More than 250 bodies found at site of Israeli Supernova festival - rescuers

1. Rescuers say they've found more than 250 bodies at the site of an Israeli music festival attacked by Hamas militants in an unprecedented assault on Saturday
2. The Israeli military says at least 700 people have died in the attacks overall, more than 2,000 were injured, and that a number of hostages are being held in Gaza
3. Retaliatory Israeli air strikes have killed at least 413 people in the Gaza Strip, with 2,300 wounded, according to the latest update from Palestinian officials
4. The US has announced more support for Israel by sending munitions and boosting forces in the region
5. The family of a British man serving in the Israeli military, Nathanel Young, say he was killed in an attack; several other nations have said their own citizens have died or been abducted
6. The wave of attacks launched by the Hamas militant group on Saturday morning was the biggest escalation between the two sides for decades
7. You can watch live BBC News coverage by clicking the 'play' button at the top of this page

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The latest situation in Israel and Gaza

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A missile explodes in Gaza City on Sunday evening

A short time ago, we received confirmation from the Israeli military that more than 700 people there had been killed in attacks after a massive co-ordinated assault by Hamas militants that started early on Saturday.

The latest update from the Palestinian side says more than 400 have died after retaliatory strikes by Israel in Gaza. Here are more of the headlines:

• Rescuers say they've found more than 250 bodies at the site of the Supernova music festival - which was one of the first ground targets during this unprecedented assault by Hamas
• A German mother is pleading for information about her daughter, believing that she was kidnapped by militants at that festival. Several other nations say their citizens were caught up in the attacks
• Hospitals in Gaza are deluged after Israel began its retaliatory strikes
• Thirty-six hours after the latest hostilities began, rockets were still being fired from Gaza into southern Israel, the BBC's Alice Cuddy observed
• The US has upped its support to its ally Israel, deploying ships and aircraft to the region - a move denounced as "aggression" by Hamas

How Hamas staged attack no one thought possible

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Many Israelis would have been asleep when Saturday's attack began.

Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath and also a holy festival day, meaning families were planning to spend time at home together or in synagogue, and friends were meeting up.

At around 06:30 local time, the rockets began to fly.

The rudimentary rockets often struggle to evade Israel's advanced Iron Dome missile defence system - but thousands were fired in a short space of time to overwhelm it.

The scale suggests months of planning and stockpiling. Hamas says it fired 5,000 in the first round (Israel says it was half that number).

Within just a few hours of the rocket barrage beginning, hundreds of Israelis were dead - and it happened in a way no-one thought was possible.

• Read BBC Verify's account of how the attack was staged

Israelis rush to get home as flights sell out

Alexander Lederman

Reporting from Cyprus

BBC

Late on Sunday night in Cyprus, hundreds of Israelis are packed into Larnaca International Airport.

They’re hoping to catch the last flight home to Israel, as rumours swirl that it might close its airspace.

Tickets are hard to come by, with dozens hoping to get the seat of a no-show for the fully-booked flights. Getting back into the country hasn't been easy for Israelis and foreigners.

Several BBC teams have had to reroute and find enterprising ways to enter. My two-hour layover turned into nine hours as I tried to sort my next move.

Now I sit here waiting along with everyone else, hoping I'll find my way aboard one of these flights.

Earlier, I was out of luck. While most people made it onto a flight, I didn't.

“Sir, I’ll be honest with you: this is an emergency flight for Israelis to go home,” the airline worker told me.

“And that’s it. That’s it.”

Security Council acknowledges a game-changing moment

Nada Tawfik

Reporting from UN headquarters, New York City

The UN Security Council meeting is now over. Tor Wennesland – the UN’s Middle East envoy – briefed council members on the latest situation on the ground and the UN’s humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

According to a senior UN official, Wennesland called for countries to make diplomatic efforts to restore calm, if they had the ability to do so.

Council members did not attempt to reach agreement on a statement. But, according to a UN diplomat, there was recognition that this was a game-changing moment.

The UAE’s ambassador to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, said the briefing was sobering and that members were concerned about regional inflammation and spillover.

The protection of civilians was a priority, she said, along with the unconditional release of hostages.

Many members discussed the future need for a two-state solution as the only way to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but she said they were not at the point to resume negotiations and that would be down the line.

'Why take the children? It's insane'

Nadia Ragozhina

Live reporter

More now from a resident of Sderot in southern Israel.

Dov Trachtman is busy catching up on the day's events when we speak again, after the power returns where he lives. He's trying to keep track of friends who have been killed and those who are still missing.

While the death toll is shocking, it is the way in which people were killed that Dov finds hard to comprehend.

