Israeli army has asked residents of seven different areas across the gaza strip to leave their homes and move to the city centres or take refuge in shelters in preparation for Launching Attacks against hamas targets. Witnesses told the bbc dozens of families have started leaving their homes and they were sheltering in unschools. Un were sheltering in unschools. Un schools. This all comes as israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu declared on saturday that israel is, quote, at war, and is promising revenge. This comes after a surprise and unprecedented attack by Palestinian Militants on israeli territory early saturday morning. Israels government says hamas launched more than 2,000 rockets into the country, killing more than 250 people and wounding over 1,100 others. Officials in the gaza strip say over 230 people have been killed and over 1,700 were injured in retaliatory strikes. The Un Security Council plans to meet about the violence in the region tomorrow. The Early Morning assault began with a barrage of rocket fire from gaza just after dawn, with explosions heard on the streets of ashkelon. Sderot, which is near gaza, is thought to have been infiltrated by militants. Fear and confusion continues to grip the region. 0ur middle east correspondent Yolande Knell filed this report, and a warning that you may find some of it upsetting. Rockets at dawn. The opening salvo in a Surprise Attack on israel by the Palestinian Militant Group hamas. Meanwhile, armed men cut through gazas perimeter fence. This was israels nightmare scenario. Hundreds of militants at large in the south of the country. And hamas released footage after it targeted this israeli tank. Militants also ran through israels heavily fortified erez crossing. Proof that this was a highly planned operation. At this overnight rave in the fields near gaza, israeli pa rty goers ran for their lives. Gilly� s boyfriend went to find her after she hid from hamas gunmen in an orchard. They were going three by three and shooting. Everywhere. From two sides. And i saw many people, like. People were dying all around. In a dramatic turn, in videos verified by the bbc, israelis were also seen taken into gaza as hostages. Israels Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met top security officials. Translation since this morning the state of israel has been at war. Our first objective is to clear out enemy forces that infiltrated and restore the security and quiet to communities that have been attacked. The second objective, at the same time, is to exact an immense price from the enemy within the gaza strip, too. The leader of hamas, which governs gaza, watched the unfolding news from overseas. Ishmail hania promised to end israels occupation of palestinian lands. We are on the verge of a great victory and a clear conquest on the gaza front, he said. In gaza there were celebrations after stolen Israeli Military vehicles were driven in. But soon the deadly pounding by israeli warplanes began. The Israeli Military saying it was targeting hamas sites. Palestinian hospitals have been overwhelmed. After this unprecedented assault, israel is calling up military reservists. And tonight, tel aviv came under rocket fire as the fighting goes on. The question now, can it be stopped from spreading to other palestinian areas and the wider region . Live now to khaled elgindy, Senior Fellow and director of the program on palestine and Palestinian Israeli Affairs at the middle east institute. Good evening, thank you so much for taking the time. I want to begin by asking for your reaction to what we have been seeing today . Reaction to what we have been seeing today . Well, obviously, the images seeing today . Well, obviously, the images coming seeing today . Well, obviously, the images coming out seeing today . Well, obviously, the images coming out of seeing today . Well, obviously, | the images coming out of israel and gaza are quite horrifying. The news is very, very disturbing. We havent seen this level of death and destruction, really, probably ever. We are talking about hundreds killed on both sides already, in a matter of less than 2a hours. So its really quite horrifying. In terms of looking at this from a more political and technical standpoint, i think theres no doubt that this is a colossal Israeli Intelligence failure. I think its actually impossible to overstate what a massive failure it has been in terms of security and intelligence. Israels vaunted Intelligence Services, of course, are known All Over The World as being some of the best in the world. But more than that, in gaza, its one of the most heavily surveilled geographic spaces anywhere in the world. Israel has drones in the air over gaza all the time. Israel controls movement in and out of gaza. And the fact hamas could carry out an operation like this and not only breach the border fence, the border wall, but also to seemingly take over control in large pockets of israeli towns, that in and of itself, i think, israeli towns, that in and of itself, ithink, is israeli towns, that in and of itself, i think, is a sign of just how unprepared israel was with all of its military might and technology. But