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Death toll rises as Israeli military says Hamas has ‘nowhere to hide’ after launching airstrikes across Gaza

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The Israeli military said on Tuesday that Hamas operatives had “nowhere to hide” in Gaza and that its air force was carrying out intensive airstrikes in waves every four hours. “We will reach them everywhere,” chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a briefing. The Israeli air force has announced on social media that it is “launching an extensive attack against terror targets of the terrorist organisation Hamas in the Gaza Strip”.

The UN human rights chief said on Tuesday that Israeli air operations had struck residential buildings, including tower blocks, as well as schools and UN buildings across Gaza, resulting in civilian casualties. Gaza’s health ministry has put Palestinian casualty figures as at least 770 killed and 4,000 wounded by Israeli airstrikes since Saturday. They additionally claim that at least another 18 people were killed and 100 injured in the West Bank since Saturday.

Israeli media reports that Hamas fighters killed about 900 people inside Israel during the weekend incursion.

Israel has retaken control of the Gaza border fence breached by Palestinian Hamas gunmat the weekend, and is planting mines in the parts where the barrier was toppled, the chief military spokesperson said on Tuesday. Hagari said there had been no new infiltrations from Gaza since Monday.

The Times of Israel reports that officers are preparing to inform 100 families that their loved ones have been taken hostage by Hamas and are being held in Gaza. A senior member of the militant group has said it intends to use the dozens of hostages being held in Gaza to secure the release of Palestinians detained in Israel and overseas.

The Israeli air force confirmed it had flown back “hundreds of IDF soldiers who were abroad” in order to contribute to “the IDF’s efforts to mobilise additional forces to continue fighting”.

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said he was sure that Israel was focused exclusively on destroying Hamas in Gaza, and not on attacking Palestinians in general or the wider Arab world.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran was not involved in the Hamas attack on Israel, but hailed what he called Israel’s “irreparable” military and intelligence defeat. “We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime,” Khamenei said in his first televised speech since the attack. “The Zionist regime’s own actions are to blame for this disaster,” he added. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said the comments were unacceptable.

The Spanish acting foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said on Tuesday his government opposed the proposed suspension of EU aid to Palestinians. “This cooperation must continue, we cannot confuse Hamas, which is in the list of EU’s terrorist groups, with the Palestinian population, or the Palestinian Authority or the UN organisations on the ground,” Albares said in an interview with Spanish radio. His views were echoed by France’s foreign ministry, which issued a statement in Paris this morning saying: “We are not in favour of suspending aid that directly benefits the Palestinian people.”

The French foreign ministry has announced that four French nationals have died in the attacks. Thirteen French nationals are still missing, and their situation was considered “very worrying”, the ministry said. Spain has said two of its citizens are still missing.

Austria is arranging an evacuation of its citizens from Israel by military transport aircraft on Wednesday, chancellor Karl Nehammer said. Cyprus has said it is ready to help with the evacuation of nationals from third countries who might want to leave Israel.

Eighteen Thais have been killed in the conflict, the kingdom’s government said on Tuesday, up from the previous toll of 12. A foreign ministry spokesperson said nine Thai citizens had been wounded and 11 taken hostage. About 30,000 Thais work in Israel.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has said Moscow and Washington have not been in contact over the escalation of the conflict.

The Palestine football team has withdrawn from a tournament in Malaysia. It had been scheduled to compete in the Merdeka Cup in Malaysia from 13-17 October. Israel’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Switzerland, which was due to be played on Thursday, has already been postponed.