Maps: Where the Attacks Are Happening in Israel and Gaza

Israel launched a series of retaliatory strikes against Gaza on Monday morning, hitting several mosques and a marketplace. While the death toll is not known, videos from the market, in the Jabalia refugee camp, showed bodies on the ground and people rushing to find survivors.

The Israeli military said it struck more than 500 targets in Gaza from Sunday night and into Monday.

At least four of the destroyed mosques were in the Shati refugee camp, one of the most densely populated areas of the already densely populated Gaza strip. The Israel military has said that Hamas operates out of civilian targets, including one of the mosques it struck today.

Israel ordered a “complete siege” of the long-blockaded Gaza strip on Monday, two days after Palestinian militants launched a major attack into Israel.

— Agnes Chang and Lauren Leatherby

Israeli soldiers were still fighting militants in at least six locations in southern Israel near the border with Gaza on Monday morning local time. An Israeli military spokesman said it had regained control of all the communities around 11:30 a.m., but there were still clashes on the ground after the announcement.

Lt. Col. Richard Hecht of the Israel Defense Forces said that not all of the breaches in the border fence had been fully closed, and more militants could still be crossing into Israeli territory from Gaza.

“We are still fighting,” he said at a briefing on Monday morning. “We thought by this morning we’d be in a better place.”

— Agnes Chang

More people died in Israel in a single day than any other day since Israel became a state, according to Israel’s foreign press office. Around 700 Israelis had died since attacks began on Saturday, according to Israel’s foreign ministry as of 10:20 p.m. local time on Sunday. The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 413 Palestinians had been killed.

Both sides are continuing attacks, and if Israel uses the same playbook it has in recent conflicts and clashes last more than a few days, the Palestinian death toll will be disproportionate. In recent confrontations, far more Palestinians have been killed by Israelis than Israelis have been killed by Palestinians.

The U.N. reported that 11 Israelis were killed in 2021, the year of the most recent conflict that lasted longer than a week. That conflict began after the Israeli police raided the Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, prompting rocket fire from Gaza. Israel retaliated with airstrikes on Gaza, leading to 349 Palestinian casualties in 2021, including several dozen children.

The U.N. includes in its database Palestinians and Israelis who were killed or injured in conflicts since 2008 in either Israel or the Palestinian territories, which include the West Bank. Information on casualties is collected and entered by field staff and validated by multiple sources.

— Lauren Leatherby and Karen Yourish

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s top military spokesman, said the Israel Defense Forces were evacuating all civilians from the 24 villages near the Gaza border. The move is an indication that Israel might be preparing for an operation inside the Palestinian coastal territory.

The civilian evacuation “will be completed today,” Admiral Hagari said.

Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said fighter jets conducted an “intensive aerial strike” against Hamas military targets near the barrier dividing Israel from Beit Hanoun, a city on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip.

— Lauren Leatherby, Karen Yourish and Eli Murray

Israel and Hamas declared they were at war on Saturday after Hamas militants launched one of the largest assaults on Israel in 50 years.

Hamas fired thousands of rockets toward Israeli cities, and Palestinian militants crossed into southern Israel, killing civilians and holding Israelis hostage.

Israel retaliated with major strikes across the blockaded Gaza Strip, leveling multistory buildings, including a residential building with approximately 100 units.

At least 2,200 rockets were fired into Israeli airspace in the early hours of the assault, said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s top military spokesman. Israel’s emergency service, Magen David Adom, said it had received reports of Hamas rockets landing as far north as Tel Aviv. The exact location of many rocket strikes is unknown.

Photos showed dead bodies of civilians in their cars and at a bus stop in and around the Israeli city of Sderot. The bodies of several bloodied civilians were crumpled together in a room following an attack on the kibbutz of Kfar Azza.

On Saturday evening, Admiral Hagari said there were ongoing hostage situations in the Be’eri kibbutz and the city of Ofakim.

Plumes of flames and smoke rose above Gaza City as Israel retaliated, reducing multistory buildings to rubble.

The streets of Gaza City were largely empty as residents prepared for intensified Israeli airstrikes.

The Palestinian territory of Gaza has been under an Israeli blockade, backed by Egypt, since Hamas seized control of the coastal strip in 2007. The blockade restricts the import of many goods and prevents most people from leaving the territory.

— Lauren Leatherby, Karen Yourish and Elena Shao