400 people have been killed, thousands injured. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's news day. —— it's newsday. welcome to the programme. our big focus remains on the conflict unfolding between israel and palestine. the number of those killed on both sides continued to climb, up up to 700 israelis are feared dead, the single largest loss of life in a single day in israeli history. in response, israel has carried out air strikes on the gaza strip, killing more than 400 and wounding over 2000 according to palestinian authorities. there is growing

concern for around 100 israeli civilians and soldiers taken hostage. jonathan beal has the latest, and i should warn you his report has some distressing images. israeli troops are still hunting down armed palestinians. more than 30 hours after their biggest and bloodiest breakout from gaza into israel itself. one of the world's most advanced militaries taken by surprise. by hamas, a militant group kept behind barriers that were supposed to stop this happening. their attack, as brutal as it was brazen. hundreds killed. for israel, that has included scores of unarmed civilians as well as of soldiers. already, the largest loss of life in decades. here, the bodies of an israeli family shot dead waiting to be identified and buried.

hamas has taken dozens of hostages, too. like this 85—year—old grandmother, whisked away by militants in a golf cart. families, too, among them this man's wife and their five—year—old and two—year—old daughters. he is left anxiously waiting for news and pleading for their safe return. i want to ask of hamas, don't hurt them. don't hurt little children, don't hurt women. if you want me instead, i am willing to come. israel's prime minister meeting security chiefs this morning has warned his nation of a and difficult war ahead. both sides have already suffered significant losses. hamas murdered hundreds of israelis, men, women and children,

and took dozens hostage into gaza. this horrific terror act demands a forceful, determined and sustained response. israel's response has been swift and harsh. despite the massive intelligence failure. its missiles, filmed by our bbc team in gaza. jets have been hitting what they say are hamas positions. but many civilians have also been killed in this densely populated police to an enclave, blockaded, and nowhere else to flee. tonight, this is as close as we can get to gaza itself, about five kilometres in that direction. there is a lot of military activity, jets overhead. israel has told its citizens living nearby to leave. it is not clear whether that

could signal a land incursion by israel into gaza itself. but inevitably, this will end up being more bloody still. there is also the risk of escalation. hezbollah has been firing rockets into israel from neighbouring lebanon. they say, a show of solidarity with palestinians. this region has long been a tinderbox, and once again, the flames are being found. —— being fanned. jonathan beale, bbc news, southern israel. 0ur correspondents have been tracking developments from across the region. here'sjeremy bowen, here's jeremy bowen, in jordan. israel here'sjeremy bowen, injordan. israel right now is going through this historical, awful trauma. and as you've been hearing in the military response, it will be

considerable. in the past, there is an pressure on leaders like benjamin netanyahu to deal with hamas once and for all, to get in there, kill their operatives and their leaders, kill their desks match their infra— structure. but he's resisted doing that, and the reason is they thought they had a better way, which was effectively to contain hamas inside gaza, and they've done that since hamas took over there in 2007. the way they've done is kept under a tight state of steege, by israel, which doesn't like hamas either, and have their military capability, and the events of yesterday have shown very clearly that all those assumptions were wrong, and that paradigm has been shattered. so what happens next? well, a large military operation, israel is a very powerful country, very powerful military, and perhaps it can go in and deal, as

they say, once and for all with hamas. but assuming they do that, i think the really big question longer—term is what happens on the day after. how will gaza be governed? to israelis and palestinians need to talk to each other again? the last attempt at a peace process sponsored by the americans failed ten years ago. so i think longer term, americans failed ten years ago. so i think longerterm, in americans failed ten years ago. so i think longer term, in the end they'll have to try and deal with they'll have to try and deal with the roots of this century long conflict, and that isn'tjust military, it's political. it is thought that well, as we have been reporting, it's thought that the 250 people killed in israel by hamas were young people attending a music festival in the southern israeli desert. social media pictures showed hundreds fleeing the nova festival which was held near the small settlement of re�*im, a kibbutz near the border with gaza — as caroline hawley reports. moments before, at a festival that brought together young

people from across israel. a carefree crowd. they have no idea of the horror about to erupt. images posted on social media show people running for their lives. witnesses say that after rockets were fired, palestinian gunmen began attacking from several directions. "don't kill me," she pleads, as noa argamani and her boyfriend, avi natan, are both taken captive. both are still missing, thought to have been taken into gaza. today, noa's father spoke through his anguish to israeli media. translation: i asked to see the video and then i saw - that it was definitely her. she was so scared, so frightened. i always protected her and, at this very moment, i couldn't. noa is 25, with a passion for travel.