He tells me about a group of elderly residents who had been waiting for a bus around the corner from his house to go to the Dead Sea for the day.

"They were all shot dead, their bodies piled one on top of the other. The photographs spread all over social media," he says, disbelief in his voice.

The BBC has not been able to verify this incident.

It's so shocking. They massacre civilians, but why take the children and the elderly? I can't find the words. Even for a terrorist group it's insane."

Dov TrachtmanSderot resident

Dov says his home town of Sderot is still under lockdown more than 36 hours after it was first infiltrated by Hamas gunmen.

In the last few hours there's been a fresh infiltration, he says, with more gunmen reaching the town.

The residents have been told to stay inside and be quiet. They can hear the sound of gunshots outside.

"I am carrying a knife. It won't help me much against a gun, but I can't not do anything. I am just hoping they don't come for me."

• Read earlier accounts from Dov here and here

BreakingMore than 700 Israelis killed - IDF

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has just given an update.

It says more than 700 Israelis have been killed since Saturday morning and 2,150 have been injured.

According to the IDF, 3,284 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip (Hamas says the number is more than 5,000) and Israel has struck 653 Hamas targets.

In Gaza, 413 people have been killed and 2,300 wounded in retaliatory air strikes from Israel, according to the latest update from Palestinian officials.

'Nobody could help us' - anger in Israel's Ashkelon

Yolande Knell

Middle East correspondent in Ashkelon

BBC

Rachel Ezra has come to Barzilai Medical Center to try and find her son

Many Israelis I meet in this southern city are shocked at how their powerful security forces were overwhelmed by the scale and complexity of the Hamas operation. Now there are complaints of a lack of help from the authorities.

One tearful couple are making their own enquiries going from hospital to hospital. They do not know if their missing son is injured, dead or among the dozens of hostages who have been taken.

A distraught mother, Rachel Ezra confronts an MP who is visiting the hospital. "I want you to help me find my boy, Oz and his girlfriend Naomi - they're aged 24 and 23," she shouts.

She calls for the toughest military action against Gaza in retaliation for what has happened, and she is not the only one.

An Israeli volunteer - who does not want to give his name - says he has been caring for many of the wounded soldiers and, like him, they want to see Hamas hit hard. "I spoke to the soldiers also and they're very disappointed. They want us to react way stronger and to be less politically correct when it comes to our way of warfare," he says.

• Read more from Yolande here

China calls for renewed focus on two-state solution

Nada Tawfik

Reporting from UN headquarters, New York City

China’s ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, was the last representative to stop to talk to reporters here in New York. He said China condemned all attacks against civilians.

What was important now, he said, was to prevent a further escalation of the situation and to come back to the two-state solution.

China’s foreign ministry in an earlier statement had said the recurrence of the conflict showed that the “protracted standstill” of the peace process couldn’t go on.

When I asked Israel’s UN ambassador about the desire from some countries to see the resumption of talks, he said those calls were “naive.”

US aid to Israel is aggression, Hamas says

More now from Hamas. The militant group is quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that fresh US military aid to Israel amounts to "aggression" against Palestinians.

The group is said to have called on "resistance fighters in the West Bank" and "Arab and Islamic nations" to join the battle.

"The announcement of the US that it will provide an aircraft carrier to support the occupation (Israel) is actual participation in the aggression against our people," it said.

'My friend was a very good person. His name was Lior Waitzman'

Nadia Ragozhina

Live reporter

We've had an update from a resident of Sderot in southern Israel - who we first heard from yesterday.

Dov Trachtman messages me to say that his electricity and phone service are finally back after an hours-long cut - but the news is not good.

Late last night he told me about his friend who had called his wife at 07:00 on Saturday while on a bike ride near Sderot - to tell her that he was being shot at.

This evening, Dov tells me that his friend's body was found earlier today.

"He was training for a competition. It's really heartbreaking: he was shot at when he called her. He probably died on the spot. He was a very good person. His name was Lior Waitzman."

Dov tells me about all the messages people have been leaving on social media in tribute to his friend, who he says was very loved in the city. Lior leaves behind a wife and a young son.

Dov Trachtman

Lior Waitzman was shot dead by gunmen outside of Sderot on Saturday morning, his friend says

The latest: More than 250 festivalgoers among hundreds dead

It's approaching midnight in Israel, where the overall death toll following attacks from Hamas militants has passed 600 - although some some reports say the number is even higher.

In the Gaza Strip, more than 400 people have been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes.

