US, Israel and Egypt discussing possible safe passage corridor The US is talking with Israel and Egypt about the idea of a safe passage for Gaza civilians as Israel strikes the enclave after a deadly Hamas attack over the weekend, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday. “We are focused on this question, there are consultations going on,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House. “But the details of that are something that are being discussed among the operational agencies and I don’t want to share too much of that publicly at this time,” Sullivan said. “We do not deliberately target civilians,” Sullivan said of the US and Israel, when asked about civilian casualties in Gaza in the Tuesday press briefing. “We work to make sure that our military operations are conducted consistent with the rule of law and the law of war,” he added. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 900 Palestinians were killed and up to 4,600 wounded in Israeli air strikes on the blockaded enclave since Saturday. Gaza is 40km (25 miles) long by 10km (6 miles) wide and is home to 2.3 million people. Israel"s military aim to destroy Hamas"s military capabilities, says spokesperson Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Conricus has said in that update, that the Israeli military’s mission is, “to make sure that Hamas, at the end of this war, won’t have any military capabilities by which they can threaten or kill Israeli civilians.” IDF spokesperson: increased death toll is "not because there is ongoing fighting" Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Conricus has just given an update in which he confirms the death toll of 1,200 Israelis killed. They are “overwhelmingly civilians,” he said. More than 2,700 are wounded. The jump in the death toll is “not because there is ongoing fighting,” but rather because, “now as the time has gone by we are discovering bodies of dead Israelis in the various communities that Hamas infiltrated and where they conducted their massacres,” Conricus said. Qantas and Virgin airlines asked to plan repatriation flights for Australians in Israel The Australian government has asked Qantas and Virgin for urgent help to repatriate Australians from Israel as the death toll in the region mounts. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, directed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) on Monday to commence contingency planning for “assisted-departure flights”, meaning government-backed flights. Guardian Australia understands the minister for transport, Catherine King, has since spoken with the chief executives of both airlines to “convey the government’s sense of urgency and ask them to work with Dfat on options for repatriation flights”. It is believed about 12,000 Australians are in Israel, although many of these are dual nationals who may not necessarily wish to leave. The Israel-Hamas war is likely to result in Australian organisations being targeted online by ideologically motivated threat actors, a leading cybersecurity organisation has warned. CyberCX’s intelligence update on 10 October states that analysis of the activity of threat groups since Israel formally declared war on 8 October had noted at least 30 groups ideologically aligned with Russia, Ukraine, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh had shifted their messaging on social media. Many groups that had previously been focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine had refocused on to the Israel-Hamas war in the past few days, CyberCX said. “It is likely that pro-Russia groups already known to target AUNZ will use the conflict and political responses to it – including physical protests in Australia – as a pretext to increase their campaigns in AUNZ,” the analyst briefing noted. More than 260,000 displaced in Gaza, says UN Over 260,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, as heavy Israeli bombardments from the air, land and sea continue to hit the Palestinian enclave, the United Nations said. Fierce fighting has left thousands dead on both sides since Hamas launched a surprise assault on Saturday, spurring Israel’s reprisal bombing campaign. “Over 263,934 people in Gaza are believed to have fled their homes,” said UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in an update Tuesday, warning that “this number is expected to rise further”. It said that around 3,000 people had been displaced “due to previous escalations”, prior to Saturday. Israel defence minister: "We will also come from the ground" Reuters reports that Israeli Defence Minister Yoavv Gallant, speaking on Tuesday to soldiers near the Gaza fence, said, “Hamas wanted a change and it will get one. What was in Gaza will no longer be. We started the offensive from the air, later on we will also come from the ground.” The statement is another clear sign that a ground offensive into Gaza is imminent. My colleagues Bethan McKernan and Quique Kierszenbaum reported that on Monday night that Israelis were told by the Home Front to prepare a safe place to shelter and enough food, water and other supplies to last 72 hours. Israel death toll climbs to more than 1,200 Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reports that the Israeli death toll had passed 1,200. The vast majority of deaths were civilians. It was an increase of 200 people since the last toll. Four