More than 123,000 people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, the United Nations said yesterday.

A careful campaign of deception ensured Israel was caught off guard when the Palestinian group Hamas launched its devastating attack, enabling a force using bulldozers, hang gliders and motorbikes to take on the Middle East’s most powerful army.

Through quiet diplomacy with Iran, US President Joe Biden’s administration had strived to keep a lid on Middle East troubles. That bet came crashing down with Saturday’s massive offensive by Hamas against Israel.

As Israel’s military sent phone messages telling Palestinians to leave some areas of Gaza after Saturday’s deadly Hamas raid, Mohammad Brais did not know where to seek safety from an assault that residents expect to be the worst they have ever faced.

Israel imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip yesterday and cut off utility supplies as it kept bombing targets in the crowded Palestinian enclave in response to the Hamas surprise assault.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed today to "change the Middle East" in Israel's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas, as the army pounded the Gaza Strip with air strikes

'We are putting a complete siege on Gaza... No electricity, no food, no water, no gas -- it's all closed'

Iran on Monday rejected as unfounded allegations it had a role in the massive assault on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

A careful campaign of deception ensured Israel was caught off guard when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched its devastating attack, enabling a force using bulldozers, hang gliders and motorbikes to take on the Middle East's most powerful army.

China said Monday it "opposes and condemns" violence against civilians in Israel and the Palestinian territories

The Bank of Israel said on Monday it will sell up to $30 billion of foreign currency in the open market, in the central bank's first ever sale of foreign exchange, to maintain stability during Israel's war with Palestinian militants in Gaza

Fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas Palestinian militants was ongoing Monday in seven to eight locations around the Gaza Strip inside Israel, the army said

Israel battered Gaza yesterday after suffering its bloodiest attack in decades, as Hamas fighters rampaged through Israeli towns killing 600 and abducting dozens more.

Two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian guide were shot dead yesterday in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, Israeli foreign ministry said.

With its surprise attack against Israel, Hamas has violently shifted the world’s eyes back to the Palestinians and dealt a severe blow to momentum to secure a landmark US-brokered deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

As Israel reeled from a deadly attack by Hamas who broke through barriers around Gaza and roamed at will, killing scores of civilians in Israeli towns, defence chiefs faced growing questions over how the disaster could have happened.

Israel fired barrages of artillery into southern Lebanon on Sunday after Hezbollah targeted three Israeli military positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms

More than 600 killed in Israel; at least 370 Palestinians dead

Hamas spokesperson Khaled Qadomi has told Al Jazeera that the group’s military operation is in response to all the atrocities the Palestinians have faced over the decades.

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas took Israel by surprise yesterday with the biggest attack for decades, a sudden assault by gunmen who crossed into Israeli villages, killed dozens of people and brought hostages back into the Gaza Strip.