Israel-Gaza war updates: Gaza power plant shuts down after running out of fuel, third repatriation flight confirmed for Australians — as it happened
By Liana Walker, Riley Stuart, Lara Smit, Leonie Thorne, Inasha Iftekhar , Daniel Keane, Audrey Courty, Caitlin Rawling, Claudia Williams, Debra Killalea, Tom Williams, and Brad RyanThe US president says Hamas' attack was a campaign of "not just hate, but cruelty" against the Jewish people.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Penny Wong says a third repatriation flight out of Israel for Australians will be arranged.
Take a look back at how Thursday's events unfolded.
Key events
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Live updates
We'll wrap things up here
By Liana Walker
Thank you for joining our live coverage of the situation in Israel and Gaza.
Here's a summary of some of today's key events:
- The death toll has risen to at least 2,600 total across Israel and Gaza
- The Israeli military says more than 1,200 people, including 189 soldiers, have been killed in Israel since Saturday
- In Gaza, the health ministry says 1,400 have been killed and more than 6,200 injured
- Israel says it has been able to confirm the identities of 97 people taken hostage by Hamas during Saturday's attack
- Israel's Minister of Energy and Infrastructure has said no electricity or water will be supplied to Gaza until those kidnapped are returned home with Gaza's power authority says its only power plant has since run out of fuel
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken touched down in Israel and met with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and president Isaac Herzog, he's expected to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah II on Friday
- Egypt has denied officially closing the Rafah crossing, saying Israeli airstrikes hampered its activities
We'll be back again early Friday morning.
You can also download the ABC News app and subscribe to our range of news alerts for the latest updates.
Red Cross says Gaza hospitals will become 'graveyards' if generators run out
By Liana Walker
Sarah Davies from the Red Cross says civilians need to be placed at the forefront of discussions about how the war will be fought.
Doctors struggling to cope with number of people needing urgent care
By Inasha Iftekhar
The UN has voiced concerns around the humanitarian crisis unfolding, with approximately a quarter of a million people displaced in Gaza.
Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta is a surgeon at Shifa Hospital in Gaza, speaking to ABC News Channel's Joe O'Brien about their struggles to cope with the sheer number of people injured and providing urgent care.
"I have 50 patients waiting to go to the operating table, that I cannot get into the operating rooms because the priority is for more critically ill patients," he said.
"All supplies are running short. The number of wounded has completely used up what was already a crippled system as a result of 15 years of siege."
It's estimated that Shifa Hospital has around 2-3 more days worth of fuel before their generators go out.
Gaza death toll rises
By Liana Walker
At least 1,417 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip and over 6,200 have been injured since the Israel-Hamas war began, Palestinian health officials said Thursday.
Of the dead, nearly 450 are children and 250 are women.
The war has claimed at least 2,600 lives on both sides since Hamas launched its attack on Israel last Saturday.
The Israeli military says more than 1,200 people, including 189 soldiers, have been killed in Israel since Saturday.
Blinken meets with President Isaac Herzog
By Liana Walker
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Mr Blinken offered a statement with Mr Herzog that touched on the same themes as his earlier statement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"There really are two paths before countries in this region and in many ways, countries in this world," Mr Blinken said.
"But here in the Middle East, there’s the path of integration, cooperation, normalisation and equal measures of justice, opportunity, dignity for all peoples, including the Palestinians
"Or there’s the path that Hamas has shown to the world these last few days — terror, destruction, nihilism, a path that leads to nowhere for anyone except to the darkest places in our souls."
AP
Local's first hand account of rocket strike
By Riley Stuart
David was born in Tel Aviv but has lived in Los Angeles for the past 40 years.
We are in Sderot, near Israel’s border with Gaza.
Hamas has been firing rockets at the area since the war began on Saturday.
One landed here today, and a man was injured.
David was nearby when it came in.
“You can see the blood,” he said.
“I’m here to show my support to the city and the soldiers.
“I’m still here because I went to support the people here. I have a lot of friends here.”
Images show what is happening in Sderot
By Riley Stuart
Israeli army preparing for ground assault
By Liana Walker
The Israeli army said it was preparing for a ground assault on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip but that the country's political leaders had not yet taken a decision.
"We are waiting to see what our political leadership decides about a potential ground" incursion, army spokesman Richard Hecht told journalists.
"This has not been decided yet... But we are preparing for a ground manoeuvre if it is decided.
"We are preparing ourselves for the next stages of war... to prepare for multiple operative contingency plans."
He said the possible operation "could be from the air, it could be combined from the sea (and) air".
Israel's assault is targeting senior leaders of Hamas, Mr Hecht said, including the group's chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
"Right now we are focused on taking out their senior leadership, not only the military leadership (but) also their governmental leadership, all the way up to Sinwar," Mr Hecht said.
"They were directly connected" to the weekend attack, he added.
AFP
Egypt says Israeli air strikes stopped border crossing with Gaza operating
By Leonie Thorne
Egypt has denied officially closing the Rafah crossing — the main exit point from besieged Gaza — saying Israeli airstrikes hampered its activities.
It has also called on Israel to avoid targeting the Palestinian side of the crossing, saying "repeated bombing" has prevented it from operating normally.
For context, two days ago the Israeli military issued a statement which said the gateway between Egypt and Gaza was closed, shortly after suggesting that Palestinian civilians should escape through the crossing.
The only other roads out of Gaza are controlled by Israel.
