war between Israel and Hamas and determine what aid operations are still safe to continue, efforts that are being complicated by an intensified blockade of Gaza and ongoing fighting. Two days after Hamas militants went on a rampage that took the world by surprise, Israel increased airstrikes on Gaza and blocked off food, fuel and other supplies from going into the territory, a move that raised concerns at the United Nations and among aid groups operating in the area home to 2.3 million people. Hamas, in turn, pledged to kill Israelis it abducted if the country’s military bombs civilian targets in Gaza without warning. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded on both sides, and aid groups operating in the region say there are needs both in Gaza and Israel. More than 2 tons of medical supplies from the Egyptian Red Crescent have been sent to Gaza and efforts are underway to organize food and other deliveries, according to an Egyptian military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press. But the United Nations and other aid groups are pleading for more access to help Palestinians who find themselves in the middle of intense fighting. Doctors Without Borders, which is still operating in Gaza, has to rely on supplies it already has inside the territory because it can’t bring any more in, said Emmanuel Massart, a deputy desk coordinator with the organization in Brussels. Read: Israel's intelligence prowess questioned after Hamas attack The group — which says it only runs programs in Palestinian areas since Israel has strong emergency and health services — reported Monday that it provided treatments to more than 50 people following airstrikes at the Jabalia refugee camp located north of Gaza City. In addition to helping patients in Gaza, it said it was donating medical supplies to other clinics and hospitals, which have become overcrowded with patients and are experiencing shortages of drugs and fuel that can be used for generators. If Doctors Without Borders is not able to resupply fairly quickly, Massart said, it will run out of supplies it can use to operate on patients who might be wounded. He also said since the facilities the organization uses are running on generators due to the low supply of electricity, cutting off fuel will present a “huge problem.” “If there is no fuel anymore, there is no medical facilities anymore because we cannot run our medical facility without the energy,” Massart said. The war has also been deeply disruptive to work Mercy Corps has been doing to provide people in Gaza with necessities like food and water, said Arnaud Quemin, the Middle East regional director for the organization. Right now, he said the team on the ground is trying to find a scenario that would enable them to get back to work. The blockade of food and other supplies into Gaza is a major worry. “We are very concerned with the way things are going at this point because it looks like it’s going to get worse – very soon,” Quemin said. The sealing of Gaza, he said, will create “humanitarian needs very quickly.” Read: Israel intensifies its strikes and vows to besiege Gaza as it scours south for Hamas fighters Governments have also been weighing how to respond. As the fighting intensified, the European Union on late Monday reversed an earlier announcement by an EU commissioner that the bloc was “immediately” suspending aid for Palestinian authorities. Instead, the 27-nation group said it would urgently review the assistance it provides in the wake of Hamas’ attacks on Israel. Two European countries — Germany and Austria — said they were suspending development aid for Palestinian areas. Meanwhile, some organizations are stepping up aid efforts in Israel, which has seen displacement because of the violence. Naomi Adler, CEO of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, said a trauma center in Jerusalem that’s owned by the organization is treating wounded Israeli soldiers and civilians. About 90% of the patients in the center right now are soldiers, who are typically the first to be brought in for traumatic injuries, Adler said. But the center also accepts anyone who’s wounded or injured in the country. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a Jewish humanitarian organization, said on Sunday that it was activating its emergency response team in Israel, where it runs programs to support people with disabilities, the elderly and children and families who’ve been impacted by the war and prior conflicts. The organization said it was working with its partners, including in the Israeli government, to address what it called an unprecedented emergency. JDC’s CEO Ariel Zwang said among other things the nonprofit is helping teachers, social workers and other caregivers provide support to those who’ve suffered trauma and tragedies from the events of the past few days. She said it will help nursey teachers, for example, explain to children why some of their classmates are suddenly missing. “If you’re a teacher now, if you know the children are traumatized, you need special skills and special training in order to manage what you’re experiencing and provide for the emotional needs, which are extraordinary at this time, of your youngest charges,” Zwang said. Read: Israel intensifies Gaza strikes and battles to repel Hamas, with over 1,100 dead in fighting so far One organization that helps Palestinian children is shifting its focus, too. Steve Sosebee, the president of Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a U.S.-based charity that helps children in need travel to the U.S. for medical treatment, said given the war, the fund is now looking away from long-term programs and toward more urgent needs for food, medication, clothing and other types of basic humanitarian aid. But like others, he noted the blockade and security risks to its Gaza staff makes it more challenging to do that. “There are no areas of security, there are no safe havens,” Sosebee said. “And therefore, it’s very difficult for us to be out in the field providing humanitarian aid when there are no safe places from the constant bombing and attacks that are taking place over the last 72 hours.” Read more: Everything you need to know about Hamas

Israel increased airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and sealed it off from food, fuel and other supplies Monday in retaliation for a bloody incursion by Hamas militants, as the war's death toll rose to nearly 1,600 on both sides. Hamas also escalated the conflict, pledging to kill captured Israelis if attacks targeted civilians without warnings. In the war's third day, Israel was still finding bodies from Hamas' stunning weekend attack into southern Israeli towns. Rescue workers found 100 bodies in the tiny farming community of Be'eri — around 10% of its population — after a long hostage standoff with gunmen. In Gaza, tens of thousands fled their homes as relentless airstrikes leveled buildings. The Israeli military said it had largely gained control in the south after the attack caught its vaunted military and intelligence apparatus completely off guard and led to fierce battles in its streets for the first time in decades. Hamas and other militants in Gaza say they are holding more than 130 soldiers and civilians snatched from inside Israel. Israeli tanks and drones were deployed to guard breaches in the Gaza border fence to prevent new incursions. Thousands of Israelis were evacuated from more than a dozen towns near Gaza, and the military summoned 300,000 reservists — a massive mobilization in a short time. The moves, along with Israel’s formal declaration of war on Sunday, pointed to Israel increasingly shifting to the offensive against Hamas, threatening greater destruction in the densely populated, impoverished Gaza Strip. Read: Israel intensifies its strikes and vows to besiege Gaza as it scours south for Hamas fighters “We have only started striking Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a nationally televised address. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.” As the Israeli military brought additional forces near the border, a major question was whether it will launch a ground assault into the tiny Mediterranean coastal territory. The last ground assault was in 2014. The Israeli military said more than 900 people already have been killed in Israel. In Gaza, more than 680 people have been killed, according to authorities there; Israel says hundreds of Hamas fighters are among them. Thousands have been wounded on both sides. In response to Israel's aerial attacks, the spokesman of Hamas' armed wing, Abu Obeida, said Monday night that the group will kill one Israeli civilian captive any time Israel targets civilians in their homes in Gaza “without prior warning.” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen warned Hamas against harming any of the hostages, saying, “This war crime will not be forgiven.” Netanyahu appointed a former military commander to manage the hostage and missing persons crisis. Israel and Hamas have had repeated conflicts in past years, often sparked by tensions around a Jerusalem holy site. This time, the context has become potentially more explosive. Both sides talk of shattering with violence a yearslong Israeli-Palestinian deadlock left by the moribund peace process. Read: Israel's intelligence prowess questioned after Hamas attack The surprise weekend attack by Hamas left a death toll unseen since the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria. That fomented calls to crush Hamas no matter the cost, rather than continuing to try to bottle it up in Gaza. Israel is run by its most hard-right government ever, dominated by ministers who adamantly reject Palestinian statehood. Hamas, in turn, says it is ready for a long battle to end an Israeli occupation it says is no longer tolerable. Desperation has grown among Palestinians, many of whom see nothing to lose under unending Israeli control and increasing settler depredations in the West Bank, the blockade in Gaza and what they see as the world’s apathy. Attacks by both sides created more scenes of devastation Monday. In Israel's southern coastal city of Ashkelon, a man holding a crutch with one hand and an older boy with the other joined evacuees being shepherded from a street after a rocket blew out the front of a house. In Gaza, Palestinians passed the bodies of the dead through dense crowds of men in the rubble in the Jebaliya refugee camp. Early Monday evening, the sound of explosions echoed over Jerusalem when a volley of rockets fired from Gaza hit two neighborhoods — a sign of Hamas’s reach. Israeli media said seven were wounded. Israeli warplanes carried out an intense bombardment of Rimal, a residential and commercial district of central Gaza City, after issuing warnings for residents to evacuate. Amid continuous explosions, the building housing the headquarters of the Palestinian Telecommunications Company was destroyed. Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have razed 790 housing units and severely damaged 5,330, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said early Tuesday. Damage to three water and sanitation sites have cut off services to 400,000. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” on Gaza, saying authorities would cut electricity and block the entry of food and fuel. Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, warned that Israel’s siege would spell “utter disaster” for Gazans. “There is no doubt that collective punishment is in violation of international law,” he told The Associated Press. “If and when it would lead to wounded children dying in hospitals because of lack of energy, electricity and supplies, it could amount to war crimes.” The Israeli siege will leave Gaza almost entirely dependent on its crossing into neighboring Egypt at Rafah, where cargo capacities are lower than other crossings into Israel. Read: Israeli and Palestinian supporters rally across U.S. as Israel declares war after Hamas attack An Egyptian military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, said more than 2 tons of medical supplies from the Egyptian Red Crescent were sent to Gaza and efforts were underway to organize food and other deliveries. Tens of thousands of Gaza residents continued to flee. The U.N. said Tuesday that more than 187,000 of Gaza's 2.3 million people have left their homes — the most since a 2014 air and ground offensive by Israel uprooted about 400,000. UNRWA, the U.N. agencies for Palestinian refugees, is sheltering more than 137,000 people in schools across the territory. Families have taken in some 41,000 others. In the southern Gaza city of Rafah, an Israeli airstrike early Monday killed 19 people, including women and children, said Talat Barhoum, a doctor at the local Al-Najjar Hospital. Hundreds of Hamas militants were buried under rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel in the past 48 hours, according to Israeli Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. His claims could not be confirmed. New exchanges on Israel’s northern border Monday raised worries that the war could spread to a new front. Palestinian militants from the Islamic Jihad group slipped from Lebanon into Israel, sparking Israeli shelling into southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group said five of its members were killed, and it retaliated with a volley of rockets and mortars at two Israeli army bases across the border. After breaking through Israeli barriers with explosives at daybreak Saturday, an estimated 1,000 Hamas gunmen rampaged for hours, gunning down civilians and snatching people in towns, along highways and at a techno music festival attended by thousands in the desert. Palestinian militants have also launched around 4,400 rockets at Israel, according to the military. Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua told the AP that the group’s fighters continued to battle outside Gaza and had captured more Israelis as recently as Monday morning. He said the group aims to free all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, which in the past has agreed to lopsided exchange deals in which it released large numbers of prisoners for individual captives or even the remains of soldiers. Among the captives are soldiers and civilians, including women, children and older adults, mostly Israelis but also some people of other nationalities. Hamas has ruled Gaza since driving out forces loyal to the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007, and its rule has gone unchallenged through the blockade and four previous wars with Israel. Read: Hamas attack on Israel thrusts Biden into Mideast crisis and has him fending off GOP criticism Meanwhile in the West Bank, Palestinians entered a fourth day under severe movement restrictions. Israeli authorities have sealed off crossings to the occupied territory and closed checkpoints, blocking movement between cities and towns. Clashes between rock-throwing Palestinians and Israeli forces in the territory since the start of the incursion have left 15 Palestinians dead, according to the U.N.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Monday that Israel's fierce offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has “only started.” Netanyahu delivered the pronouncement in a nationally televised address as Israel pressed ahead with a third day of heavy airstrikes in Gaza following Hamas' unprecedented and deadly incursion into Israel. “We have only started striking Hamas,” he said. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.” Israel formally declared war on Sunday. The hostilities so far have killed around 900 people in Israel and more than 680 people in Gaza, according to authorities on each side. AIRSTRIKE IN GAZA CITY KILLS TWO PALESTINIAN JOURNALISTS An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City killed two Palestinian journalists early Tuesday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. Wafa identified the journalists as editor Saeed Al-Taweel and photographer Mohammed Sobih. The airstrike occurred close to an area housing several media offices. Three Palestinian journalists reportedly were shot and killed while reporting in Gaza on Saturday. The Committee to Protect Journalists, citing Palestinian press freedom groups, identified two of them as photographer Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi and reporter Mohammad Jarghoun. CPJ said it confirmed that freelance reporter Mohammad El-Salhi also was killed. Lafi worked for Ain Media, and Jarghoun reported for Smart Media, CPJ said. ISRAEL SAYS DEPUTY COMMANDER KILLED IN CLASHES ON BORDER WITH LEBANON Israel’s military said early Tuesday that a deputy Israeli commander was killed in clashes on the northern border with Lebanon. READ: Israel vows complete siege on Gaza as it strikes Palestinian territory after incursion by Hamas The military identified the deputy commander as Alim Abdallah, but did not specify the exact circumstances of his death. Palestinian militants from the Islamic Jihad group slipped from Lebanon into Israel, sparking Israeli shelling into southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group said five of its members were killed, and it retaliated with a volley of rockets and mortars at two Israeli army bases across the border. NUMBER OF THOSE DISPLACED IN GAZA SURPASSES 187,000, U.N. OFFICE SAYS As retaliatory Israeli airstrikes continue, more than 187,500 people have been displaced in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict, according to a report from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, is hosting more than 137,000 people in schools across the territory. The report says airstrikes have razed 790 housing units and severely damaged 5,330 in the territory of 2.3 million people. OCHA said damage to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in Gaza has disrupted service for more than 400,000 people. ISRAEL STRIKES TWO TUNNELS USED BY HAMAS MILITANTS, MILITARY SAYS The Israeli military said early Tuesday that it struck two tunnels used by Hamas militants to enter Israeli territory. READ: 9 US citizens killed in Israel, Hamas conflict: NSC The news came a day after 70 militants infiltrated the Be'eri kibbutz Monday night. The small farming community has been a flashpoint of the conflict — the scene of a hostage standoff during the attack. Authorities did not immediately provide more information on the location of the tunnels. The militant group has used tunnels in the past. It has an established a network running from Gaza to Egypt to smuggle in weapons, as well as attack tunnels burrowing into Israel. AT LEAST 11 US CITIZENS HAVE BEEN KILLED, BIDEN SAYS At least 11 U.S. citizens have been confirmed dead in the surprise Hamas attacks, U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday. Biden also said the U.S. government