Israel confirms soldiers and civilians taken hostage by militants

  • The Israeli army has asked residents of several areas of the Gaza Strip to flee their homes in preparation for revenge attacks against Hamas
  • PM Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed “mighty vengeance” on Palestinian militants for what he called a “black day”
  • Dozens of Israelis are believed to have been captured by Palestinian militant group Hamas which has launched its biggest attack in years
  • “We are at war,” says Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu – with 250 people in Israel reported killed
  • Israel has responded with a wave of air strikes on Gaza, killing more than 230 people, officials say
  • The violence continued on Saturday evening – with Tel Aviv and other central Israeli cities hit by a new barrage of rockets and Israel saying they are fighting militants in 22 places
  • Hamas commander Mohammed Deif says the group had “decided to say enough is enough”
  • US support for Israel is “rock solid”, says President Joe Biden, pledging to make sure “they can continue to defend themselves”
  • You can watch live BBC News coverage by clicking the ‘play’ button at the top of this page

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