even more than that, i think it is a political failure. Than that, i think it is a politicalfailure. This political failure. This Netanyahu Government politicalfailure. This Netanyahu Government has touted itself as the coalition of security that will bring Israel Security that will bring Israel Security once and for all. Part of that plan was that netanyahu was building a new middle east in which arab states like saudi arabia would normalise with israel, and the palestinian issue therefore would be a thing of the past and nobody was interested in it. Obviously all of that turned out to be false, and i think there was a sense of complacency, triumphalism in israel that has been irrevocably shattered. I just want to touch on something you said with regards to how stringently controlled the gaza strip is by israeli authorities. With that in mind, and the fact that tonight netanyahu has vowed revenge, he warned palestinians there to get out. Where do they go . Precisely. 0f get out. Where do they go . Precisely. Of course, they have nowhere to go. The border is completely sealed. Frankly, even though some are taking shelter in new un facilities. In the past, you un schools and facilities have come under attack by israeli air strikes. So there really is no safe place in gaza. There nowhere for palestinians to go in gaza. And we should be quite alarmed, frankly, at the very apocalyptic Terms Netanyahu and his far right government are speaking in. They are talking about, gaza will never be the same once they are through with it. We should be very alarmed by that, because israel has the firepower, has the means to deliver on that. And if there isnt any political diplomatic constraints by the International Community, then things can get far, far worse than they already have. Can i ust ask than they already have. Can i just ask you. Than they already have. Can i just ask you, what than they already have. Can i just ask you, what does than they already have. Can i just ask you, what does this | just ask you, what does this say about the situation in gaza . That hamas would do this, cognisant of the fact that the defence and retaliation from israel would be so fierce . Right, | israel would be so fierce . Right, i mean, theres no doubt hamas had calculated that there would be an israeli response, that it would be in keeping with israels Modus Operandi of hugely disproportionate. I am sure they are anticipating that. I am sure they are anticipating also some targeting of hamass political and military leadership. Assassinations and the like. And wide destruction in gaza. So the fact they were still willing to undertake this operation, knowing full well what the costs would be, i think really speaks to a level of palestinian despair and desperation. I mean, if you listen to ismail haniyeh, he talks about events in the west bank, and this has been the deadliest year in more than two decades for palestinians in the west bank. We have seen growing provocations at the al aqsa mosque. When you have this Extremist Government in place where they are openly kind of flouting the traditional arrangements and respect for muslim holy sites injerusalem. And i think the message from hamas was, you know, its enough. It wont be palestinians alone who pay the price going forward. I think israelis had grown accustomed, and i think even the United States and the uk and others had sort of come to accept the status quo in large part, because most of the costs were borne primarily by palestinians. Now that that calculation has. I think they are going to have to look at things differently. Are going to have to look at things differently. Thank you so much for things differently. Thank you so much for sharing things differently. Thank you so much for sharing your so much for sharing your thoughts this evening. Thank ou. With me is elise labott, Contributing Editor for Politico Magazine and founder of zivvy media. Great to have your analysis. The comment there that many in the International Community had accepted, he said, a status quo when it came to israel and the situation with hamas. Your thoughts on that. I situation with hamas. Your thoughts on that. Situation with hamas. Your thoughts on that. I mean, i think thats thoughts on that. I mean, i think thats right. Thoughts on that. I mean, i think thats right. They think thats right. They thought the caledonian conflict was in a box. You have seen lone wolf attacks in the past few years. The Palestinian Conflict was in a box. They have been pretty good at keeping hamas, hezbollah� and islamichhad at bay. Israel was working towards normalisation, the abraham normalisation, the abra ham accords normalisation, the Abraham Accords with their neighbours, and israel thought, hey, our securitys going to be saved, we are going to be ok in the region. But itjust goes to show you, until there is a solution to the Palestinian Conflict, israels not going to have peace. Its not going to have peace. Its not going to have security. Right now this is all about trying to go after hamas, get those hostages, try and contain the situation from inflaming further in the north with hezbollah� , but then i think there were going