In a statement released this evening, Egypt's Foreign Ministry called on all countries and international organizations wishing to provide humanitarian aid to deliver supplies to el-Arish International Airport, in Egypt’s northern Sinai.
ABC with reporting from AP
Israel artillery shells Gaza while Hamas fires rockets at Sderot
By Liana Walker
Tanks in southern Israel fired at Gaza while Hamas rockets hit Sderot.
An ambulance was seen damaged at Sderot following the rocket attack.
Sderot is just 4 km from the Gaza Strip and has been bearing the brunt of previous Palestinian rocket attacks.
Doctors without Borders describe the worst conflict seen in years
By Inasha Iftekhar
The escalation of the conflict between Israel and Gaza is beyond what Doctors without Borders has seen or dealt with in years.
Dr Justin Dalby from Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) has been in Gaza over the last 6 months and has experienced the increased pressures on what he describes to ABC's News Channel Yvonne Yong, as an already chronically strained healthcare system.
"Gaza has a population of 2.3 million, just under 50 per cent of them are children," he told the program.
"The other day we had a 9-year-old boy who came to our clinic… he had sustained severe burns over his face, upper chest and his arms. His mother showed a photo of what had happened to their residence and it was basically just completely destroyed."
The effects of the siege on Gaza have meant no fuel, water, medication or additional personnel can come through.
"Shifa Hospital's got roughly 2-3 days of diesel left. Once it runs out it's not as simple as lights out, it means ventilators stop working, monitors stop working, surgical equipment will cease to work," Dr Dalby said.
Israel is required by international humanitarian law to provide effective advance warning if an attack is expected to effect civilians. Dr Dalby says warnings are limited in their effectiveness when there's no place for people to go.
"It's all well and good if there's notice, but really if there's nowhere to go, and there's nowhere to flee to, you're just in as much danger," he says.
"There's (over quarter of a million) people displaced but no matter where you go to, nowhere else is safe."
VIDEO: US and Israel justify coming ground war in Gaza
By Liana Walker
ABC Global Affairs Editor John Lyons says both countries say Israel has an obligation to eliminate Hamas.
Here's what it's like on the ground in Sderot
By Riley Stuart
We are in Sderot, which is close to the Gaza border and has been a significant target for Hamas rockets this week.
One landed here, and a man was injured.
Damage on the road and wall can be seen where the rocket landed.
People who live here told the ABC they’re planning on staying here to try and make it peaceful.
Australian officials say they’re supporting more than 1500 people in Israel and Gaza
By Tom Lowrey
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it has been contacted by more than 1500 people in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, seeking support during the ongoing conflict.
That includes providing consular assistance to the family of murdered Australian grandmother Galit Carbone, and a small number of others.
About 350 people who had registered with DFAT have already left the region.
Not everyone registered with DFAT wants to leave, but work is now underway to organise three special flights out of Israel for those who do, and can’t access commercial flights.
The first two flights will go to London, and will be operated by Qantas, while the third flight will be a charter with details still to be arranged.
DFAT is also advising anyone looking to cross the western land border into Jordan to check the status of the border crossing before leaving.
It’s estimated there are between 10,000 and 12,000 Australians in Israel at any point in time.
A spokesperson for the Department also noted the particular difficulty facing Australians in Gaza, looking to leave.
“Departures from Gaza are challenging due to the dangerous security situation,” they said.
“Australians should contact the Australian Government’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas) or 1300 555 135 (from within Australia) for assistance.”
Watch: Netanyahu says there will be 'many difficult days ahead'
By Liana Walker
Hamas does not represent Palestinian people: Blinken
By Liana Walker
He tells the press conference anyone who wants peace must condem Hamas's reign of terror.
"We know Hamas doesn't represent the Palestinian people or their legitimate aspirations to live with equal measures of security, freedom, justice, opportunity, and dignity," Mr Blinken says.
"We know Hamas — instead of promoting the wellbeing of its citizens — rules repressively, and dedicates the resources it has to terror tunnels and rockets.
"We know Hamas didn't commit its heinous acts with the interests of Palestinian people in mind.
"We know Hamas does not stand for the future that Palestinians want for themselves and for their children.
"Hamas has onlyone agenda — to destroy Israel, and to murder Jews. No country can or would tolerate the slaughter of its citizens — or simply return to the conditions that allowed it to take place."
America promises to stand by Israel's side
By Liana Walker
Anthony Blinken has reiterated the message that the US is on the side of Israel.
"The message that I bring to Israel is this - you may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself but, as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to.
"We will always be there by your side."
Blinken: 'How are we even to understand this'
By Liana Walker
"I come before you not only as the secretary of state but also as a Jew," Anthony Blinken tells Mr Netanyahu, saying he understands on a personal level.
"It's impossible for me to look at the photos of families killed — such as the mother, father and three small children murdered as they sheltered in their home in kibbutz … and not think of my own children. This was just one of Hamas's countless acts of terror," he tells reporters.
He says this brings to mind the worst of ISIS, describing babies being slaughtered and young people being burned alive.
"How are we even to understand this, to digest this?"
'Hamas is ISIS': Prime Minister Netanyahu
By Liana Walker
Mr Netanyahu is accusing Hamas of kidnapping and molesting children.
He has compared Hamas to ISIS and said "Hamas should be crushed."
"They should be spit out from the community of nations," he says.
"No leader should meet them, no country should harbour them.
"And those that do should be sanctioned."
The press conference has started
By Liana Walker
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked the US for their support both in English and again in Hebrew.