What is happening in Israel? Your questions answered

Around 1,100 people have been confirmed dead in the Israel-Hamas conflict so far, with fresh missile strikes on Gaza and air raid sirens sounding across Israel on Monday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called a Cobra meeting to discuss an emergency response from the UK after Israeli officials called the surprise attack on Saturday “our 9/11” and “the worst day in Israeli history”.

Air strikes continues on Monday, with Israeli airstrikes fired on Gaza as reprisals against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group who fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Saturday.

More than 700 people have been killed in Israel so far, including 260 musical festival attendees, while Palestinians say at least 413 people have been killed in retaliatory strikes on Gaza.

Hamas has taken Israeli hostages into the Gaza Strip, a densely populated territory roughly the size of the Isle of Wight, while Israel is massing tanks and troops on the border in preparation for a ground operation to “destroy” the militant group.

So why is this happening now and how might things escalate? Here’s everything we know.

How far could the conflict spill?

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to exact a “huge price” and take “mighty vengeance” against Hamas – an Islamist militant organisation which governs Gaza and is designated as a terrorist group in the UK and elsewhere around the world – after formally declaring war.

Despite the presence of Israeli hostages in Gaza, Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Mr Netanyahu, made it clear Israeli forces will not “stop bombing Gaza until Hamas is destroyed”.

Iran has publicly declared its support for the attack, with Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior adviser to the country’s Supreme Leader, quoted as saying “we congratulate the Palestinian fighters, we will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem”.

But so far Iran has denied any direct involvement with Hamas co-ordinating and preparing for the attack. Mr Deif has called on Palestinians and other Arabs to join Hamas’s efforts to “sweep away the [Israeli] occupation”.

There are concerns that Hezbollah, the militant group that controls southern Lebanon, might join Hamas in its reprisals.

On Sunday morning, Hezbollah launched mortar shells at Israeli military sites on the Lebanon border, as fighting continued in southern Israel. But Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib said on Monday that his government had received assurances from the group that it will not join the fighting unless Israel “harasses” Lebanon.

Will Israel invade Gaza?

Israel has already embarked on shelling Gaza from land and sea, and reports are emerging the military is readying tanks and troops to mount a full scale ground invasion of Gaza. Gaza is already blockaded by Israel.

Mr Netanyahu has pledged to reduce the Palestinian enclave to a “a deserted island”. He has already officially declared war on Hamas, and called up military reservists, telling the 2.3 million Palestinians who live in Gaza to leave the territory immediately.

“We will take mighty vengeance for this black day,” the Israeli leader said in a televised address. “We will take revenge for all the young people who lost their lives. We will target all of Hamas’s positions.

“We will turn Gaza into a deserted island. To the citizens of Gaza, I say. You must leave now. We will target each and every corner of the strip.”

How has the rest of the world responded?

During an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday, numerous members denounced Hamas. The United States, several European countries and Israel urged strong condemnation of the Palestinian militant group.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she “unequivocally condemns” the assault, adding that Israel has “the right to defend itself against such heinous” attacks.

Mr Sunak has pledged “steadfast support” to Israel. “We will do everything that we can to help. Terrorism will not prevail,” he said.

US President Joe Biden said Israel has its “rock solid and unwavering” support, while US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said he has ordered the Ford carrier strike group to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel.

The UN’s World Food Programme has also called for the establishment of humanitarian corridors to deliver food supplies into Gaza.

What will the UK do if there is an invasion?

The UK has pledged its support to Israel, and the Prime Minister said he will chair a Cobra emergency response meeting on Israel later on Monday.

The Israeli ambassador to the UK has urged the Government to stand with Israel against the “evil brutality” of Hamas, while Suella Braverman said she expects the police to “use the full force of the law” against displays of support for the group, after videos emerged of people in the UK appearing to celebrate after the attacks.

Metropolitan Police Service patrols have been stepped-up in areas of north London where many members of the UK’s Jewish community are based.

It remains to be seen whether the UK will follow the US in sending to weapons to Israel’s aid.

What is Hamas?

Hamas takes its name from an acronym of an Arabic phrase that translates as Islamic Resistance Movement. The large Palestinian militant group governs the Gaza Strip and is distinct from the Palestinian National Authority that governs the West Bank. It is helmed by commander Mohammed Deif.

The group was founded in 1988, with the purpose of carrying out attacks against Israel, led by its military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and to provide social welfare programmes to Palestinians.

It is categorised as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union and the UK, in addition to other powers. Hamas is backed by Iran which funds it and provides weapons and training.

What does Hamas want?

Hamas has pledged to bring about the end of Israel, planning to reinstall Palestine as an Islamic state.
The decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestinians originated over who should own the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, after the creation of the state of Israel following Jewish immigration froim Europe after the Second World War.

Israel was declared a state in 1948, with the help of Britauin and France – Palestinians refer to this as the “nakba”, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic. The 1948 Arab-Israeli war resulted in the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians. Israel has now militarily occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for half a century.

Israel directly occupied Gaza up until 2005, when it withdrew from the territory under the government of Ariel Sharon, although it maintained external control. Hamas won local elections in 2006 then took sole control of the territory in 2007, after a brief civil war against rival Palestinian party Fatah

Palestinians use the name Palestine as an umbrella term for the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

In 1948, 1.4 million Palestinians lived in 1,300 Palestinian towns and villages. More than 800,000 of the population were driven out of their homeland to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, neighboring Arab countries and other countries of the world during the creation of Israel.

Why did Hamas attack Israel?

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Hostilities have come to a head under Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to helm a fractious coalition that includes ultra-nationalists and Jewish supremacists.

Under his gaze, conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have deteriorated, with more Israeli raids and assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinians and the building of illegal Jewish settlements on occupied land.

After launching its surprise assault on Saturday, Hamas cited increased Israeli settler violence against Palestinians, as well as the recent storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims, by ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers.

What has happened so far?

Hamas launched an initial surprise attack on Saturday, killing hundreds of Israelis and prompting retaliatory Israeli air strikes. They also co-ordinated land attacks, involving militants paragliding into Israeli territoriy, and launched a massacre at music festival.

Israel responded by formally declared war on Sunday and other countries have responded by offering support and evacuating their citizens

Israel has attacked around 1,000 targets in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said in a briefing on Monday morning. They added that forces are fighting Hamas gunmen in “seven to eight places” inside Israel.

In Gaza, air strikes have displaced around 123,000 people so far, the UN has said

Western countries including the UK and the US quickly condemned the attack, with the US sending warships and fighter jets in support of Israel on Sunday night.