to be some hard questions about the palestinians and what they do now. Netanyahu said, we are at war. But if you go into a wall, you want victory. So there will be a lot of questions after things calm down, what is the endgame . If you go into a war. Endgame . If you go into a war. ~. ,. , war. We are looking at live pictures war. We are looking at live pictures the war. We are looking at live pictures the night war. We are looking at live pictures the night of war. We are looking at live pictures the night of the i pictures the night of the situation in gaza, at a time israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has promised retaliation. We are monitoring the situation there. But coming back to what you were saying, and with regards to Benjamin Netanyahu having to try and keep a steer on this situation, and as cal khaled had been saying, he has to keep control of the situation. Notjust internationally but domestically. Internationally but domesticall. ,. , domestically. That was the only real Card Netanyahu domestically. That was the only real Card Netanyahu had. Domestically. That was the only real Card Netanyahu had. He i domestically. That was the only real Card Netanyahu had. He is| real Card Netanyahu had. He is very unpopular. We have seen massive protests over the last year about the judiciary and what he� s been trying to do with the supreme court. Look, people voted him out, and then he came back in, he� s been trying to put this coalition together. But he� s always said, i� m the only person who can keep israel safe. Now it shows he can� t keep israel safe. So as we� ve been saying, this is the equivalent of the israeli 9 11, right . Ithink the equivalent of the israeli 9 11, right . I think the israelis are going to say to themselves, if Benjamin Netanyahu can� t keep us safe, who can . A real moment in israel right now. Who can . A real moment in israel right now. The situation he is faced israel right now. The situation he is faced with, israel right now. The situation he is faced with, who israel right now. The situation he is faced with, who will israel right now. The situation he is faced with, who will he l he is faced with, who will he be reaching out to tonight and leaning on for support . What kind of things will he be asking washington for in terms of support to try and bring the situation under control . And will it be there . I situation under control . And will it be there . Will it be there . I think its auoin will it be there . I think its going to will it be there . I think its going to be will it be there . I think its going to be there. Will it be there . I think its going to be there. He will it be there . I think its| going to be there. He going will it be there . I think its going to be there. He going to be looking for weapons. Ammunition. Very sophisticated weapons systems. Being able to replenish the batteries of the iron dome Missile System to ward off those lockets, and stabilise the situation. Then he is going to be looking for that Political Support from President Biden. The two have had a very difficult, tumultuous relationship, but at the end of the day, israel and Israeli Security is very important to President Biden. Looking at those live pictures, what you are now seeing is the scene in gaza city. If you take a look, cutting through the darkness, we did see explosions in that area of gaza city tonight. These are live pictures you are looking at. And remember, Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu had said israel would be launching retaliatory air strikes on the gaza strip. He had warned families to try and get out of that area, but of course it is tightly controlled. You can continue to head to our live page on the website bbc. Com news as we continue to get more details on the situation on the ground there. We had heard some hostages had been released in israel. Live now to barbara starr, a longtime pentagon correspondent. Ijust want i just want to ask you about your principle and vital concerns that the United States beyond their support of israel. Everyone� s talking about the us support for israel, and that� s very true and very, very important to the us, but the National Security concerns, think of it this way. The Us Intelligence community, the thing they hate the most are surprises. They want to know what� s going on everywhere they need to worry about. And what they don� t need to worry about. They don� t want surprises. And by all accounts, this attack came as a terrible surprise, not just to the came as a terrible surprise, notjust to the israelis but to Us Intelligence and Intelligence Services around the world indeed. So i think it is very fair to say that the us is very fair to say that the us is going to want to know what exactly happened. They are likely to go back through their own cable traffic. Did they have any hints . Did they miss something . You have to think they are going to want to know all of that. The us and the allies, including many of the european allies, still have Tens Of Thousands of troops across the middle east. If trouble is afoot at the hands of iran, which many people believe was behind much of this, they are going