Here's the latest top lines:

• Festival victims: More than 250 bodies have been removed from the site of a music festival in southern Israel which came under attack, according to search and rescue organisation Zaka
• US support: The US military has deployed naval vessels and combat aircraft to the eastern Mediterranean, as part of additional support promised to Israel by the White House. Extra resources, including munitions, are also being dispatched
• Crisis talks: A UN Security Council meeting about the conflict is under way in New York. Before the talks began, Israel’s ambassador to the UN said the attack by Hamas was Israel’s 9/11. The Palestinian ambassador to the UN said the root cause of the conflict needed to be addressed
• Military update: In a brief press conference earlier, an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said the military would do "do whatever it takes to protect our people"
• 'Great victory': Earlier, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the militant group was on the "verge of a great victory"

Stay with us for more.

US calls on UN Security Council to condemn events

Nada Tawfik

Reporting from UN headquarters, New York City

Ambassador Robert Wood is representing the United States in today’s closed consultations of the UN Security Council.

He says he expects all council members to strongly condemn what’s happened.

He also says he's heard reports that several Americans may have been taken hostage or killed, and there's concern for the health and safety of US citizens in the region.

WATCH: Destroyed cars line road near festival

Destroyed cars line road near festival in chilling video

The Supernova music festival was happening in a desert in southern Israel, near where Hamas militants entered Israel from the Gaza Strip. Gunmen opened fire, and people attempted to flee in panic.

Chilling footage filmed from the area the following day shows the scale of the attack, with car wrecks lining a road, some overturned and others completely burned out.

As we reported below, a rescue organisation is quoted as saying it's retrieved more than 250 bodies from the site.

• Read more about what happened at Supernova here

BreakingMore than 250 killed at music festival - rescue organisation

More than 250 bodies have reportedly been removed from the site of a music festival in southern Israel which came under attack.

That number comes from search and rescue organisation Zaka, quoted by Israeli media outlets.

Rockets hit Gaza school sheltering hundreds

A school in the Gaza Strip where 225 people were sheltering from rocket fire has been directly hit, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency said in a statement on Sunday.

No one was hurt, but the building was significantly damaged, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said.

The agency added that it was currently sheltering 73,538 displaced people in 64 schools across the Palestinian enclave.

Palestinian ambassador speaks at UN

Nada Tawfik

Reporting from UN headquarters, New York City

After a similar appearance by his Israeli counterpart, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations has spoken to reporters at the UN.

Riyad Mansour expressed his concern that messages about “Israel’s right to defend itself” could be interpreted by the Israeli government as “a licence to kill.” He has requested an emergency meeting of the League of Arab States (LAS) in Cairo in the next few days.

Mansour then spoke about the root causes of the conflict, which he said needed to be addressed to advance peace.

He said Israel's blockade on Gaza did not destroy Hamas’s military capabilities, and only inflicted terrible suffering on an entire civilian population.

Palestinians, he said, were not “sub-humans” and would never accept a rhetoric that “denigrates their humanity, reneges their rights… ignores the occupation of their land and oppression of their people.”

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Ten Nepalis among foreigners killed in Israel

Ten Nepalese citizens are believed to have been killed in the fighting in Israel, Nepal's embassy in the country has told the BBC.

Another nine are in hiding amid the ongoing clashes. Most of the Nepalis caught in the fighting are believed to be students, about 4,500 of whom study in Israeli universities.

Citizens of a several other countries, including France, Cambodia, Thailand, Ukraine and the UK have been confirmed killed since the current conflict began on Saturday.

Thailand also says 11 of its citizens are believed to have been abducted by Hamas fighters, and Mexico says at least two of its own citizens are thought to have been captured.

Rocket fire continues 36 hours later

Alice Cuddy

Reporting from southern Israel

Watch: Gaza rockets intercepted by Israel Iron Dome

It's been just over 36 hours since Hamas's audacious assault began, but rockets continue to be launched from Gaza into Israel.

I'm standing less than 10km (6.2 miles) from the border and a continuous stream of them is being intercepted by the Iron Dome air defence system.

The golden points of light arc through the sky, lighting up the darkness, and booms ring out as the Iron Dome missiles explode next to their targets.

Police are stopping cars from going any further. Israel is continuing to strike Gaza from the air in retaliation.

• How Israel's Iron Dome missile shield works

London braced for hate crime rise - Sadiq Khan

Staying in the UK for a moment - London mayor Sadiq Khan has told the BBC that extra police patrols are being carried out to reassure Jewish Londoners.

It comes after social media videos circulated of people in the centre of the capital appearing to celebrate Hamas's attack on Israel.

Khan said: "What we know from the past is that when there's an increase in violence, or a disturbance, or tension in the Middle East, it can lead to increased hate crime in London."

He reiterated that Hamas was a proscribed organisation under UK law and that it is "against the law to show support" for it.