Israel Hamas war live updates: Gaza death toll reaches 1,400 as Syria claims Israeli missiles hit airports

The Israeli Prime Minister compared the Hamas militant group that staged a ferocious attack on his country over the weekend to the Islamic State group.

Speaking during the US secretary of state Antony Blinken’s visit to Israel on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu said: “Just as ISIS was crushed, Hamas will be crushed.”

Meanwhile, Mr Blinken reiterated America’s support for Israel. “The message I bring with me is this: You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourselves, but as long as America exists you will never have to,” he said.

Mr Netanyahu said that the US secretary of state’s visit is a “tangible example of America’s unequivocal support of Israel”.

The Israeli Air Force has dropped 6,000 bombs on Gaza since Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel on Saturday, the Israeli Defence Force said.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has announced extra funding to protect Jewish schools and synagogues after an increase in antisemitic incident reports.

The Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity, will receive £3m, Mr Sunak’s office said. It comes after the Metropolitan police said it would also increase police presence around synagogues and schools.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has called for an end to “collective punishment”.

In a joint statement with Jordanian King Abdullah, both warned of a “rise in violence and its spread”.

The chief of staff for Israel‘s military, Herzi Halevi, admitted Thursday that the military had failed to protect civilians around the Gaza Strip from Hamas’s unprecedented attack on the country.

“The IDF is responsible for the security of the country and its citizens, and on Saturday morning in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip, we did not,” Halevi said. “We will learn, we will investigate, but now is the time for war.”

TikTok’s CEO has been given 24 hours to provide the EU with steps taken to tackle disinformation following Hamas’s attacks on southern Israel.

EU industry chief Thierry Breton issued the deadline to Shou Zi Chew following similar warning letters to X owner Elon Musk and Meta Platforms’ Mark Zuckerberg.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing and abuse of civilians on both sides of the conflict as “contravening morals”.

During a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah, he said: “We reject the practices of killing civilians or abusing them on both sides because they contravene morals, religion and international law,” the official Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted Abbas as saying.

“We renounce violence and adhere to international legitimacy, peaceful popular resistance and political action as a path to achieving our national goals,” he said.

Former president Donald Trump’s comments calling Hezbollah “smart” and criticising Israel’s defence minister were “dangerous and unhinged”, White House spokesman Andrew Bates has said.

“Statements like this are dangerous and unhinged. It’s completely lost on us why any American would ever praise an Iran-backed terrorist organization as ‘smart’.”