More than 423,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said, following heavy Israeli bombardments in retaliation for Hamas's attacks.
As of late Thursday, the number of displaced in Gaza rose by 84,444 people to reach 423,378, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement sent on Friday.
The announcement came as Israel pounded the Gaza Strip in response to Saturday's surprise attack, the deadliest since the country's creation in 1948.
Here are the LIVE updates:
Russia on Friday proposed a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict that calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and condemns violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism.
Acknowledging Israel's right to self-defence in the face of Hamas' attacks of "unprecedented brutality," Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasised the creation of an independent Palestine state.
The first flight specially chartered to evacuate American citizens has left Israel and is on its way to Europe, a White House spokesman said on Friday, without giving details of its destination.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby indicated that other flights would follow "for as long as there is demand from US citizens."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Friday on Israel to limit Palestinian civilian deaths as he worked to set up safe areas in the Gaza Strip, seeking to keep calm in the Arab world following a major Hamas attack.
After a solidarity visit to Tel Aviv, Antony Blinken, on a six-nation tour of the Arab world, again defended Israel's right to respond but also stepped up the tone on protecting innocent Palestinians.
A Reuters news videographer has been killed while working in southern Lebanon, Reuters said in a statement on Friday.
On Wednesday, four Palestine Red Crescent emergency medical workers were killed when their ambulances were hit in two different incidents.
US President Joe Biden vowed in an interview broadcast Friday to do "everything in our power" to free Americans taken hostage by Hamas.
"They have to know that the president of the United States of America cares deeply about what's happened to them, deeply... And we're going to do everything in our power to get them home if we can find them," he said.
Several residents of the Gaza Strip have started leaving their homes after Israel's military's 24-hour ultimatum to relocate south ahead of an expected ground invasion that risks high casualties.
The massive Hamas attack on Israel cannot justify the "limitless destruction" of the Gaza Strip, the Red Cross said Friday, as it called for pauses in the fighting.
Its statement came as Israel's army on Friday warned residents in north Gaza to flee south ahead of an expected ground offensive.
Israel's siege of Gaza is in response to the weekend attack by Hamas, whose gunmen launched the deadliest ever attack on Israel.
"Nothing can justify the horrific attacks Israel suffered last weekend," said a statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Hamas is using Gaza residents as a "shield", the German foreign minister said Friday, as Israel prepared an expected ground offensive in retaliation for the militants' deadly weekend assault.
The Israeli army's call for more than one million people to evacuate north Gaza is a "tall order," the White House said Friday, adding that the United States understands Israel is trying to give civilians "fair warning."
"We understand what they're trying to do. They're trying to move civilians out of harm's way," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN.
The Israeli army's call for more than one million people to evacuate north Gaza is a "tall order," the White House said Friday, adding that the United States understands Israel is trying to give civilians "fair warning."
"We understand what they're trying to do. They're trying to move civilians out of harm's way," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned Israeli forces' expected ground offensive would bring unacceptable levels of civilian casualties, and that his country was ready to help with mediation efforts.