Israel-Palestine war: Netanyahu's ‘get out’ warning for Gaza residents; Hamas kills 250 Israelis. Latest updates

Scores of Hamas militants, backed by a barrage of rockets, broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into nearby Israeli towns, killing more than 200 people and abducting others in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday. A stunned Israel hit back with airstrikes in Gaza, with its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to reduce the group's Gaza hideouts to “rubble”.

Earlier on Saturday, in a televised address, Netanyahu told the stunned nation that “we are at war”, after Hamas had launched its multipronged attack at dawn, half a century after the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Israeli media, citing rescue service officials, said at least 250 people were killed and 1,500 wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in decades. At least 232 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed and at least 1,700 wounded in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian health ministry said. Hamas fighters took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive into Gaza, a deeply sensitive issue for Israel, in harrowing scenes posted on social media videos.

Latest updates on the Israel-Palestine conflict:

• Israel has reportedly stopped supplying electricity, fuel and goods to Gaza shortly after a statement from Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Saturday night. Much of Gaza was already thrown into darkness by nightfall after electrical supplies from Israel, which supplies almost all of the territories' power, were cut off earlier in the day. Netanyahu also said the “first phase” of the counter-operation had ended, and that Israel had fought off the majority of Hamas militants. He vowed to continue the offensive “without reservation and without respite."
• "I'm telling the people of Gaza: get out of there now, because we're about to act everywhere with all our force," Netanyahu said. “We'll strike them to the bitter end and avenge with force this black day they brought on Israel and its people.” He warned that “all the places in which Hamas is based, in this city of evil, all the places Hamas is hiding in, acting from -- we'll turn them into rubble… What happened today is unprecedented in Israel and I will see to it that it does not happen again."
• Intense air strikes on the coastal enclave brought the Palestinian death toll to at least 232, Gaza officials said, after Hamas fighters -- travelling in ground vehicles, motorised paragliders and boats -- breached Gaza's security barrier and attacked nearby Israeli towns and military posts, opening fire on residents and passersby.
• Gun battles raged into the night between Israeli forces and hundreds of Hamas fighters in at least 22 Israel locations, including at least two where gunmen were holding hostages, the army said.
• The army said “terrorists rampaged and broke into homes, massacring civilians”, adding that more than 1,000 people in Israel were wounded by gunshots or the more than 3,000 incoming rockets.
• As the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting for Sunday, President Joe Biden voiced "rock solid and unwavering" support for the US ally and warned "against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation".
• As night fell, the Israeli Army said its forces were still engaged in live gun battles in a string of Israel locations, in an operation labelled "Swords of Iron", as reservists were being called up.
• In a briefing on social media, the army spokesperson also said the high number of civilian and military personnel taken hostage by Hamas in Saturday's surprise attack on Israeli towns near Gaza would shape the future of the war and what Israel would do against Hamas.
• Airlines cancelled more than 80 flights to and from Tel Aviv by Saturday evening — roughly 14% of all flights scheduled — because of the unprecedented attack in Israel by the militant group Hamas, according to FlightAware, news agency AP reported.

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