Israeli forces are pounding Gaza after the country’s security cabinet formally declared war on Hamas.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Gaza City, said Israeli forces have intensified their bombing of the besieged Palestinian enclave in the last couple of hours.
“The skies over Gaza are full of Israeli fighter jets and drones. Some towns in the Gaza Strip, in particular Beit Hanoun, has seen non-stop bombardment for more than an hour,” he said, as the sound of explosions rang out behind him and clouds of smoke rose into the sky.
The exact number of casualties were not clear as medical teams have been unable to access the affected areas, Abu Azzoum said, adding that Israeli forces were likely pursuing a scorched earth policy to facilitate a ground invasion of Gaza.
Palestinian groups have also launched a barrage of rockets into southern Israel, he added.
Gun battles are continuing between Hamas fighters and Israeli forces in three main areas in southern Israel – at a kibbutz in Karmia and in the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot – with an Israeli army commander reportedly injured, according to Al Jazeera correspondents.
Israeli special forces were brought in to try to retake the sites held by Hamas, said Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from West Jerusalem.
Israeli troops have also been called to the scene of an exchange of fire with Hamas fighters near the city of Sderot, he added.
A spokesman for the Israeli military said his country has gathered 100,000 reserve troops near Gaza for the ongoing war with Hamas.
“We have amassed around 100,000 reserve troops who are currently in southern Israel,” said Jonathan Conricus in a video posted to X.
“Our job is to make sure that at the end of this war, Hamas will no longer have any military capability to threaten Israeli civilians,” he said. “In addition to that, we are also to make sure that Hamas will not be able to govern the Gaza Strip.”
Conricus added that Israeli troops are hunting down the last Palestinian fighters who had infiltrated southern Israel.
According to the UN humanitarian relief agency, Israeli air attacks and shelling aimed at houses and apartment buildings have displaced some 123,538 Palestinians in Gaza.
Many of those forced to flee their homes are sheltering in some 64 schools in the coastal enclave, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its latest update.
Notable buildings destroyed in Israeli attacks include four large towers with multiple floors of residential units, it said, adding that a total of 159 housing units have been destroyed while 1,210 have suffered severe damage.
A senior Hamas official has said the group is holding more than 100 people captive after its attack on Israel.
Mousa Abu Marzouk made the remarks to the Arabic language news outlet al-Ghad on Sunday. “Senior Israeli officers are among those being held,” he said.
The figure is in addition to more than 30 people said to be held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
The captives that Hamas fighters dragged into Gaza include women, children and the elderly. Their precise number has not been clear until the announcements from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Meanwhile, several airlines in Asia have cancelled their flights to Israel citing the security situation in the country.
Hainan Airlines, the only Chinese airline to fly between China and Israel, cancelled flights between Shanghai and Tel Aviv on Monday, while Cathay Pacific also cancelled its flight between Hong Kong and Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
Korean Air cancelled its flight between the port city of Incheon and Tel Aviv on Monday and said it expects future flights to be irregular.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has met behind closed doors in an emergency session amid the war between Israel and Gaza but failed to achieve the unanimity needed for a joint statement.
The United States called on the council’s 15 members to strongly condemn Hamas.
“There are a good number of countries that condemned the Hamas attacks. They’re obviously not all,” senior US diplomat Robert Wood told reporters after the session.
“You could probably figure out one of them without me saying anything,” said Wood, in a reference to Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated sharply since its invasion of Ukraine.
The council met for about 90 minutes and heard a briefing from the UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland.
Diplomats said members led by Russia were hoping for a broader focus than condemning Hamas.
“My message was to stop the fighting immediately and to go to a ceasefire and to meaningful negotiations, which was told for decades” by the Security Council, said Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s UN ambassador.
The Israeli rescue service Zaka says at least 260 bodies have been recovered from a music festival that was attacked by Hamas on Saturday.
More than 1,000 people have reportedly been killed in the latest fighting between Hamas and the Israeli military, including 413 Palestinians.
Defence Secretary Austin said the US will send multiple military ships and aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support.
