Still be using. The death toll since hamas launched its attacks on saturday has now reached 1200. 700 have been killed in israel, including 260 at a music festival. Reuters reports this figure includes 73 soldiers thats according to the Israeli Military. And more nearly 500 have been killed in gaza, after israel launched retaliatory air strikes. 33 of those are thought to be children. Lets take the scene live now in gaza. In the last few minutes and hours we have seen a number of strikes by Israeli Military, also as we have been hearing the Israeli Defence minister has announced he has called for a total blockade of the city. This is a densely populated area of land, home to 2. 2 Million People and what he is saying is that there will be no food, water or fuel allowed is that there will be no food, water orfuel allowed into is that there will be no food, water or fuel allowed into the gaza city. Now they completely rely on these things from the outside world. Militants from the Palestinian Group hamas, pockets of them are thought to be remaining in some areas in Southern Israel, though as we told you earlier, communities have been regained in terms of control by israel. As many as 100 hostages have been taken into gaza by militants. 0ur middle east correspondnet Yolande Knell reports. Explosions lighting up the night sky as israeli Missile Defence shot down incoming palestinian rockets. But not all. Homes in Southern Israel were hit. And in gaza, israel has been striking back. The israeli Prime Minister threatening mighty vengeance. Shouting. The scale and complexity of saturdays Surprise Attack is still becoming clear. Hamas released this footage of its armed men storming the main crossing for people from gaza entering israel. Israeli rescuers have been collecting hundreds of bodies. It is by far the worst day in israeli history. Never before have so many israelis been killed by one single thing let alone Enemy Activity on one day. If you are americans and want to compare this to something in american history, then this could be a 9 11 and a Pearl Harbour wrapped into one. Hamas now says its holding 100 israeli hostages like this 85 year old grandmother, yaffa adar, whisked away by militants in a golf cart. Yoni asher is begging for the safe return of his wife and two small children after they were kidnapped by gunmen while visiting in laws. I want to ask of hamas. Don� t hurt them. Dont hurt little children. Dont hurt women. If you want me instead, im willing to come. Now in gaza, most areas are without power after israel stopped supplying electricity. There are shortages of food and water. Tens of thousands of palestinians have fled their homes many Seeking Shelter in un schools. As israel hits back, the International Community has rushed to support its right to defend itself, but there have been warnings, too, about a growing humanitarian crisis. Israel keeps saying the blockade and repeated assaults on gaza are to destroy hamas Military Capabilities and ensure security. Clearly and expectedly, its blockade and assaults accomplished neither. And with palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli Soldiers in the occupied west bank, there are new signs of the violence spreading. Yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. Lets get more now on the situation inside gaza. I spoke a little earlier to our reporter, rushdi abualouf. The latest air strike of five or six rockets destroyed a mosque, as we understand from local sources, in the south west of gaza city. It was a huge explosion with black smoke and dust in the skies. Still we can feel and smell the dust out of this building. This was the latest air strike and series of air strikes, over 500 air strikes the israeli army said this morning has targeted 500 places for a hamas militant group, in gaza they have been targeting mosques, infrastructure for hamas, but also according to local authority here 11 houses have been targeted. They said they hit the houses without warning killing many civilians. We understand that in rafah, Southern Gaza a funeral for 19 members of one family are about to start. Hamas Health Officials in rafah said that they were killed by an israeli air strike and all of them from one family. The official Health Ministry figure about the number of People Killed so far is a93 people and about 3,000 people injured, some of them are in a very Critical Condition according to a Health Ministry statement. They appealed for help, saying they need essential medical supplies that are running out in the hospitals. They said fuel is running out from the Hospital Generators and they said they are on the edge of a crisis. They need urgent supplies either by egypt or israel who should allow the equipment and the fuel and medicine to come into gaza. We understand that since saturday when the hamas militants infiltrated inside israel and killed 700 israelis, israel decided to stop all of the supplies to gaza and the main Border Crossing is shut so 80 of the people here dont have electricity or Internet Services for the last three days. And the latest line we are getting is that there has been a blockade announced by the Israeli Defence minister that no food, water or fuel can get into gaza. This is the scene live now in gaza. You can see the smoke once again billowing out from an area in the background. We know the Israeli Military has been sending air missiles into gaza city quite regularly over the last few hours and indeed the last day or so. There has also been a lot of movement in the southern communities of israel. Thats the area where the hamas militants entered into, took hostages and killed many people. Ashkelon in particular is a target for