Israel tanks in Gaza as war deepens

The news: Israel signalled its intent to encircle Gaza's main city on Sunday after ordering expanded ground incursions across the Palestinian enclave's eastern border.

The numbers: The Israeli Defence Force said its fighter jets struck over 450 Hamas targets in the last 24 hours. The latest conflict began when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel on 7 October, killing at least 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Medical authorities in the Gaza Strip, which has a population of 2.3 million people, said on Sunday around 8,000 people had been killed so far.

The context: Israel on Sunday published pictures of battle tanks on the Palestinian enclave's western coast after ordering expanded ground incursions as part of a self-declared "second phase" of a three-week war against Hamas militants. Hamas said it was firing mortars against Israeli forces in north Gaza and had hit Israeli tanks with missiles. Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas, a task that it described as necessitating protracted ground assaults in, around and under Gaza City, where the militants have an extensive subterranean bunker network. There are fears of regional overspill to the Gaza war, including in Lebanon where the Israeli army and Iranian-backed Hezbollah group have been exchanging fire.