As we've been reporting, Israel's foreign ministry says two Israeli tourists were shot dead in Egypt along with their Egyptian tour guide earlier today.

The foreign ministry has just issued more detail on the incident, which happened in the city of Alexandria.

"This morning during a tourist visit of a group of Israelis in Alexandria, Egypt, a local opened fire on them, as a result of which two Israeli citizens and the local Egyptian guide were murdered," the ministry said.

"In addition, there is a wounded Israeli in moderate condition," it added.

The impact of this escalation will be far-reachingpublished at 11:44 British Summer Time 8 October 2023

11:44 BST 8 October 2023

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

The timing of Hamas’ assault continues to raise questions. Its leaders invoke their usual mantras of a fight for Jerusalem, for its prisoners.

But Hamas will have much wider ambitions in an operation which would have been years in the making.

And there are now wheels within wheels. Many wider issues will certainly be affected by the consequences of this crisis.

This unprecedented escalation has come at a time of unprecedented diplomacy: Saudi-US negotiations which seemed to be heading towards the kingdom’s recognition of the Jewish state; greater engagement between Riyadh and the Palestinian Authority, Hamas' arch rival.

Hamas has thrown a grenade into the rooms where it’s happening.

And there are many players in this mix – Iran, a staunch ally of Hamas, as well as Russia. Even the war in Ukraine could find itself in this orbit.

Hamas itself is known to be divided. Sources say the military wing is driving a dangerous escalation, the impact of which will be far reaching and long lasting.

Image source, Reuters

More than 24 hours after Hamas launched its attacks on Israel and infiltrated southern communities, here's the latest on the biggest escalation in the conflict in decades:

• Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants are ongoing in several parts of southern Israel, according to local media reports
• Haaretz quotes the Israeli army as saying it has taken back control of most areas of the south, but fighting is continuing in areas close to the Gaza border, including Be’eri and Sderot
• The Israeli Embassy in the UK has confirmed a British citizen, Jake Marlowe, is missing - he was working as security staff at an outdoor dance festival near the Gaza border when the attack happened
• More than 400 Palestinian militants have been killed in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, and dozens more have been captured, an IDF spokesman was quoted as saying by the Times of Israel
• And at least 300 Israelis have been killed and dozens kidnapped, Israel’s Embassy in Turkey said, quoting Israel’s Ministry of Health
• Israeli air strikes have killed at least 313 people in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials say
• Meanwhile, Israeli officials have said the country is “still at war" [and] still completing efforts to take full control of Israeli territory and communities from Hamas”

Video from the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon shows the country's Iron Dome air defence system intercepting missiles from Gaza.

Quentin Sommerville
Reporting from southern Lebanon

Image source, Reuters

Following Hezbollah’s limited artillery and missile strikes this morning on Israeli positions, the situation here on Lebanon’s southern border is for now, calm.

But the threat of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalating hangs heavy here in southern Lebanon and across the country.

The Iranian backed group chose its target carefully, three positions in the disputed territory of Shebaa farms. But it is capable of much more.

Hezbollah, which like Iran, is committed to Israel’s destruction, yesterday congratulated Hamas on its attacks on Israeli territory and said it would “keep a close eye on developments”.

Today’s attacks were “in solidarity with the Palestinian people”, a fresh statement said.

The militant group has long-range missiles at its disposal which can strike deep into Israeli territory.

Israel, which retaliated immediately this morning by targeting launch and other sites, had already sent reinforcements to its northern border. It says it is planning a long conflict, and a ground offensive in Gaza is expected.

Today’s exchange was limited in scale, with both sides carefully calibrating their responses, and falls far short of action that would provoke all out war. But the implicit threat in Hezbollah’s actions is that this may not always be the case.

And Hezbollah is not Lebanon, there are many in the country that oppose it.

Still suffering from political paralysis - there is no president - and a shattering economic crisis, Lebanon is poorly placed to face another crisis.

Image source, Getty Images

Two Israeli tourists and their Egyptian tour guide have been shot dead in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, Israel's foreign ministry says.

A police officer allegedly opened fired on a group of Israeli tourists in the city. The officer is now in custody, reports say.

The Extra News television channel also quoted an unidentified security official as saying that another person was wounded in the attack.

It is the first such attack on Israelis in Egypt in decades.

We’ve just reported that a British citizen who was working an an outdoor dance festival in southern Israel is missing.

His mother told Jewish News that he was working as security staff at the event in Kibbutz Re’im, near the border with Gaza, when the attack unfolded on Saturday.

Attendees of that event have spoken of how gunmen opened fire in the early hours.

One attendee, Gili Yoskovich, told the BBC that she hid under a tree in a field as gunmen roamed around shooting anybody they found.

"They were very close to me and my leg was shaking. I tried and did my best, I moved a little bit and when they were in this side I heard them talking Arabic,” she said of the attackers.

The Israeli Embassy in the UK has confirmed that a British citizen, Jake Marlowe, is missing in Israel following the Palestinian attack.

It is unclear whether he has been taken hostage.

According to his mother, Marlowe was working as security staff at an outdoor party at Kibbutz Re’im, near the border with Gaza, when the attack unfolded on Saturday.

In an email response to questions about the man, an embassy spokesperson told the BBC: “Missing, we don’t know if taken hostage at this point.”

It comes after a Sky News report quoted the embassy as saying he had not been heard from since Saturday morning.