believes it is “likely” that Americans are among those currently being held hostage by Hamas militants, while other U.S. citizens are still unaccounted for after the deadly assault. “My heart goes out to every family impacted by the horrible events of the past few days,” Biden said in a statement. “The pain these families have endured, the enormity of their loss, and the agony of those still awaiting information is unfathomable.” READ: What to know as Israel declares war, bombards Gaza Strip after unprecedented Hamas attack He stressed that the State Department is offering assistance for U.S. citizens who are currently in Israel, and air and ground options to leave the country are still available for those who choose to do so. He also said federal law enforcement officials are “closely monitoring” potential domestic threats stemming from the weekend attacks. BRITISH PRIME MINISTER AT SYNAGOGUE TO SUPPORT ISRAEL British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak joined a large crowd gathered for prayer at a London synagogue on Monday to underline his solidarity with Israel. Addressing the congregation at Finchley United Synagogue in north London, Sunak condemned Hamas' bloody incursion into Israel on Saturday as “evil.” “There are not two sides to these events. There is no question of balance. I stand with Israel,” he said. “The United Kingdom stands with Israel against this terrorism today, tomorrow and always.” He also sought to assure Britain’s Jewish community that he will do everything to protect them amid concerns about the rise of antisemitism. HUNDREDS OF RIVAL PROTESTERS HOLD RALLIES IN US, EUROPE Thousands of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters held vocal but peaceful gatherings Monday, at a historic French plaza and outside Israeli embassies in London and Athens, Greece. Several thousand people rallied in Paris in support of Israel, marching to the Trocadero Plaza overlooking the Eiffel Tower. The monument was lit up in the colors of the Israeli flag, with a white Star of David in the middle, in a gesture of solidarity announced by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. READ: Israel intensifies its strikes and vows to besiege Gaza as it scours south for Hamas fighters In Athens, an estimated 250 people, mostly Palestinian expatriates and members of Greek left-wing groups, held a peaceful protest outside the Israeli embassy to show solidarity with Palestinians. Protesters waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans, while a strong police contingent blocked off access to the embassy building. In London, hundreds chanted “Israel is a terrorist state” and “Free Palestine” and some waved signs calling for Israel to “end the occupation.” Meanwhile, in the U.S., supporters of Israel and of the Palestinians held competing rallies in several cities, including in New York, where rival protesters shouted at each other near U.N. headquarters amid a massive police presence. EUROPEAN UNION REVERSES SUSPENSION OF AID TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITIES The European Union late Monday reversed an earlier announcement by an EU commissioner that the bloc was immediately suspending aid for Palestinian authorities and instead said it would urgently review such assistance in the wake of the attacks on Israel by Hamas. “There will be no suspension of payments” at the moment, a terse European Commission statement said late Monday, five hours after EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi had said that all payments from the development program for Palestinians would be immediately suspended. No immediate explanation for the reversal was given. The reversal on a 691 million-euro ($730 million) program capped an embarrassing day at the EU’s executive at a time of extreme geopolitical sensitivities. READ: Israeli defense minister orders 'complete siege' on Gaza Strip with no electricity, food or fuel MORE THAN 680 PEOPLE KILLED IN GAZA, HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said Monday that more than 680 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory strikes following an unprecedented Hamas attack. The ministry said more than 3,700 people have been wounded. Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since the Saturday attack, striking hundreds of targets and leaving vast destruction. UN SAYS EFFORTS UNDERWAY TO PREVENT CONFLICT FROM SPREADING The United Nations says intense diplomatic activity is taking place aimed at ensuring that regional and international leaders are on the same page in trying to prevent the conflict between Israel and Hamas from spreading. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Monday that he and U.N. Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland are engaging with key parties in the region. Guterres has spoken to Israel’s president and Jordan’s king and expects to talk to the Palestinian president, Israel’s prime minister, Egypt’s president and Lebanon’s prime minister, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Wennesland has been in touch with his counterparts from the United States, European Union, Qatar, Lebanon and others. MORE THAN 100 BODIES FOUND IN FARMING COMMUNITY, ISRAEL SAYS Israeli rescue service Zaka says more than 100 bodies have been recovered from a small farming community that was the scene of a hostage standoff during Hamas’ attack against Israel. The figure is part of the total 900 reportedly killed in Hamas’ multi-pronged attack. Be'eri, a kibbutz, had a population of about 1,000 people before the attack. CHEVRON TO STOP PRODUCTION IN MEDITERRANEAN OFF ISRAEL COAST American oil giant Chevron Corp. said Monday that at Israel’s instruction it had stopped production at its offshore Tamar natural gas rig in the Mediterranean Sea off Israel. READ: Israel's intelligence prowess questioned after Hamas attack In a statement announcing the action, the company declined to discuss any security issues and didn't say why Israel ordered it. The Tamar field, which went online in 2013, is believed to hold more than 300 billion cubic meters of gas. Chevron and the Israeli-American company Isramco each own around a third of Tamar, with the remainder held by smaller firms. There have been threats previously against Israel’s offshore oil rigs by militant groups in the region and Lebanon has disputed Israel’s maritime boundaries. The ongoing fighting in Israel and the Gaza Strip has sparked a jump in crude oil prices, in part over a fear of a wider regional conflict breaking out. Israel and the Palestinian territories don’t produce oil. Benchmark Brent crude traded up Monday to over $87 a barrel. HEZBOLLAH SAYS ONLY 3 MEMBERS KILLED IN CONFLICT Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says only three of its members were killed along the border with Israel during an exchange of fire Monday. Earlier Monday, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group had said that five members were killed during Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon. Also Monday, the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said in a statement that it sent four gunmen across Lebanon’s border into Israel as part of the Hamas-led attack that started over the weekend. Israeli Defense Forces reported that its troops shot and killed several gunmen who crossed into the country from Lebanon. The Lebanese military called on residents of border towns to “take the utmost precautions.” Families in several towns in southern Lebanon started fleeing north as the Israeli shelling continued. HAMAS WING WARNS THAT ISRAELI STRIKES WILL BRING HOSTAGE DEATHS The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has warned that it will kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel's military bombs civilian targets in the Gaza Strip without warning. Abu Obeida, the spokesman of the Qassam Brigades, said in an audio released Monday night that the threat was a response to intense air strikes by Israel on civilian areas. “We have decided to put an end to this and as of now, we declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of one the hostages of civilians we are holding,” he said. In a video statement Monday, Israel’s foreign minister warned Hamas against harming any of the hostages who were taken from Israel and being held in Gaza. Eli Cohen said Israel was committed to bringing the hostages home “in the spirit of mutual responsibility.” “We demand Hamas not to harm any of the hostages, Cohen said. “This war crime will not be forgiven,” he added. TURKEY'S LEADER HOLDS CALLS WITH PALESTINIAN, ISRAELI PRESIDENTS Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held back-to-back telephone calls with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, according to Erdogan’s press office. Erdogan and Abbas discussed the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas. “President Erdogan stated that Turkey is making every effort to end the conflicts in the region and ensure calm as soon as possible” a statement from his press office said. ARAB LEAGUE SCHEDULES MEETING AT REQUEST OF PALESTINIANS Arab foreign ministers plan to convene Wednesday in Cairo for a meeting on the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant groups in Gaza. Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki said the ministers would discuss Arab efforts to “stop the Israeli aggression” on Gaza. The meeting was called by the Palestinians.

Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters, guarded breaches in its border fence and pounded the Gaza Strip from the air on Monday as it vowed to lay total siege to the impoverished, Hamas-ruled territory in the wake of an unprecedented weekend incursion. More than two days after Hamas launched its surprise attack from Gaza, the military said the fighting had largely died down for now. Israel's vaunted military and intelligence apparatus was caught completely off guard, bringing heavy battles to its streets for the first time in decades. Israel formally declared war on Sunday, portending greater fighting ahead, and a possible ground assault into Gaza — a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy “the military and governing capabilities” of the militant group, which is deeply rooted in Gaza. As Israel hit more than 1,000 targets in Gaza and its tanks and drones guarded openings in the border fence to prevent more infiltrations, Palestinian militants continued firing barrages of rockets, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Video posted online appeared to show a plume of smoke near a terminal at Ben Gurion International Airport. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage from the latest bombardment. Read: Israeli defense minister orders 'complete siege' on Gaza Strip with no electricity, food or fuel But civilians have already paid a high price. Around 700 people have been killed in Israel — a staggering toll by the scale of its recent conflicts. Nearly 500 have been killed in Gaza, an enclave of 2.3 million Palestinians bordering Israel and Egypt. Palestinian militant groups claimed to be holding over 130 people captured in Israel and dragged to Gaza. The armed wing of Hamas claimed on its Telegram channel that four of them were killed in Israeli airstrikes. That could not be independently confirmed. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meanwhile, ordered a “complete siege” on Gaza, saying authorities would cut electricity and block the entry of food and fuel. Israel and Egypt have imposed various levels of blockade on the territory since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Gallant said Israel was at war with “human animals,” using the kind of dehumanizing language often employed by both sides at times of soaring tensions. After about 48 hours of pitched battles inside Israel, the chief military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, told reporters Israel has “control” of its border communities. He said there had been some isolated incidents early Monday, but that “at this stage, there is no fighting in the communities." Read: Israel's intelligence prowess questioned after Hamas attack But he added that militants may remain inside Israel, and said that 15 of 24 border communities have been evacuated, with the rest expected to be emptied in the coming day. Earlier, Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua told The Associated Press over the phone that the group's fighters continued to battle outside Gaza and had captured more Israelis as recently as Monday morning. He said the group aims to free all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, which in the past has agreed to painful, lopsided exchange deals in which it released large numbers of prisoners for individual captives or even the remains of soldiers. In its airstrikes, Israel's military said it leveled much of Beit Hanoun — a town in northeast Gaza that Hagari said Hamas was using the as a staging ground for attacks. There was no immediate word on casualties, and most of the community’s population of tens of thousands likely fled beforehand. Hagari said the army had called up around 300,000 reservists — a massive mobilization. He reiterated that the goal is to decimate Hamas' military and governing capabilities. Hamas has ruled Gaza since driving out forces loyal to the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007 and its rule has gone unchallenged through the 16-year Israeli and Egyptian blockade and four previous wars with Israel. After breaking through Israeli barriers with explosives at daybreak Saturday, Hamas gunmen rampaged for hours, gunning down civilians and snatching people in towns, along highways and at a techno music festival attended by thousands in the desert. Palestinian militants have also launched around 4,400 rockets at Israel, according to the military. The Israeli military estimated 1,000 Hamas fighters took part in Saturday’s initial incursion. The high figure underscored the extent of planning by the militant group, which has said it launched the attack in response to mounting Palestinian suffering under Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, its blockade of Gaza, its discriminatory policies in annexed east Jerusalem and tensions around a disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Muslims and Jews. The Palestinians want a state of their own in all three territories, captured by Israel in the 1967 war, but the last serious peace talks broke down well over a decade ago, and Israel's far-right government is opposed to Palestinian statehood. Among the captives that Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group claim to have taken are soldiers and civilians, including women, children and older adults, mostly Israelis but also some people of other nationalities. The Israeli military has said only that the number of captives is “significant.” Read: Israel intensifies Gaza strikes and battles to repel Hamas, with over 1,100 dead in fighting so far Mayyan Zin, a divorced mother of two, said she learned that her two daughters had been abducted when a relative sent her photos from a Telegram group showing them sitting on mattresses in captivity. She then found online videos of a chilling scene in her ex-husband’s home: Gunmen who had broken in speak to him near the two weeping daughters, Dafna, 15, and Ella, 8. Another video showed the father being taken into Gaza. “Just bring my daughters home and to their family. All the people,” Zin said. In Gaza, where the U.N. said more than 123,000 people had been displaced by the fighting, residents feared further escalation. As of late Sunday, Israeli airstrikes had destroyed 159 housing units across the territory and severely damaged 1,210 others, the U.N. said. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said a school sheltering more than 225 people took a direct hit. It did not say where the fire came from. In the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike early Monday killed 19 people, including women and children, said Talat Barhoum, a doctor at the local Al-Najjar Hospital. Barhoum said aircraft hit the home of the Abu Hilal family, and that one of those killed was Rafaat Abu Hilal, a leader of a local armed group. The strike caused damage to surrounding homes. Over the weekend, another airstrike on a home in Rafah killed 19 members of the Abu Quta family, including women and children, survivors said. Several Israeli media outlets, citing rescue service officials, said those killed on the Israeli side include at least 73 soldiers. The Gaza Health Ministry said 493 people, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed in the territory. Thousands have been wounded on both sides. An Israeli official said security forces have killed 400 militants and captured dozens more. On Sunday, the U.S. dispatched an aircraft carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel, and said it would send additional military aid. In northern Israel, a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group fanned fears that the fighting could expand into a wider regional war. The Israeli military said the situation was calm after the exchange. Elsewhere, six Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers Sunday around the West Bank.  