she'd been messaging a friend just before she was kidnapped, and then the live location ended. it'sjust us waiting and hoping, really hoping and praying that everything is good, that she will come back home safely, her and her boyfriend and everyone that is in captivity now. also taken from the festival, shani louk, a tattoo artist from germany, pictured here on holiday in mexico. her family recognised her in a video of palestinian gunmen celebrating her capture on a pick—up truck. the images of shani herself are too upsetting to show. we were sent a video in which i could clearly see our daughter unconscious with the palestinians and them driving around the gaza strip. i ask you to send us any help or news. jake marlowe's family and friends are also desperate for news. he's a 26—year—old british man who was working at the festival. he's reported to have told his

mother he loved her and promised to keep her updated, before his phone began ringing out. 0n the road next to where the festival was taking place, the aftermath. we don't yet know what's happened to all those who came in these cars to party, to celebrate. shellshocked reunions with those who survived. but the brutality of the attack, the terror of it, will now be seared into the psyche of a nation. caroline hawley, bbc news. it's a conflict that goes back decades, and the developments unfolding today are a result of that. the bbc�*s middle east bureau chiefjo floto puts things in perspective. the zaka organisation — which is a group of volunteers that recovers human remains from this kind of attack or natural disasters — they've been scouring the area near the gaza strip all day and they have reported in the last hour that they've recovered more than 250 bodies from the site

of that music festival, and bodies still remain there. so that is a huge total of people who have been killed. but it won't come as a shock because we knowjust how bad that attack was. and we have been hearing, your viewers have been hearing, testimony from people who survived that attack that the shooting carried on for hours. there were gunmen approaching the revellers and festivalgoers on both sides, and they chased them through the countryside and into the forests and back to their cars and established roadblocks. and we've seen pictures today of the remains of those cars burnt out and shot up. and there were bodies lying in the streets in the surrounding area. so this is confirmation of what many had feared, that this had been a complete massacre of festivalgoers, carried out by these militants who had infiltrated israel from gaza.

yeah, incredibly distressing details, jo. what do we know about where we are this evening? any sense of what happens now and next, through the night? look, i think this kind of detailjust reinforces the shock that israel is in. you heard there from the security counciljust how determined israel is at the moment to exact retribution, revenge and to destroy hamas militarily. whether that's possible or not is a different matter, but they are gathering forces as we speak. thousands upon thousands of troops are being sent down close to the gaza strip. we don't know when they will be in operation, but we've been left in no doubt by military leaders here and politicians that they intend to do something out of the ordinary, in order to respond to this

extraordinary attack on israel. and we've seen a ferocious bombardment continue throughout the day today. more than 350 dead in gaza. the total in israel, well, between 600—700, and that total may rise. but the big question now is, what happens to the hostages? israel has admitted and acknowledged that there may be 100 hostages who've been taken from israel into the gaza strip. some of them are soldiers, but we know that some of them are families. we've seen pictures of elderly people being taken across, of entire families, including children, and then being paraded on social media throughout the day. this is a national trauma in israel and it will mean that politicians and military leaders will have to find some kind of resolution to that issue, but it's not going to be easy. and, jo, when you talk about revenge and searching for hostages, just remind us of the geography

of gaza and all that that implies. look, it's a tiny strip of land, with three million people living in it, and a militant group that has evidently been preparing for this for some time. this was a combined and coordinated and carefully communicated attack that crossed into israel at 22 different locations. they managed to overrun military installations that were supposed to be impregnable. this border was set up precisely to prevent this happening. this was not a surprise that militant groups in gaza wanted to come into israel and inflict this kind of pain, or to bring the war to israeli towns and villages in israel. that's a stated aim of the militant groups, and the military in israel were supposed to prevent that from happening and they didn't, so they are trying to reverse this now. and what happens to these hostages?

well, israel has had to deal with hostage crises in the past, but it's only been in ones and twos, in small numbers. —— had to deal with. and eventually, if israel does negotiate and release prisoners in exchange, but the numbers we're dealing with now and what hamas and islamichhad are asking for in return, which will be the release of their prisoners from israel, well, that seems to be a position that's not compatible with events that have happened over the last 48 hours. so we await a massive and military response from israel, but we don't know exactly what form it's going to take. let's go back to our coverage on the conflict israel and palestine just a bit. and let me get you some breaking news coming in from japan, and a tsunami advisory has just been

issued in the eastern part of the country. the announcement has come after an earthquake near tory 0shima island and the tsunami had expected height of one metre, so a story we are following very closely as well, and there's been an update on the japan meteorological department as well, which is also keeping an eye on that story. so we will try and get you more as and when we have more updates, so do stay tuned it to the space. but for the moment, let's go back to the developments in israel and gaza, and the development there are raising any number of questions about what has happened and what could happen next. 0ur analysis editor ros atkins is here to look at some of them. let's start with the islamist militant group that carried out this attack. who are hamas? its name is an arabic acronym for islamic resistance movement,

it is sworn to israel's destruction and its bases goes up where it has been in control since 2007, though it has not held an election since so it is hard to gauge what support it has. president biden called hamas a terrorist organisation and the eu, the uk and the us all categories it this way. in the region, iran is the primary backer of hamas and hamas has told the bbc iran gave direct backing for this weekend's attack. hamas also has close relations with the militant group hezbollah in lebanon which shares a border with israel. and israel knows all of this and more about hamas, which leads us to the next question. why didn't israeli intelligence know about the attack? the analyst colin clark describes how israel has world—class intelligence collection and analysis capabilities, that includes using informers in gaza and surveillance drones above it. in the words of one former us counterterrorism specialists, it is almost inconceivable how they missed this. but they did and working out why it is now a matter of urgency.