A different and dangerous crisispublished at 10:33 British Summer Time 8 October 2023

10:33 BST 8 October 2023

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

There has been decades of tension, attacks, and all-out wars between Israel and Hamas. But this crisis is different and dangerous - most of all for the large number of Israeli hostages but also the rising toll of Israeli casualties.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be under huge pressure from his right-wing government to do what he and other Israeli leaders have avoided in the past – a major ground offensive into Gaza, even more a reoccupation of the territory its troops pulled out of in 2005.

Hamas is also ready for a fight - its audacious attack has resonated with Palestinians fed up with Israeli restrictions, furious with their own leaders in the Palestinian Authority.

This crisis also comes at a time when Israel and the United States have been negotiating with Saudi Arabia over what would be a major step for the kingdom to recognise the Jewish state.

Hamas has now reminded everyone they’re still a force to be reckoned with, and there are still major issues to resolve.

Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants are ongoing in several parts of southern Israel, according to media reports.

Haaretz reports that Israeli forces fought 10 armed fighters at a police station in Sderot, close to the Gaza border, although it says the area is now believed to be under Israeli control.

The newspaper quoted the Israeli army as saying it had taken back control of most areas in the south overnight, but added clashes were continuing in Be’eri, also close to the Gaza border, Sderot, and four other southern locations that it did not specify.

Residents in Kfar Aza – another area close to the Gaza border - are still barricading themselves in their homes and waiting for aid, Haaretz also reports.

“Kfar Aza is still under war,” one resident said.

Video recorded in Gaza shows the scale of destruction there after Israeli air strikes in response to the Palestinian attack.

A mosque is seen destroyed in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, while several large buildings are also seen in ruins in Gaza City.

As we reported earlier, Israel says there are eight "points of engagement" with Hamas militants inside its territory.

Hamas, meanwhile, says "fierce fighting" is continuing.

These are the eight areas where the IDF says operations are taking place.

More than 400 Palestinian militants have been killed in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, and dozens more have been captured, according to IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, quoted in the Times of Israel.

“As of this hour, there are forces fighting in [Kibbutz] Kfar Aza, there are searches in a large number of towns. There are IDF forces in all towns, there is no town that does not have an IDF force in it,” he is quoted as saying.

An earlier report from the Reuters news agency said hundreds of Palestinian gunmen had been killed since Hamas launched its attack on Saturday.

Yolande Knell
BBC Middle East correspondent, Jerusalem

Hamas has called on Palestinians and other Arabs to join the action to "sweep away the [Israeli] occupation".

A big question now is whether Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem or elsewhere in the region will heed his call.

Israel undoubtedly sees the potential for a war that could open up on multiple fronts. A worst-case scenario is that it could draw in the powerful Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has ordered a massive reinforcement of troops. As well as its intense air raids on Gaza, it has indicated that it is planning a ground operation there.

Israel’s ambassador to the UK says the country is now in a “necessity war” with Hamas “to protect our people”.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast from Giv’at Shumel in Israel, Tzipi Hotovoley says Israelis woke up yesterday to a “nightmare”, and called Hamas a “terrorist organisation” that targets civilians and “innocent children”.

“We need to make sure all the infrastructure of terrorism will be 100% destroyed,” she says

Gili Yoskovich was among hundreds of young people at a dance music festival in southern Israel, near the Gaza Strip, when militant gunmen opened fire in the early hours of Saturday morning.

She describes to the BBC how she hid under a tree in a field as gunmen roamed about, shooting anybody they saw.

"They were... all over the place with automatic weapons.

"I saw people were dying all around. I was very quiet. I didn't cry, I didn't do anything.

"I was... breathing, saying: 'OK, I'm going to die. It's OK, just breathe, just close your eyes.'"

She says she hid for three hours before Israeli soldiers arrived to rescue her.

"I was the first one to get out of the field. It took others two or three more hours to get out [and] all the way people were dying - all the way on the road, young people, [as] it's a festival for young people.

"Many many people were dying on the road.”

• Read more here or watch the video below

Jo Floto
Middle East bureau chief in Jerusalem

Overnight, Israelis have been watching social media posts of civilians dragged out of their homes at gunpoint, shipped into Gaza and often humiliated on camera.

That is a searing shock to the country. The safety and recovery of those hostages will be at the forefront of everyone's minds.

In the past, when Hamas has managed to take hostages, it has ended in negotiation eventually - sometimes after many years. Thousands of Palestinian prisoners have been swapped in return.

We know that Hamas wants to do the same now. It says it will secure the release of Palestinian militants in Israeli prisons, in return for those hostages.

Israel's PM Benajmin Netanyahu has warned Hamas that there would be dire consequences if those hostages were harmed.

It's difficult to see how they can recover the hostages without a ground operation - and how they can make sure they are not killed in the crossfire.

The Israeli military is mobilising thousands of infrantry and tanks are being brought on the road to Gaza. At some point, ground operations will be on the cards.

Image source, Getty Images

In our last post, we brought you an updated death toll from the Israeli air strikes on Gaza - and now we have a new figure from Israel, too.

At least 300 Israelis have been killed so far and dozens kidnapped, Israel's Embassy in Turkey said, quoting Israel's Ministry of Health.

Close to 2,000 people are being treated in hospitals - 19 of them are in critical condition, it said.

This figure has not been directly confirmed by Israel.

In total, 313 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 2,000 injured in Gaza from Israeli retaliatory air strikes since Saturday, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

During the unprecedented attack from Gaza, Palestinian militants infiltrated Israel and tried to take control of Israeli communities.

Hundreds of those Palestinian gunmen have now been killed, the Israeli military says, according to a Reuters news agency report.

Dozens of gunmen have been taken prisoner, the military added.

Israel said earlier that it was still dealing with militants in eight locations.