Israel says it has brought in special forces to try to wrest control of four sites from Hamas fighters in response to the militant group's unprecedented incursion into Israel. Israel formally declared war on Sunday and gave the green light for “significant military steps” to retaliate against Hamas for the surprise attack a day earlier. The Israeli military has tried to crush fighters still in southern towns and intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. More than 1,100 people have been killed and thousands wounded on both sides. The fighting continued in several locations Monday morning. ZELENSKYY COMPARES HAMAS TO RUSSIA Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has drawn a parallel between Russia’s invasion of his country and the Hamas militant group’s incursion into Israel, saying only “rules (and) international law” can ensure peace around the world. Read: Israel's intelligence prowess questioned after Hamas attack “The same evil, and the only difference is that there is a terrorist organization that attacked Israel, and here is a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a video address Monday to a NATO parliamentary assembly in Copenhagen. “Our unity must and can stop the evil,” Zelenskyy said. “Let everyone who sponsors terror feel the power of our wrath. And let everyone who needs help defending themselves against terror feel the power of our solidarity.” US ENVOY LEADS MOMENT OF SILENCE AT HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL The top U.S. envoy to the Human Rights Council has led a moment of silence to honor the victims of Hamas' attacks against Israeli civilians and the people killed in an earthquake in Afghanistan over the weekend. Ambassador Michele Taylor spoke Monday with a “heavy heart,” she said, following the “horrific attacks carried out by Hamas terrorists on Israeli civilians” starting on Saturday. “The United States unequivocally condemns these heinous acts of terrorism. We extend our deepest condolences to the families affected and express our solidarity with the people and government of Israel in these trying times,” she told the council, the U.N.’s top human rights body. PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS GATHER IN SYDNEY Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered at the Sydney Opera House and police are advising the Jewish community to stay away. Around 1,000 protesters on Monday marched 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Sydney Town Hall to the harborside landmark chanting: “Free, free Palestine!” They were surrounded by a heavy police presence. One protester at the town hall rally briefly waved an Israeli flag before fleeing. The opera house is among several public buildings in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra that were to be illuminated in blue and white — the colors of Israel's flag — on Monday night in solidarity with the Israelis. ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER ORDERS ‘COMPLETE SIEGE’ ON GAZA STRIP Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has ordered a “complete siege” on Gaza, saying authorities will cut electricity and block the entry of food and fuel. The announcement on Monday came as Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters and guarded breaches in its border fence with tanks, while it pounded the Gaza Strip from the air. Read: The US will send a carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean in support of Israel Israel and Egypt have imposed various levels of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. CYPRUS PRESIDENT SAYS COUNTRY’S HOSPITALS READY TO HELP The president of Cyprus says the island nation’s hospitals are ready to treat anyone wounded from the fighting in Israel. President Nikos Christodoulides said Monday he conveyed Cyprus’ readiness in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Sunday. Christodoulides said he was “devastated” by what he heard from the Israeli leader, calling the situation “tragic, condemnable and inexcusable.” He said Cyprus is “ready to act” in any way to help the situation on a humanitarian level. The Cypriot president said he would speak to his Egyptian counterpart on Monday evening. 2 SRI LANKAN CAREGIVERS MISSING Two Sri Lankans have gone missing while another has been wounded in the violence in the Gaza Strip, the island nation’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday. The two missing persons were identified as caregivers. About 8,000 Sri Lankans are employed in Israel and the majority of them work as caregivers. ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PUSHES FOR ‘DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION’ Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Monday that Rome was working with allies in Washington, Paris, Berlin and London to avoid a wider conflict in the Middle East. “We need to work to find a diplomatic solution, remaining firm that the Italian government stands by the Israeli people,’’ Tajani told reporters. Italians leaving Israel due to the violence have begun returning home aboard El Al flights. One arrived Sunday night at Milan’s Malpensa airport. 20 FILIPINOS RESCUED IN ISRAEL; 6 STI LL MISSING Twenty Filipinos have been rescued in Israel and six others are still missing following the Hamas militant group’s attack, the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv said Monday. Two of the rescued Filipinos are in hospitals being treated for injuries. The embassy said it is working “non-stop” with Israeli authorities and community contacts to get more details on the six Filipinos who remain missing. AUSTRIA TO FREEZE DEVELOPMENT AID FOR PALESTINIAN AREAS Austria’s foreign minister says his country will freeze development aid for the Palestinian areas following the attack by Hamas on Israel. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told Oe1 radio on Monday that all development aid payments will be “put on ice for now” and that the affected funds are worth around 19 million euros ($20 million). Schallenberg also said he will summon Iran’s ambassador to the Austrian Foreign Ministry on Monday to complain about the country’s “abhorrent reactions” to the Hamas attack. On Sunday, Germany’s development minister said her country would review its financial aid for the Palestinian areas. Her ministry put the amount currently pledged at 250 million euros ($265 million) and said no payments are currently being made. EGYPT AND UAE LEADERS DISCUSS NEED FOR ‘JUST AND PERMANENT PEACE’ The leaders of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates on Monday discussed the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan agreed on “the importance of … advancing diplomatic efforts that aim to de-escalate violence, protect civilians, spare blood,” a statement from the Egyptian president's office said. Such efforts should include establishing “a comprehensive, just and permanent peace,” it added. Egypt was the first Arab country to establish diplomatic ties with Israel in the 1970s, and shares borders with both Gaza and Israel. The UAE normalized ties with Tel Aviv as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020. The Arab Gulf nation has frayed ties with Hamas. NEARLY 600 ROMANIANS REPATRIATED FROM ISRAEL IN 2 DAYS Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says 245 Romanian citizens including two groups of pilgrims have been repatriated from Israel on two separate flights by a commercial carrier. The repatriation on Sunday came after 346 were also flown back to Romania over the weekend, bringing the total number in the past two days to nearly 600 after Hamas launched its unprecedented attacks against Israel. HAMAS WANTS TO 'LIBERATE ALL PALESTINIAN PRISONERS,' IT SAYS Hamas wants to “liberate all Palestinian prisoners” from Israel and end Israeli provocations in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, particularly at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a spokesman for the militant group said Monday. Read: Israel’s Security Council says country at war with Hamas and authorizes significant military steps Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua told The Associated Press over the phone that Hamas militants were still fighting Israeli forces and had captured more Israelis on Monday morning. “We are in an open battle to defend our people and the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” he said. “This battle is linked to the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners and the cessation of this fascist government’s activities in Jerusalem.” He said the group has captured “a large number of Israelis” in Gaza, without giving a specific figure. He said Hamas’ military wing, al-Qassam, would announce the figures later. HUNGARIAN AIR FORCE BRINGS MORE THAN 200 PEOPLE OUT OF ISRAEL Two Hungarian air force planes carrying 215 people from Israel arrived in Budapest early Monday, according to posts by Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Facebook. “We thank the authorities of Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania for their cooperation in the swift issuance of the necessary permits for flights,” the foreign minister wrote. Earlier, Szijjarto said in a video on Facebook that there were 400 Hungarian citizens in Israeli territory, but that there were no known Hungarians who had been killed or injured in the Hamas attacks. EGYPTAIR SUSPENDS FLIGHTS TO ISRAEL EgyptAir, Egypt’s national carrier, suspended its flights to Israel on Monday amid fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, Cairo airport officials said. The flights between Cairo and Tel Aviv are suspended until further notice, said two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media. EgyptAir normally operates a daily flight between Cairo International Airport and Ben Gurion International Airport, just outside Tel Aviv. Many carriers suspended flights to and from Israel following the unprecedented attack by the Hamas militant group, which rules Gaza, Israeli media reported. 