to need to know that to keep the us troops are safe. They are going to need to know what happened, how was hamas able to do this . How were they able to organise, train and fund . How were they able to get the intelligence they needed to launch against all of these targets inside israel without anybody knowing Thatis Israel without anybody knowing that is what they were up to . That� s the kind of surprised the us doesn� t like. Because if a Terrorist Group can pull off an attack like this once, they can do it again, and they could do it against a whole different set of targets somewhere potentially in the middle east region. So there� s going to be a lot of interest, and i think it� s fair to say, a lot of effort amongst Intelligence Services, including the us and the israeli services, in getting to the bottom of what exactly transpired here. Barbara, standby, because during your analysis, police were nodding fervently. Your thoughts. Elise. Were nodding fervently. Your thoughts. Elise. Thoughts. Elise. Israeli intelligence thoughts. Elise. Israeli intelligence is thoughts. Elise. Israeli intelligence is so thoughts. Elise. Israeli| intelligence is so superior. Their human intelligence, signal intelligence, all of it, it� s second only to the United States. Israeland it� s second only to the United States. Israel and the us have this enormously close intelligence relationship, so they both missed it. Israel are they both missed it. Israel are the ones on the ground and they missed it. But they are co ordinating all the time. So how did they miss it . Israel just signed this peace deal with the united arab emirates. They have excellent intelligence. The saudis have good intelligence. Even though there is no deal yet, there are talks. Israel has talked with Intelligence Services all across the region. Egypt, jordan. I mean, this is a surprise to everybody in the region. We talk about iran being involved, and it is what a lot of these nations are concerned about right now, that they missed all of this. How did the weapons get in there . Who was funding them . How did they do the training . This is what makes it really difficult if israel is going to go into gaza right now. If they missed what was coming out and coming across the border and taking control, paragliders, what are they going into . They are really coming to this realisation that they may not know what they are going to find when they get in there . So ou find when they get in there . So you are saying in the case of any kind of Ground Incursion into the gaza strip, that because of this intelligence failure, there may be serious concerns about what they can achieve and what they may be faced with if they do so . I think whatever they think they are going to be faced with, Donald Rumsfeld the former defence secretary used to say, there are knowns and unknowns and there are known unknowns. Right now they are looking at the known unknowns and thinking, what are we missing . There is also the challenge of where are they hiding the hostages . You� ve got to believe they are hiding them in areas where the hamas thinks israel is going to hit. Maybe they are not, because they think they are going to be somewhere else. So right now, israel is trying to play catch up and they are doing an assessment on, how many were killed . How many are injured . How many hostages . And where they got hit. This Intelligence Assessment is going to be very important to everyone. Going to be very important to everyone everyone. Really important oint everyone. Really important point there. Everyone. Really important point there. Thank everyone. Really important point there. Thank you everyone. Really important point there. Thank you so l everyone. Really important point there. Thank you so much. Ijust want to point there. Thank you so much. I just want to update our view is now because we are getting some new information. A text message sent to some residents of the town of beit hanoun in the area. The message reads, to the area. The message reads, to the residents of beit hanoun, you must leave your homes immediately and go to the shelters. This adds israeli troops are going house to house to clear communities after the saturday assault. Lieutenant coloneljonathan. Saturday assault. Lieutenant coloneljonathan. As we are speaking, the situation in israel not fully under control. He said that during a live stream. Still fighting on going in southern israel. Some reaction now from washington. Live now to our corespondent carl nasman. What are you hearing from the Biden Administration . We heard earlier from Biden Administration . We heard earlier from president Biden Administration . We heard earlier from President Biden earlierfrom President Biden himself, reiterating his support for israel. Several different us officials and lawmakers issuing statements. Starting with the secretary lawmakers issuing statements. Starting with the secretary of defence lloyd austin. We have also heard from us Secretary Of State antony blinken. Ifi if i can go over to barbara listening to all of that. Thank you, carl. Your reaction on those statements from the Biden Administration. Administration. Well, look, i think its administration. Well, look, i think its what administration. Well, look, i think its what you administration. Well, look, i think its what you would think it� s what you would expect. It� s a statement of support for israel. A statement that the us will continue to support israel with whatever it needs, as we have talked about, weapons from us stockpiles if that� s what is required. Intelligence, if that is what is required. But the israelis are going to have to brief the us on what their plan is, how they plan to move ahead, and how they plan to target inside of gaza. Is this going to be an aircampaign of gaza. Is this going to be an air campaign which they can engage in precision targeting, let� s say, against a Building Orfacility . 