hamas rockets because it is close to where the hamas militants fired their rockets from. Earlier we spoke to our correspondent anna foster, who is there in ashkelon. Before we go to listen to what she said, this is the live picture of what is happening in ashkelon but lets listen to what she to say. The explosions lets listen to what she to say. The explosions have lets listen to what she to say. Tue explosions have been lets listen to what she to say. Tte explosions have been happening all through yesterday and through the night, the missiles fired mainly interacted by a system which captures them in the sky and explode them before they hit the ground. It has a success rate of more than 90 but doesnt catch every missile, and this Apartment Block in ashkelon was hit in the early hours of this morning, a direct hit into the ground floor of the Apartment Block. You can see peoples belongings, childrens toys, furniture, everything just scattered here as people were trying to escape this morning. I have been talking to a woman who lives right above on the next floor and she was describing her actually when this happened, she and her husband were trying to get out but the front door was stuck and she was trying to pull it. She said she was trying to pull it. She said she eventually was rescued by firefighters who came and dealt with this here. But it is something that people in this area have been seeing. You know, theres been a couple of strikes. Theres a shop right across here that was hit. Theres an Apartment Building just up there, which was also just punched through with a missile. You can see right up on the top floors there, theres a big hole where a missile met its target. Now, this is something that people here have been dealing with for quite some time now, but really not on the size and the scale that weve seen in the last 48 hours. And as well as seeing and hearing those missiles coming from gaza, of course, as you said, we are very close to gaza here and we can hear what is happening there. We can hear Israeli Defence forces striking targets in gaza. They say that this morning and overnight that they managed to strike seven hamas command posts, one command post belonging to palestinian islamichhad. And crucially, they do say that there are communities here in Southern Israel where there is still fighting going on, areas that theyre still trying to clear, perhaps seven or eight of them. Theyre looking to see whether there are tunnels underneath that are still enabling hamas militants to come in. And it really shows you that the size of this situation that still even now, more than 48 hours after it began, israel still is saying it doesnt quite have full control of these Southern Israeli communities bordering gaza. A lot of people have maybe friends or relatives in different parts of the country that theyre able to go and stay with. Some people are in hotels because they feel that the area that they live in is just not safe at the moment. Some people are having to to stick it out, especially in this area of ashkelon. Its one of the poorer areas and it is one of the places where, as we were saying, there arent necessarily shelters, but people dont always have a lot of choice about where to go in a situation like this. We know that the government is planning some evacuations, are trying to take people out of these areas who may be want to go after what theyve seen over the last couple of days. But, you know, youre talking about big cities here around gaza. Youre talking about large communities. Youre talking about lots of people. A lot of this area has been sealed off by the military as well. Now, theres a lot of talk about whether or not israel will now go ahead and launch a ground operation into gaza. Its impossible to predict, although israel have said and the israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has said that israels response will be significant. Weve seen Military Hardware coming into this area. We know that large parts of it have been sealed off by the military. So there is still the potential that Something Like that might happen in the next few hours, in the next few days. But right now, israel is still really considering its response, trying to secure these areas, also trying to secure the release of those hostages as many as 130, perhaps 150 hostages. We dont know exact numbers, but the fact that people are still being held inside gaza, again, is another concern for the Israeli Government. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. These are live pictures showing you how the situation is unfolding in gaza. There are thick black clouds of smoke after the Israeli Military targeted what it called hamas targets in the city. We have had a few lines in the last few minutes. Hamas has said four israeli captives have been killed in israeli air strikes on the palestinian enclaves on sunday. We think around 100 hostages have been taken, both civilian and military, by hamas militants into gaza and the danger is that with gaza being bombed like this, being sent air missiles in this, being sent air missiles in this way, there is a danger that injuries and deaths could happen. The spokesperson for hamas has said the bombardment overnight and today on the gaza strip led to the killing of four of the enemys captives and their captors. That is from a spokesman for hamass armed wing. We will bring you more on that story as we get it on bbc news. Youre live with bbc news. Lets look at the wider implications for the middle east region. Live now to dr tobias bock Senior Research fellow for middle east Security Studies at chatham house. What is your assessment of what is happening now . Tt is what is your assessment