12 THAI NATIONALS KILLED IN ISRAEL FOLLOWING HAMAS ATTACK Twelve Thai nationals have died in Israel following Hamas' attack, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kanchana Patarachoke said Monday. Eleven others were taken hostage and eight were injured. The numbers, based on reports from workers and employers in the area, were still awaiting confirmation from Israeli authorities, Kanchana said. Around 5,000 Thai workers are in the areas around the Gaza Strip, and some have been evacuated to safer areas, the spokesperson said, adding that Thailand's air force is preparing planes for an evacuation whenever the situation allows. Many Thais work on farms in Israel. ISRAEL MOVES TO PROP UP ITS CURRENCY AMID MARKET UNCERTAINTY Israel’s central bank says it will sell up to $30 billion in foreign exchange to prop up the country’s shekel currency following market uncertainty in the wake of Hamas’ incursion from the Gaza Strip. The central bank issued a statement Monday morning announcing the plan, saying it “will operate in the market during the coming period in order to moderate volatility in the shekel exchange rate and to provide the necessary liquidity for the continued proper functioning of the markets.” It added it would provide additional liquidity of up to $15 billion in the market as well. The shekel has fallen to a near eight-year low against the U.S. dollar in early trading Monday. SCHUMER CRITICIZES CHINA FOR NOT SUPPORTING ISRAEL AFTER HAMAS ATTACK Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told China's foreign minister on Monday that he was very disappointed by Beijing's statement on the recent Hamas attack because it didn’t show any sympathy or support for Israel. “I urge you and the Chinese people to stand with the Israeli people and condemn these cowardly and vicious attacks,” Schumer, who is leading a delegation of six senators to China, told Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Wang, who spoke before Schumer in their opening remarks, did not respond before journalists were escorted out of the room. A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on Sunday called on both sides to exercise restraint and immediately end the hostilities. It said that establishing an independent state of Palestine is the fundamental way to resolve the issue. EL SALVADOR PRESIDENT, WHO HAS PALESTINIAN ANCESTRY, CALLS HAMAS ‘CRIMINALS’ El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who has Palestinian ancestry, decried Hamas on Sunday after its attack on Israel. “The best thing that could happen to the Palestinian people is for Hamas to completely disappear. Those savage beasts do not represent the Palestinians,” Bukele said on the social network X, previously known as Twitter. “Anyone who supports the Palestinian cause would make a great mistake siding with those criminals.” He also compared Hamas to the MS-13 gang, which has terrorized El Salvador for years. 10 NEPALIS KILLED IN VIOLENCE IN ISRAEL Ten Nepali nationals have been killed in fighting in Israel and at least one more is missing, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry said. An unknown number of others were wounded in the violence, it added. Efforts were being made to return the bodies to Nepal and embassy officials were also trying to help citizens who want to leave the country. US GIVING ISRAEL ALL THE HELP IT NEEDS, SCHUMER SAYS U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says senators were briefed by senior State Department and Pentagon officials and given assurances that the United States was giving Israel “everything they need.” “I asked the representatives of our Defense Department if they are giving Israel everything they need, and I was heartened that they said yes and that they are surging support,” Schumer said in a statement after Sunday evening’s unclassified briefing. “I asked them if they have denied any requests that Israel has made, and they said no. I urged them to ensure Israel has everything it needs to protect itself, and reiterated that the Senate stands ready to deliver on additional needs,” he said. Read: Gunfire, rockets and carnage: Israelis are stunned and shaken by unprecedented Hamas attack Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced earlier Sunday that the U.S. was sending a host of military ships and aircraft to the region. He also said it was providing the Israeli defense forces with additional equipment, including munitions. INDONESIA EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT ESCALATING CONFLICT Indonesian officials are urging an end to the fighting between Hamas and Israel and blaming the occupation of the Palestinian territories for the conflict. The world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel and there is no Israeli embassy in the country. It has long been a strong supporter of the Palestinians, and President Joko Widodo has condemned the airstrikes that Israel has launched in response to Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday. “The occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel, as the root of the conflict, must be resolved, according to the parameters agreed upon by the UN,” said the statement from Indonesia’s foreign ministry. The ministry also said the government continues to monitor the situation of its 13 nationals residing in the Gaza area. US SENATOR CORY BOOKER SAYS HE WAS IN ISRAEL AT TIME OF ATTACK Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey was in Israel when Hamas attacked Israel, he announced Sunday in a video statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. Booker said he was jogging in the Old City of Jerusalem on Saturday when he received a call from his chief of staff telling him to return to his hotel immediately. He sheltered in the stairwell of his hotel with other guests. Booker wrote that he is now safe. It is unclear if he has returned to the U.S.. “We who believe in peace and freedom and human rights for Palestinians, for Israelis, for all humankind must reject those who use terror as their weapon,” Booker said. MORE THAN 123,000 GAZANS NOW DISPLACED, UNITED NATIONS SAYS The United Nations says the number of displaced Gazans has risen to more than 123,000 as a result of the fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas following the militant group’s unprecedented attack on Israel. As of late Sunday, retaliatory Israeli airstrikes had destroyed 159 housing units across Gaza and severely damaged 1,210 others, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said a school sheltering more than 225 people took a direct hit. It did not say where the fire came from. Several Israeli news outlets, citing rescue service officials, said at least 700 people have been killed in Israel, including 44 soldiers. The Gaza Health Ministry said 413 people, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed in the territory. About 2,000 people have been wounded on each side. An Israeli official said security forces have killed 400 militants and captured dozens more. ISRAEL WANTS TO REMOVE HAMAS FROM POWER, MILITARY SPOKESPERSON SAYS One of Israel’s goals as it battles Hamas fighters is to remove the militant group from power in the Gaza Strip, a military spokesperson said Monday. Jonathan Conricus made the statement in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. His words appeared to go further than those of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu said Sunday that his security cabinet had made the decision to destroy Hamas’ ability to govern in a way that posed a threat to Israeli civilians. A thousand Hamas militants took part in the initial, unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday, Conricus said. “It is by far the worst day in Israeli history,” Conricus said. UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEETS, TAKES NO ACTION ON US DEMAND The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting behind closed doors Sunday to address the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel, during which the U.S. demanded that all 15 members strongly condemn the incursion. The council didn't take immediate action on the request. U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said after the meeting that “a good number of countries,” but not all, denounced Saturday morning’s attack. He said the support of at least one member could be counted out. Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told The Associated Press that the U.S. was trying to say at the meeting that Russia isn't condemning the attacks, but “that’s untrue.” “It was in my comments,” Nebenzia said. “We condemn all the attacks on civilians.” He said Russia’s message is: “It’s important to stop the fighting immediately, to go to a cease-fire, and to meaningful negotiations which were stalled for decades.” China’s U.N. ambassador, Zhang Jun, expressed a similar position as he headed into the meeting. But Wood said the international community must strongly condemn “this unprovoked invasion and the terrorist attacks” until Hamas ends its “violent terrorist activity against the Israeli people.”

Egypt’s national carrier suspended its flights to Israel on Monday amid fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, Cairo airport officials said. The flights between Cairo and Tel Aviv are suspended until further notice, said two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media. EgyptAir normally operates a daily flight between Cairo International Airport and Ben Gurion International Airport, just outside Tel Aviv. Many carriers suspended flights to and from Israel following the unprecedented attack by the Hamas militant group, which rules Gaza, Israeli media reported.

