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Joe Biden said on Monday that ‘the American people stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israelis’

It now seems that the Middle East is poised on the edge of a broader regional war. Whether or not this was the goal of the Hamas invasion of towns and cities deep inside Israel, it is the result. Israel has suffered its deadliest day since the state’s founding, and the gruesome, unspeakable images of whole families shot in their homes and kidnapped Israeli children, women, youth and the elderly have galvanized almost the entire country in support of an overwhelming use of force against the Gaza Strip.

Joshua Leifer is a member of the Dissent editorial board and a contributing editor at Jewish Currents

Alex Kane is a senior reporter at Jewish Currents

Yousef Munayyer is head of the Palestine/Israel program at the Arab Center in Washington DC

Libby Lenkinski is an activist and the vice-president for public engagement at the New Israel Fund

Noura Erakat is an associate professor at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and the author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine

Diala Shamas is a senior staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights

Biden may be the last unalloyed pro-Israel Democratic president – but right now he sets the tone of US policy

Once again, the Middle East looms large in US politics. Hamas’s attack on southern Israel will reverberate in the weeks and months to come. On Monday, Joe Biden announced that 11 Americans were killed. Already, the political fallout is being felt in the White House and Capitol Hill, in California and in New York.

The strains between the Biden administration and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have subsided. As a result, the Republicans can no longer try to lay sole claim to the pro-Israel card heading into the 2024 elections.

The images from the Hamas attack are an affront to humanity. But we mustn’t forget the traumatic history shaping events

• Fatima AbdulKarim is a journalist based in Ramallah

The horrific footage from Gaza over the past two days cannot help but shock, but it also prompts stark confrontation with the grim reality that has plagued Palestine for decades. Images of the torment and brutal killings of hundreds of Israeli civilians bring back memories of the violence and humiliation suffered by Palestinians, including children, women, elderly and disabled people, over many years. The images of assaults on hostages also recollect painful past events: they are an undeniable affront to humanity. Attacking civilians, irrespective of the side perpetrating the violence, lacks any semblance of honour.

In the first days of fighting, the toll of human life has been devastating on both sides, with over 1,500 people killed. At least 900 Israelis have lost their lives, with thousands more injured. It’s a tragedy of awful proportions.

Fatima AbdulKarim is a journalist based in Ramallah

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• Israel-Hamas war: live coverage
• Linda Burney demands Peter Dutton apologise for comments on late Indigenous leader Yunupingu
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Here are some images of the Australian landmarks that were illuminated in blue and white colours last night in support of Israel.

The Sydney Opera House:

Israel has a much larger military but Hamas has adapted in recent years to take advantage of the urban environment

• Israel-Hamas war – live updates

Fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas has tended to follow a similar pattern, with ground incursions launched over the years on different scales usually preceded by a heavy barrage that targets areas and locations used by the Israelis to approach.

This blog is now closed. Follow our latest updates from the conflict here

• Israel-Hamas war live: latest news and updates

The US special antisemitism envoy, Deborah Lipstadt, among the most renowned Holocaust scholars in the world, called the Hamas attacks “the most lethal assault against Jews since the Holocaust”.

Lipstadt said there was “no justification” for the “heinous, barbaric terrorism against Israeli civilians” and mass murder.

“No one has the right to tell Israel how to defend itself and prevent and deter future attacks. As [US president Joe Biden] stated, “The United States stands with Israel. We will not ever fail to have their back … Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Full stop.”

Police say man’s presence at rally was a risk to his safety as questions raised over why Jewish community was warned to stay away from city centre

• Warning: this article contains offensive language
• Israel and Hamas at war – live updates
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Police have defended their actions in arresting a man who carried an Israeli flag to a pro-Palestine rally in Sydney “for his safety” as local tensions over the Israel-Gaza conflict boiled over on Monday.

About 1,000 people marched from town hall to Sydney’s Opera House. Video of the protest appears to show the crowd at one point chanting antisemitic slogans, including “fuck the Jews” and “fuck Israel”.

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Ali Barakeh, a member of Hamas’ exiled leadership, said only a small number of top commanders inside Gaza knew about the wide-ranging incursion launched into Israel, but that allies like Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah “will join the battle if Gaza is subjected to a war of annihilation.”

• Israel-Hamas war

• Kramer to start Game 3 with Baltimore’s season on line
• Extended family of California-born pitcher lives in Israel

Israeli-American pitcher Dean Kremer will make his first career playoff start for the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night while thinking about family members in Israel, where war has been declared following a deadly incursion by militant group Hamas.

Kremer said he has no hesitation about pitching Game 3 of the AL Division Series against the Texas Rangers, a game the Orioles have to win to extend their season.

A bloody attack by Hamas has shocked the world – and left Israel reeling. As the country responds with devastating airstrikes, Peter Beaumont explains how the surprise attack unfolded and what could happen next

On Saturday, as thousands of young people danced at a music festival, Hamas launched a deadly attack. Breaking through the heavily controlled walls and fences that surround Gaza, its soldiers moved into Israel, taking over military bases, before arriving at the festival. They shot revellers and took others hostage, in an attack that left more than 250 people dead.

It was a scene played out in other communities near Gaza – and has left Israel reeling. In retaliation, the country has launched airstrikes against Gaza, cut off electricity supplies and vowed to reduce the densely populated area, which is home to more than 2 million people, “to ruins”.