0r let� s say, against a Building Orfacility . Or is it going to be a Ground Effort which is much less precise . Both run the risk of civilian casualties, of civilians inside gaza, it� s going to be a bit concerned. We will have to see how it sorts out. ~. ,. ,. , out. We have to leave it there for new. Out. We have to leave it there for now, barbara, out. We have to leave it there for now, barbara, but out. We have to leave it there for now, barbara, but thank. Out. We have to leave it there l for now, barbara, but thank you so much, you are watching rolling coverage of the unprecedented attacks by hamas on israel, these are live pictures, join us again for more rolling coverage on bbc news. Hello. Rarely do we see a day of weather contrasts quite as stark as those we experienced during saturday. Across many parts of scotland we had huge amounts of rain, flooding and disruption. We had this met Office Amber Warning in force. This expiring through the first part of Sunday Morning but this new warning stretching from aberdeenshire up towards inverness, this warning is in force until 2pm on sunday with further flooding and disruption likely. This is the rain we had on saturday. It was relentless. Well over 100 millimetres of rain in places and some spots in the north of scotland only got to 7 8 degrees. Compare that with 25 in south east england, those huge contrasts, that, in fact, was the warmest 0ctober day we have seen in five years. Into sunday this frontal system still plaguing parts of scotland with some outbreaks of rain. The focus for the heaviest rain does shift a little further northwards and eastwards. Still though some rain through the central belt, could cause further problems, southern scotland looking drier with a little bit of sunshine. Patchy cloud and sunny spells for northern ireland. Quite murky for some western coasts of england and wales and a bit more cloud for eastern coasts too, but we should, broadly speaking, see some spells of sunshine on what will be another very warm day for the time of year, 25, 26 degrees, not as cold across the north of scotland. Heading through sunday night, we will still see some bits and pieces of rain across scotland, Maybe Fringing Into northern ireland, but generally it will turn a bit drier, quite windy in the far north, very mild as we start monday morning with some areas of low cloud, mist and fog, particularly for western coasts and some of that could linger as we go through the day. Scotland certainly drier than it has been, although this little line of rain could just plague the South West Of Scotland from time to time. Temperatures 13 in stornoway, still 2a in london. Moving deeper into the week, we will see someting of a change, that warmth is set to be swept away. A frontal system pushing its way south and east through the middle of the week, heavy rain with that, and behind it something cooler, something a bit more like we would expect at this time of year. So a mainly dry, warm start to the week but things will change from midweek onwards. I� m helena humphrey, thank you forjoining us. We� re continuing our special coverage, as israel and hamas trade strikes across the gaza strip, Killing Hundreds after Palestinian Militants launch a Surprise Attack on israel. Let� s take you straight live to gaza city now. These are live pictures. We� re hearing that the israeli army has asked residents of seven different areas across the gaza strip to leave their homes and move to the city centers or take refuge in shelters in preparation for Launching Attacks against hamas targets. Witnesses told the bbc that dozens of families had started leaving their homes and were sheltering in un schools. Earlier, the israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said israel will take � mighty vengeance� for the major attack hamas militants launched on israel. He said that hamas� hideouts would be turned into rubble. Mr netanyahu said his Security Cabinet has approved decisions to destroy military and governmental capabilities of hamas and the islamicjihad. Let� s take a look at some of the other latest developments this hour. Israel� s public broadcaster has reported that, after 18 hours, hostages being held in a dining room in kibbutz be� eri have been released. Israel has also confirmed that the commander of the nahal brigade, Coloneljonathan Steinberg was killed in fighting on saturday. Meanwhile, Majorairlines Have cancelled dozens