For Palestinians in Gaza, Israel’s eyes are never very far away. Surveillance drones buzz constantly from the skies. The highly-secured border is awash with security cameras and soldiers on guard. Intelligence agencies work sources and cyber capabilities to draw out a bevy of information. But Israel’s eyes appeared to have been closed in the lead-up to an unprecedented onslaught by the militant Hamas group, which broke down Israeli border barriers and sent hundreds of militants into Israel to carry out a brazen attack that has killed hundreds and pushed the region toward conflict. Read: More than 1,000 dead after surprise Hamas attack and Israel’s response Israel’s intelligence agencies have gained an aura of invincibility over the decades because of a string of achievements. Israel has foiled plots seeded in the West Bank, allegedly hunted down Hamas operatives in Dubai and has been accused of killing Iranian nuclear scientists in the heart of Iran. Even when their efforts have stumbled, agencies like the Mossad, Shin Bet and military intelligence have maintained their mystique. But the weekend’s assault, which caught Israel off guard on a major Jewish holiday, plunges that reputation into doubt and raises questions about the country’s readiness in the face of a weaker but determined foe. Over 48 hours later, Hamas militants continued to battle Israeli forces inside Israeli territory, and dozens of Israelis were in Hamas captivity in Gaza. “This is a major failure,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This operation actually proves that the (intelligence) abilities in Gaza were no good.” Amidror declined to offer an explanation for the failure, saying lessons must be learned when the dust settles. Read: Israeli and Palestinian supporters rally across U.S. as Israel declares war after Hamas attack Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, acknowledged the army owes the public an explanation. But he said now is not the time. “First, we fight, then we investigate,” he said. Some say it is too early to pin the blame solely on an intelligence fault. They point to a wave of low-level violence in the West Bank that shifted some military resources there and the political chaos roiling Israel over steps by Netanyahu's far-right government to overhaul the judiciary. The controversial plan has threatened the cohesion of the country's powerful military. But the apparent lack of prior knowledge of Hamas' plot will likely be seen as a prime culprit in the chain of events that led to the deadliest attack against Israelis in decades. Israel withdrew troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005, stripping it of a close handle on the happenings in the territory. But even after Hamas overran Gaza in 2007, Israel appeared to maintain its edge, using technological and human intelligence. It claimed to know the precise locations of Hamas leadership and appeared to prove it through the assassinations of militant leaders in surgical strikes, sometimes while they slept in their bedrooms. Israel has known where to strike underground tunnels used by Hamas to ferry around fighters and arms, destroying miles (kilometers) of the concealed passageways. Despite those abilities, Hamas was able to keep its plan under wraps. The ferocious attack, which likely took months of planning and meticulous training and involved coordination among multiple militant groups, appeared to have gone under Israel's intelligence radar. Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general, said that without a foothold inside Gaza, Israel's security services have come to rely increasingly on technological means to gain intelligence. He said militants in Gaza have found ways to evade that technological intelligence gathering, giving Israel an incomplete picture of their intentions. Read: US demands condemnation of Hamas at UN meeting, but Security Council takes no immediate action “The other side learned to deal with our technological dominance and they stopped using technology that could expose it,” said Avivi, who served as a conduit for intelligence materials under a former military chief of staff. Avivi is president and founder of Israel Defense and Security Forum, a hawkish group of former military commanders. “They've gone back to the Stone Age,” he said, explaining that militants weren't using phones or computers and were conducting their sensitive business in rooms specially guarded from technological espionage or going underground. But Avivi said the failure extends beyond just intelligence gathering and Israel's security services failed to put together an accurate picture from the intelligence they were receiving, based on what he said was a misconception surrounding Hamas' intentions. Israel's security establishment has in recent years increasingly seen Hamas as an actor interested in governing, seeking to develop Gaza's economy and improving the standard of living of Gaza's 2.3 million people. Avivi and others say the truth is that Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruction, still sees that aim as its priority. Israel in recent years has allowed up to 18,000 Palestinian laborers from Gaza to work in Israel, where they can earn a salary about 10 times higher than in the impoverished coastal enclave. The security establishment saw that carrot as a way to maintain relative calm. Read: 100 dead in deadliest day of fighting on Israeli side in decades “In practice, hundreds if not thousands of Hamas men were preparing for a surprise attack for months, without that having leaked,” wrote Amos Harel, a defense commentator, in the daily Haaretz. “The results are catastrophic.” Allies who share intelligence with Israel said security agencies were misreading reality. An Egyptian intelligence official said Egypt, which often serves as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, had spoken repeatedly with the Israelis about “something big,” without elaborating. He said Israeli officials were focused on the West Bank and played down the threat from Gaza. Netanyahu's government is made up of supporters of Jewish West Bank settlers who have demanded a security crackdown in the face of a rising tide of violence there over the last 18 months. “We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the content of sensitive intelligence discussions with the media. Israel has also been preoccupied and torn apart by Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plan. Netanyahu had received repeated warnings by his defense chiefs, as well as several former leaders of the country's intelligence agencies, that the divisive plan was chipping away at the cohesion of the country's security services. Martin Indyk, who served as a special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations during the Obama administration, said internal divisions over the legal changes was an aggravating factor that contributed to the Israelis being caught off guard. "That roiled the IDF in a way that was, I think, we discovered was a huge distraction,” he said.  

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Sunday he has ordered the Ford carrier strike group to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel after the attack by Hamas that has left more than 1,000 dead on both sides. Americans were reported to be among those killed and missing. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy's newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, and its approximately 5,000 sailors and deck of warplanes will be accompanied by cruisers and destroyers in a show of force that is meant to be ready to respond to anything, from possibly interdicting additional weapons from reaching Hamas and conducting surveillance. The large deployment reflects a U.S. desire to deter any regional expansion of the conflict. But the Israeli government formally declared war Sunday and gave the green light for “significant military steps” to retaliate against Hamas. Preliminary reports indicate that at least four American citizens were killed in the attacks and an additional seven were missing and unaccounted for, according to a U.S. official. The numbers were in flux and could change as a fuller accounting is compiled, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss initial reports received by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Most, if not all, of those reported dead or missing are dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, the official said. Read: More than 1,000 dead after surprise Hamas attack and Israel’s response Along with the Ford the U.S. is sending the cruiser USS Normandy and destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt, and the U.S. is augmenting Air Force F-35, F-15, F-16, and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons in the region. “The U.S. maintains ready forces globally to further reinforce this deterrence posture if required,” Austin said in a statement. In addition, the Biden administration “will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions. The first security assistance will begin moving today and arriving in the coming days,” Austin said. The Norfolk, Virginia-based carrier strike group( was already in the Mediterranean. Last week it was conducting naval exercises with Italy in the Ionian Sea. The carrier is in its first full deployment. Read: US demands condemnation of Hamas at UN meeting, but Security Council takes no immediate action Senior officials from the Pentagon and State Department briefed senators Sunday night, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said they were assured that the United States was giving Israel “everything they need.” “I asked the representatives of our Defense Department if they are giving Israel everything they need, and I was heartened that they said yes and that they are surging support,” the New York Democrat said in a statement after the unclassified briefing. “I asked them if they have denied any requests that Israel has made, and they said no. I urged them to ensure Israel has everything it needs to protect itself, and reiterated that the Senate stands ready to deliver on additional needs,” he said. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a telephone call Sunday, discussed “the taking of hostages by Hamas terrorists, including entire families, the elderly, and young children,” according to a White House statement describing their conversation. Biden stressed that all countries “must stand united in the face of such brutal atrocities.” The president updated Netanyahu on U.S. diplomatic efforts and said additional assistance for Israeli forces was on the way, with more to come in the days ahead, the White House said. Read: Israeli and Palestinian supporters rally across U.S. as Israel declares war after Hamas attack They also discussed ways “to ensure that no enemies of Israel believe they can or should seek advantage from the current situation.” As part of the U.S. effort to deter further escalation, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on Sunday. In each call, he encouraged each country's “continued engagement” and “highlighted the United States’ unwavering focus on halting the attacks by Hamas and securing the release of all hostages,” department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in separate statements on the three calls. In the U.S. House, leaders of the Foreign Affairs Committee were preparing a bipartisan resolution that says it “stands with Israel” and condemns “Hamas’ brutal war.” The resolution is expected to be among the first items considered for voting once the House elects a new speaker. “Now is the time to show the world the United States firmly stands with our friend and ally Israel in our condemnation of this heinous attack by Iran-backed terrorists,” said the committee chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas. House business is currently at a standstill after the historic ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Majority Republicans plan to kick off the selection process, in private, at a Tuesday evening forum where candidates can address their colleagues. The real contest could come as soon as Wednesday when the House next convenes.

