Israel-Hamas war highlights: 'Every Hamas member is a dead man', Israel PM vows to keep fighting

Israel formed an emergency unity government on Wednesday as its jets pounded Gaza and tanks massed around the Palestinian enclave, and the army said it killed three Hamas militants in a fresh confrontation on nearby Israeli territory. Read more

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed to keep fighting Hamas, saying that every member of the Palestinian militant group was "a dead man".

"Hamas is Daesh (Islamic State group) and we will crush them and destroy them as the world has destroyed Daesh," he said in a brief televised statement, the first delivered jointly with his war cabinet.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a negotiation process with Hamas seeking the release of Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by the Palestinian militant group, an official source told AFP on Wednesday.

"They are negotiating to secure the release of the hostages," the source said, confirming a report by the private TV channel Haberturk.

In the first round of evacuation from Israel, Nepal has planned to evacuate a total of 250 nationals from Israel while the bodies of 10 Nepali students killed will be repatriated later, the Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.

Sewa Lamsal, the Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press briefing announced that Nepal Airlines will fly for Tel Aviv late on Wednesday. Only 250 out of 288 who have registered to fly to the homeland would be brought back, the official announced.

"Till afternoon 350 Nepali in Israel have registered online for support. Out of them, 288 have wished to fly back to Nepal. For those wanting to return to Nepal, a 250-seated Nepal Airlines aircraft is flying to Tel Aviv (Israel) from Kathmandu (Nepal). As limited commercial flights are operating to and out of Israel, those wanting to return to Nepal via commercial flights, the Nepal Embassy in Israel would facilitate them," Sewa Lamsal, Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nepal said in a press briefing.

More than 20,000 Indians live in Israel but he was not aware of any Indian national getting injured or killed in the ongoing fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants, Israel's Consul General in Mumbai Kobbi Shoshani has said. Airline operations from India to Israel have been stopped and the Ministry of External Affairs is working to bring back the Indians stranded in his country, he told PTI on Tuesday. Read more

The United States is monitoring the situation in Israel, President Joe Biden said on Wednesday as he continued talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and prepared to meet with Jewish community leaders at the White House.

Biden has pledged to support its Middle East ally following an attack by the Hamas militant group on Saturday that has left 1,200 dead and more than 2,700 wounded, according to Israel's count, calling the attack "an act of sheer evil" in emotional remarks at the White House on Tuesday.

"There is no justification for terrorism. No excuse," Biden said on Wednesday, adding that he had again spoken to Netanyahu -- his fourth call with the Israeli leader in recent days.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Israel's blockade and bombing of Gaza in response to Palestinian militant group Hamas' attack was a disproportionate response amounting to a "massacre," but repeated Ankara's offer to mediate.

With Ankara offering to mediate between the sides this week, Erdogan and his foreign minister held calls with regional powers and Western counterparts. However, Israel's envoy to Ankara on Sunday said it was too early to discuss mediation.

Erdogan, speaking to his ruling AK Party in parliament, said even war has a "morality" but the flare-up since the weekend "very severely" violated that.

"Preventing people meeting their most fundamental needs and bombing housing where civilians live - in short, conducting a conflict using every sort of shameful method - is not a war, it's a massacre," he said, referring to Israel cutting off electricity and water to Gaza and destroying infrastructure.

Israeli lawmaker calling for her nation's military to use nuclear warfare in response to attacks by Hamas. Revital "Tally" Gotliv, a member of the Knesset for Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, published multiple posts advocating for a forceful retaliation following a surprise attack by Hamas. This comes as more than 1,600 combined Israelis and Palestinians have been killed since Hamas launched attacks. Read more

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that while Israel has the right to defend itself against attacks, he expects the response to Hamas' weekend assault to be proportionate.

"(I) expect that of course when we see Israel responses it will be proportionate and it is important as this conflict continues to do whatever is possible to prevent the loss of innocent civilian lives", he said.

China's envoy to the Middle East Zhai Jun called for "an immediate ceasefire" to the Israel-Hamas conflict during a phone call with a Palestinian official, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Zhai spoke with Amal Jadou, the Palestinian Authority's deputy foreign minister, and said China was worried by the conflict's intensification and "deeply concerned by the serious deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in Palestine", a readout on the ministry's website said.