of what is happening now . Happening now . It is a dramatic escalation happening now . It is a dramatic escalation of happening now . It is a dramatic escalation of the happening now . It is a dramatic escalation of the conflict, happening now . It is a dramatic escalation of the conflict, a escalation of the conflict, a conflict which i think many had more or less forgotten about or preferred not to think about too much because it is so intractable. So this is a massive escalation, i think the opening of a new chapter, and regionally too it does matter. Quite a lot of analysis is immediately about how this conflict is all about regional issues, and i think we have to be a bit careful there to really see this as primarily a Conflict Thatis see this as primarily a conflict that is between palestinians and israelis but obviously it will have regional implications too. What israelis but obviously it will have regional implications too. What will ha en regional implications too. What will happen next . Regional implications too. What will happen next . It regional implications too. What will happen next . It feels, regional implications too. What will happen next . It feels, looking regional implications too. What will| happen next . It feels, looking from the outside, as if it will be an escalation of violence on both sides. � ,. , , escalation of violence on both sides. � , , sides. Absolutely, this is the dancer sides. Absolutely, this is the danger nova sides. Absolutely, this is the danger now. There sides. Absolutely, this is the danger now. There is sides. Absolutely, this is the danger now. There is a sides. Absolutely, this is the l danger now. There is a danger sides. Absolutely, this is the danger now. There is a danger we are entering a spiral of escalation, so we are already seeing a massive Israeli Military response to this attack. I think we will see more over the coming days. I think there will be a big question around the invasion of the gaza strip. That would be incredibly costly, probably very bloody, then it will be about whether other groups in the west bank reallyjoin this conflict too. So if that were to happen, we could quite quickly see a spiral into an ever expanding conflict. Hope quite quickly see a spiral into an ever expanding conflict. How likely is that to happen ever expanding conflict. How likely is that to happen though, . Ever expanding conflict. How likely is that to happen though, . Given l is that to happen though, . Given what we have been hearing from the iranians this morning saying they have had nothing to do with the hamas attack on saturday. Tt is have had nothing to do with the hamas attack on saturday. It is very difficult to assess hamas attack on saturday. It is very difficult to assess how hamas attack on saturday. It is very difficult to assess how likely hamas attack on saturday. It is very difficult to assess how likely this difficult to assess how likely this is. We have seen some attacks by hezbollah across the border but so far they seem to be almost intentional in intentionally quite limited. If we see a further escalation in gaza, it is unfortunately a possibility that a group like hezbollah might feel like its hand is being forced. That is really the danger right now. I think quite a lot of what the israelis are doing and what the americans are doing and what the americans are doing too, by deploying ships into the Eastern Mediterranean is to try to deter against that expansion, is to deter against that expansion, is to clearly send the message that this should remain contained around gaza. But it is unpredictable of course. , w gaza. But it is unpredictable of course. ,. ,. , course. Let me ask you, we have heard in the course. Let me ask you, we have heard in the last course. Let me ask you, we have heard in the last hour course. Let me ask you, we have heard in the last hour or course. Let me ask you, we have heard in the last hour or so course. Let me ask you, we have heard in the last hour or so thatl heard in the last hour or so that the Israeli Defence minister has called for a total blockade of the gaza strip. That means no food, water or fuel being entered gaza strip. That means no food, water orfuel being entered into that area. How long is support for israel going to continue if the effects and they could end up being devastating effects start becoming more and more clear . Difficult to assess how long that will go. There is clearly a lot of support for israel and its right to defend itself right now. Understandably so. I think this weekend was in many ways unprecedented. So there will be a lot of support for israel to defend itself. I think there will also be a fair amount itself. I think there will also be a fairamount of itself. I think there will also be a fair amount of pressure on israel to allow humanitarian aid into the gaza strip. But because it is such a small territory, i think that will be unfortunately one of the most difficult and painful questions over the next few days probably. find t the next few days probably. And i know ou the next few days probably. And i know you talked the next few days probably. And i know you talked about the next few days probably. And i know you talked about how the next few days probably. And i know you talked about how the regional element is too early to talk about and this is very much an Israeli Palestinian thing, but we have to talk about saudi arabia and what was happening before these events. What has changed now . How will things move forward . Saudi israeli normalisation, will things move forward . Saudi israeli normalisation, which will things move forward . S tc israeli normalisation, which had been the topic of th