our next question is whether this weekend is different to previous escalations. serious violent escalation is between israel and the palestinians are not uncommon, but the scale of this hamas attack makes it different. israeli territory was infiltrated, over 700 israelis have died, as many as 100 hostages were taken. saturday was one of the deadliest days in israel's history and the un's middle east peace envoy says this is a dangerous precipice and i appeal to all to pull back from the brink. this is different. and the scale of the attack leads us to how is israel responding? already, prime minister benjamin netanyahu talks of a long and difficult war, there are israeli air strikes in gaza, at least 400 people have been killed. military vehicles are heading to the gaza border and tens of thousands of israeli reservists are being called up.

as well as that, the us defense secretary lloyd austin has announced that additional equipment and resources, including munitions, will be sent. israel's allies are offering solidarity and help. and while right now, the focus is on the immediate threat from hamas, israel and its allies will also know in the long—term, this attack will reshape how they look to maintain israel's security. as you heard, there have been reactions coming in from the international community. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has been talking to the american sunday morning shows about the attack on israel. here's what he said to nbc�*s meet the press. this is the worst attack on israel since the yom kippur war in 1973, almost exactly 50 years ago, but there's also a big difference. that was a state—on—state conflict, army against army, with clear front lines. this is a massive terrorist attack targeting israeli civilians. gunning people down

in the streets of their towns. gunning them down in their homes. dragging israelis, men, women and children, across the border with gaza. a holocaust survivor in a wheelchair, women and children, all being taken hostage. so you can imagine the impact this is having in israel, and it should be revolting to people around the world. but, mr secretary, do you acknowledge that both israeli intelligence officials and us intelligence officials were caught off—guard here? this is an attack that i don't think anyone saw coming in the immediate... so was it an intelligence failure, mr secretary? do you acknowledge it was an intelligence failure? we will have plenty of time... the israelis will have plenty of time to look into that. all of us will have time to look into that. the focus now has to be on making sure that israel has what it needs to deal with this attack and, at the same time, israel has come to us and asked for some specific additional assistance — i'm sure you'll hear more about that

probably later today — and we're responding to that, and we have the ability to do that. iran and hamas have a long relationship. hamas wouldn't be hamas without the support it's had for many years from iran. in this moment, we don't have anything that shows us that iran was directly involved in this attack, in planning it and carrying it out, but that's something we're looking at very carefully and we've got to see where the facts lead, but we do know that iran has had a long relationship with hamas. long support. it's one of the reasons that we have been aggressively working to counter iran, including sanctioning more than 400 iranians and companies, precisely for things like the support it's provided to hamas. it's no surprise that those who are opposed to the talks, those who are opposed to israel normalising its relations with its neighbours and with countries beyond the region, are hamas, hezbollah and iran. so it's entirely possible that one of the motivations for this attack was to try to derail these efforts to advance normalisation.

something that is very hard, there are a lot of really challenging issues to work through, we're in the process of trying to do that, but the result would be, if we were able to get there, a much different path for the region and for the future. a path of greater stability, of greater integration, of people working together to better their lives. the pentagon has now announced details of its initial military assistance package to israel. 0ur correspondent shingai nyoka explained what that support might look like. ina in a telephone call between president biden and prime minister benjamin not in yahoo, washington confirmed that the extent of the support that the us is providing test benjamin netanyahu. it's what it calls the initial military support in the pentagon has been outlining some of those details. it

has said it will send additional equipment, as well as resources, including munition, and that munition is currently being airlifted to israel and is expected to arrive so that today and in the coming days. the us has also announced that it is deploying its own aircraft carriers, missile cruisers and destroyers, and that the aircraft will be deployed from the aircraft will be deployed from the western mediterranean to the eastern mediterranean to bring it closer to israel. they are also deploying aircraft to bases in the middle east and what they say is a deterrence posture against any threat by iran. so the united states is showing strong support for its israeli counterpart and further aid may need to be appropriated by congress, but given the fact that there is no house speaker at the moment, that could take some time.

