TEL AVIV: 370 people, including 20 children, have been killed in Gaza as Israel ramps up its airstrikes as it vows to crush the militant group Hamas. It is also indicated that 2,000 people were injured. Seven people died in Israeli firing in the West Bank. Sheeja Anand (41), a native of Kannur Srikanthapuram and a Malayali nurse, was injured in the attack on Saturday. So far, 600 people have been killed in Israel, including 44 soldiers, in the attack by Hamas. More than 2000 people were injured. It is reported that the death toll has exceeded a thousand in both places.

US citizens have been reportedly killed and held hostage by Hamas. US responded to the news that they are investigating the matter. US President Joe Biden has announced $8 billion in emergency military aid to Israel.

An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called for diplomatic means to defuse the conflict. Egypt has started talks with Saudi Arabia and Jordan to resolve the conflict.

Israel announced that it had killed hundreds of Palestinian terrorists and captured dozens of them. Hamas released pictures of Israeli hostages. In a video, a couple and two children of a family of five can be seen sitting on the ground crying and tearfully saying that the youngest child has been killed. In another scene, a 25-year-old woman is being taken away at gunpoint by a group on a bike and she is begging for her life. Clashes continue in southern Israeli cities with Hamas' Qassam Brigades fighters. In Sderot, near Gaza, bodies are lying in wrecked vehicles and on the streets.

Hezbollah is also at war

Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group, has declared its support for Hamas. They clashed with Israeli forces on the border yesterday and shelled the Shebaa Farms area. Egyptian police shot dead two Israeli tourists and a local guide in Alexandria, Egypt.

Attack on the residential area also

Israeli airstrikes destroyed a 14-story building that housed Hamas offices and apartments, along with other residential buildings. The house of the head of Hamas intelligence and three command centres of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad organization were destroyed. Electricity, fuel and essential supplies to Gaza have been cut off.

This is the beginning of a long and difficult war. The army will use all its might to crush Hamas.

-Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel

Terrorism and war do not solve anything. It only takes innocent lives. War is defeat. Let us pray for peace in Israel and Palestine.

- Pope Francis