Israel's military battled to drive Hamas fighters out of southern towns and seal its borders Monday, as it pounded the Gaza Strip from the air and mustered for a campaign its prime minister said would destroy “the military and governing capabilities” of the militant group. Civilians paid a high price on both sides. At least 700 people have reportedly been killed in Israel — a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades — and more than 400 have been killed in Gaza. Palestinian militant groups claimed to be holding over 130 captives from the Israeli side. More than two days after Hamas launched its unprecedented incursion out of Gaza, Israeli forces were still battling militants holed up in several locations. As Monday began, the military said it was fighting Hamas in “seven to eight” places in southern Israel. Military spokesperson Richard Hecht said it was taking longer than expected to repel the incursion because there were still multiple breaches in the border, which Hamas could be using to bring in more fighters and weapons. “We thought this morning we'd be in a better place,” Hecht said. The Israeli Defense Forces said that 70 additional militants infiltrated Be'eri kibbutz, which the military has been unable to wrest from Hamas, overnight. Meanwhile, Israel hit more than 1,000 targets in Gaza, its military said, including airstrikes that leveled much of the town of Beit Hanoun in the enclave’s northeast corner. Israeli Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Hamas was using the town as a staging ground for attacks. There was no immediate word on casualties, and most of the community’s population of tens of thousands likely fled beforehand. “We will continue to attack in this way, with this force, continuously, on all gathering (places) and routes” used by Hamas, Hagari said. The declaration of war portended greater fighting ahead, and a major question was whether Israel would launch a ground assault into Gaza, a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. An Israeli military spokesperson said that the army had called up around 100,000 reservists, and said in a statement that Israel would aim to end Hamas’ rule of Gaza. “Our task is to make sure that Hamas will no longer have any military capabilities to threaten Israel with this,” said spokesperson Jonathan Conricus in a video tweeted by Israel’s military. “And in addition to that, we will make sure that Hamas is no longer able to govern the Gaza Strip.” After breaking through Israeli barriers with explosives at daybreak Saturday, the Hamas gunmen rampaged for hours, gunning down civilians and snatching people in towns, along highways and at a techno music festival attended by thousands in the desert. The rescue service Zaka said it removed about 260 bodies from the festival, and that number was expected to rise. It was not clear how many of those bodies were already included in Israel’s overall toll. The Israeli military estimated 1,000 Hamas fighters took part in Saturday’s initial incursion. The high figure underscored the extent of planning by the militant group ruling Gaza, which has said it launched the attack in response to mounting Palestinian suffering under Israel’s occupation and blockade of Gaza. Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group claimed to have taken captive more than 130 people from inside Israel and brought them into Gaza, saying they would be traded for the release of thousands of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The announcement, though unconfirmed, was the first sign of the scope of abductions. The captives are known to include soldiers and civilians, including women, children and older adults, mostly Israelis but also some people of other nationalities. The Israeli military said only that the number of captives is “significant.” Mayyan Zin, a divorced mother of two, said she learned that her two daughters had been abducted when a relative sent her photos from a Telegram group showing them sitting on mattresses in captivity. She then found online videos of a chilling scene in her ex-husband’s home in the town of Nahal Oz: Gunmen who had broken in speak to him, his leg bleeding, in the living room near the two terrified, weeping daughters, Dafna, 15, and Ella, 8. Another video showed the father being taken across the border into Gaza. “Just bring my daughters home and to their family. All the people,” Zin said. The Israeli military was evacuating at least five towns close to Gaza, while the U.N. said more than 123,000 Gazans had been displaced by the fighting. In Gaza, a tiny enclave of 2.3 million people sealed off by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade for 16 years since the Hamas takeover, residents feared further escalation. As of late Sunday, Israeli airstrikes had destroyed 159 housing units across Gaza and severely damaged 1,210 others, the U.N. said. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said a school sheltering more than 225 people took a direct hit. It did not say where the fire came from. In the Palestinian city of Rafah in southern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike early Monday killed 19 people, including women and children, said Talat Barhoum, a doctor at the local Al-Najjar Hospital. Barhoum said aircraft hit the home of the Abu Hilal family, and that one of those killed was Rafaat Abu Hilal, a leader of a local armed group. The strike caused damage to surrounding homes. Over the weekend, another airstrike on a home in Rafah killed 19 members of the Abu Outa family, including women and children, when they were huddling on the ground floor in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, survivors said. Several Israeli media outlets, citing rescue service officials, said at least 700 people have been killed in Israel, including 73 soldiers. The Gaza Health Ministry said 413 people, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed in the territory. Some 2,000 people have been wounded on each side. An Israeli official said security forces have killed 400 militants and captured dozens more. The declaration of war was largely symbolic, said Yohanan Plesner, the head of the Israel Democracy Institute, a think tank, but it “demonstrates that the government thinks we are entering a more lengthy, intense and significant period of war.” Israel has carried out major military campaigns over the past four decades in Lebanon and Gaza that it portrayed as wars, but without a formal declaration. The presence of hostages in Gaza complicates Israel’s response. Israel has a history of making heavily lopsided exchanges to bring captive Israelis home. An Egyptian official said Israel sought help from Cairo to ensure the safety of the hostages. Egypt also spoke with both sides about a potential cease-fire, but Israel was not open to a truce “at this stage,” according to the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to brief media. On Sunday, the U.S. dispatched an aircraft carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel, and said it would send additional military aid. In northern Israel, a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group fanned fears that the fighting could expand into a wider regional war. Hezbollah fired rockets and shells Sunday at Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border, and Israel fired back using armed drones. The Israeli military said the situation was calm after the exchange. Elsewhere, six Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers Sunday around the West Bank. Over the past year, Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around the Al-Aqsa mosque, a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.