for the moment, let's also get you a quick update on another big story that we've been looking at. 0ver that we've been looking at. over 1000 people are reported to have been killed in afghanistan after a powerful earthquake hit the country yesterday. it devastated at least 12 villages near the city of herat in the west, close to the iranian border, with a magnitude of 6.3. thousands are now without shelter in an area already grappling with extreme hunger and poverty. the bbc�*s south asia correspondent yogita limaye reports. this is where dozens of small mud homes stood. fragile shelter in a bleak, barren landscape. crumbled almost instantly after the earthquake. "all14 members of my family are under the rubble. "even my five—day—old baby. "oh, god, what should i do?"

a man cried in zindajan district, the epicentre of the earthquake. people who have barely anything, who don't know where their next meal will come from, are now homeless. translation: we came home and saw . that everything had turned to mud. i we worked with shovels and whatever we had to pull women and children from the rubble. 20—30 have died here and we are left with nothing — no blankets, as we sleep outdoors. in gushqaq village, men dug mass graves to bury the dead. most are women and children. for a country facing acute hunger and poverty, this is another devastating blow. yogita limaye, bbc news.

let's ta ke let's take you back to gaza and have a look at the skyline of gaza as we speak. we've been getting you pictures from there, relative calm at the moment, but we've seen over the last few hours some flashes of orange, evidence of rocket attacks there. the labour party conference has been taking place in liverpool, and we heard earlier from emily thornberry — the shadow attorney general and former shadow foreign secretary. these are acts of terrorism. they are unjustified. and it's right for the whole world to condemn it. where is the humanity of these people? it is appalling. it's like our 7/7. this is terrorism. and there have been criticism of the labour party in the past with its handling of various issues around anti—semitism and how it deals with it. will this provide another test? we are quite clear about what view we take on this.

and it is absolutely, there is no argument. this is terrorism. this is attacks on innocent people and it is unjustified in any terms. would you be echoing, if the labour party were in power, echoing the comments of the prime minister? i'm afraid i haven't had a chance to hear what the prime minister has said, but i assume he has taken the same line as the rest of the world, which is there is nojustification for these attacks on innocent people and it is terrorism and it must be condemned. in the longer term, what is the answer here? i think that is for another day. i don't think that it is for today. today is for us to condemn these acts of terrorism and this appalling violence. that is what we should be talking about today. there will be other times to talk about what a solution might be and what it might look like, but not today. today, we need to be clear that we stand with israel and it is appalling what they have been subjected to. and in terms of any measures

you would like to see, we have the un security council meeting now, we've heard various statements from people going in. what we've heard committed, extra military support from the us already committed. extra military supplies, including munitions. what would you like the uk to do? i think we just need to be clear. that israel has an absolute right to defend itself and that it should be facilitated in being able to do that. it must be able to defend itself against terrorism and that is that. it's clearly labour conference, and this wasn't a topic you were planning on talking about, what has been the mood and the sense here, when people have followed the headlines and watching and seeing what is happening? whoever i have spoken to about it, we are all appalled at what has happened. as i say, we see it too often. we saw terrorism with the manchester bombings in my constituency, we lost 13 people as a result of 7/7, we have to utterly condemn

terrorism, and that is what this is. and moving on to the days ahead at conference, onto domestic affairs. what will be top of the agenda? we have been talking today about the importance of rewiring britain because we have a national grid which simply isn't up to it. it was fine during the days when we relied on oil from the north sea and from gas that we were importing from around the world, but we need to move on and we need to move on to green electricity and green power, and our national grid is not up to it. there are days when we lose £63 million because the national grid simply can't step up and take the energy that is being produced. we are holding back, according to the bbc, £200 billion worth of potential investment either by people who want to supply to the grid or people who want to use the grid. and people wanting to use the grid are having to put in bids to have

more power and they're being told they won't be able to get a connection to the grid or an upgrade to the grid until the late 20305. this simply isn't good enough, there is no long—term thinking on this, and what we're saying is that we will invest you're watching bbc news. it has of course been a fast—moving situation over the last 48 hours so we thought we would pause for a moment to remind you of the events since saturday. 0ur reporter meghan 0wen has this timeline. we have been looking at what happened and when it happened. at 6:30am local time on saturday were the first reports of rocket fire from multiple locations in gaza. explosions in cities in israel such as tel aviv and ashkelon and sderot.

at 8am, we heard from hamas, the palestinian armed militant group, that claimed responsibility. they say they launched 5000 rockets. this map shows some of the areas affected by the attack. we have managed to verify these three many videos which have come in throughout the last couple of days. let's take a look at some of them. this is one of the missiles launched from gaza. if we look at this next video, we can see militants taking over a tank in israel. and this video's perhaps one of the more distressing ones. a female hostage with signs of severe beating drags on the boot of a vehicle and forced into the rear seat. at around 8:30am, we hearfrom the israeli defence force. they said, hamas will bear the consequences of the attack. they

then begin to carry out retaliatory air strikes in gaza.