"The top priorities are an immediate ceasefire and the protection of civilians," Zhai was quoted as saying.

The United States has confirmed the deaths of at least 22 US citizens following Hamas' attack on Israel, a State Department spokesperson said.

Israeli security forces have killed at least 27 Palestinians during clashes in the West Bank since Saturday, as Palestinian factions called on people in the Palestinian territory to join the fight against Israel's occupation.

Israeli military said that hostile aircraft had entered the country from Lebanon, setting sirens blaring across northern Israel as it urged citizens there to shelter.

The military did not specify the kind of aircraft. But Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Palestinian militants are known to have drones and gliders.

The deputy director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says 11 staffers have been killed in Gaza since Saturday. Jenifer Austin said in a statement that the dead include five teachers at UNRWA schools, one gynecologist, one engineer, one psychological counselor and three support staff.

She said some of the victims were killed in their homes with their families.

“UNRWA mourns this loss and is grieving with our colleagues and the families,” she said. “We call for the fighting to come to an end to spare more civilian lives lost."

Israel's war to "uproot" Palestinian Islamist group Hamas will deter militants from carrying out attacks across the world, the country's Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel told AFP in an exclusive interview.

"We have to uproot it so it doesn't happen, there won't be any option, even a thought, to others in the world that they could use what happened (in Israel) as a model" for future attacks, Gamliel said.

British Airways said it diverted a flight from London to Tel Aviv back to the UK due to security concerns in Israel, even as Israel's airports authority said there was no security threat at the airport at the time.

"Safety is always our highest priority and we've taken the decision to return our Tel Aviv flight to Heathrow," a spokesperson for the airline said.

The Nepal government has decided to send a Nepal Airlines aircraft to Israel to bring back over 250 Nepalese students who are stranded in the country following the surprise attack by Hamas militants.

Britain's King Charles III is "appalled" by Palestinian militant group Hamas's weekend attacks in Israel and "condemns the barbaric acts of terrorism" perpetrated, Buckingham Palace said.

"This is a situation His Majesty is extremely concerned about, and he has asked to be kept actively updated," the palace added, noting the king's "thoughts and prayers are with all of those suffering".

Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz agree to form an emergency unity government and a war Cabinet.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that the Palestinian militant group Hamas's killing of Israeli civilians was a cold-blooded act of war and reflected an "ancient evil".

"We have to be clear in defining this kind of horror," she said. "And there can only be one response to it. Europe stands with Israel. And we fully support Israel's right to defend itself."

The German government currently has no valid evidence of Iran's direct involvement in the Hamas attack against Israel, a German government spokesperson said.

British foreign minister James Cleverly traveled to Israel to show solidarity with the Israeli people following attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas, the British foreign office said.

"The Foreign Secretary has arrived in Israel today to demonstrate the UK's unwavering solidarity with the Israeli people following Hamas’ terrorist attacks," a foreign office spokesperson said, adding, "He will be meeting survivors of the attacks and senior Israeli leaders to outline UK support for Israel’s right to defend itself."

Spain’s Foreign Ministry says one of two Spaniards affected by the Hamas attacks in Israel has died.

The ministry named the woman as Spanish-Israeli citizen Maya Villalobo Sinvany. The ministry condemned the attacks and expressed its condolences to her family. It gave no further details about the woman.

Gaza's only power plant has run out of fuel, forcing it to shut down after Israel cut off supplies, the Energy Ministry said on Wednesday.

That will leave only generators to power the territory.

The German government held a minute of silence for the Israeli victims of the Hamas terror attacks in parliament. The president of parliament, Baerbel Bas, vowed that Germany will stand univocally on the side of Israel and support the country’s right to defend itself and protect its people.

“In these dark hours, our thoughts are with the families of all the victims, with the injured and with the abducted hostages who are being abused as human shields, and with the family members and friends who fear for them. Their anguish, unimaginable to us, cannot be put into words,” Baerbel Bas said.