days after Hamas rampaged through southern Israeli towns, killing hundreds of people, Israeli soldiers are still discovering and collecting the bodies of the dead. The most recent Palestinian toll from the Gaza health authority has put the death toll in the enclave at 900 since Saturday. Among the dead are 260 children and 230 women, it said. Frightened residents of Gaza described bombardments striking residential buildings, hospitals and schools across the enclave amid growing concern over destruction of civilian infrastructure. US, Israel and Egypt discussing possible safe passage corridor The US is talking with Israel and Egypt about the idea of a safe passage for Gaza civilians as Israel strikes the enclave after a deadly Hamas attack over the weekend, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday. “We are focused on this question, there are consultations going on,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House. “But the details of that are something that are being discussed among the operational agencies and I don’t want to share too much of that publicly at this time,” Sullivan said. “We do not deliberately target civilians,” Sullivan said of the US and Israel, when asked about civilian casualties in Gaza in the Tuesday press briefing. “We work to make sure that our military operations are conducted consistent with the rule of law and the law of war,” he added. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 900 Palestinians were killed and up to 4,600 wounded in Israeli air strikes on the blockaded enclave since Saturday. Gaza is 40km (25 miles) long by 10km (6 miles) wide and is home to 2.3 million people. Opening summary This is the Guardian’s live coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest. In recent developments: Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reports that the Israeli death toll had passed 1,200. The vast majority of deaths were civilians. It was an increase of 200 people since the last toll. Four days after Hamas rampaged through southern Israeli towns, killing hundreds of people, Israeli soldiers were still discovering and collecting the bodies of the dead. The most recent Palestinian toll from the Gaza health authority has put the death toll in the enclave at 900 since Saturday. Among the dead are 260 children and 230 women, it said. Frightened residents of Gaza described bombardments striking residential buildings, hospitals and schools across the enclave amid growing concern over destruction of civilian infrastructure. And the US is talking with Israel and Egypt about the idea of a safe passage for Gaza civilians as Israel strikes the enclave after a deadly Hamas attack over the weekend, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday. “We are focused on this question, there are consultations going on,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House. “But the details of that are something that are being discussed among the operational agencies and I don’t want to share too much of that publicly at this time,” Sullivan said. Here is where things stand: A massive Israeli military buildup was continuing along Gaza’s border on Tuesday, amid mounting expectations that Israel would launch a ground invasion of Gaza within days. The Israeli military said it had mostly secured its border with Gaza after a night of intensified airstrikes across the enclave that destroyed infrastructure and displaced thousands of people. Israel’s defence minister said he had “released all restraints” on his troops, adding that Gaza “will never return to what it was”. Two Palestinians were fatally shot in East Jerusalem by Israel’s border police, in a sign of increasing violence that is disproportionately targeting youth across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. A salvo of rockets from Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon was fired at northern Israel, in a sign of the rapidly escalating crisis. Israeli forces responded with fire in the third consecutive day of violence along the Lebanese-Israeli border. The Israeli military also shelled Syria from the Golan Heights after mortar rounds were fired into the territory. The UN’s human rights council warned there is already “clear evidence” that war crimes may have been committed in the latest explosion of violence in Israel and Gaza. It said it had been collecting evidence of “war crimes committed by all sides” since Saturday. Israel is believed to have identified most of the hostages abducted by Hamas and has started notifying their families. Officers from the Israel Defence Forces were to tell about 100 families on Tuesday that their loved ones were in Gaza. Joe Biden declared support for Israel, calling the assault by Hamas militants that left nearly 1,000 people dead an “act of sheer evil”. At least 14 Americans were killed in last weekend’s attack and an as yet unknown number of Americans are being held hostage, Biden said from the White House. The first plane carrying US ammunition landed in Israel on Tuesday. EU foreign ministers have reversed the decision by the European Commission to suspend payments to the Palestinian Authority, after an emergency meeting in Oman. The EU has issued a warning to Elon Musk over the alleged disinformation about the Hamas attack on Israel, including fake news and “repurposed old images”, on X, which was formerly known as Twitter.