Israel-Palestine war LIVE: British nationals urged to be on alert in case route out of Gaza opens as PM Rishi Sunak works with foreign officials to seek safe return of 60,000 Britons while battle with Hamas continues

The Star of David has been graffitied on the doors of homes in Berlin, in a chilling echo of anti-Semitic persecution of Jewish people under the Nazis.

Pictures circulating online show the symbol was drawn on several buildings, with four cases reported to German police in recent days.

Jewish people living in the German capital have reported a rise in abuse following Hamas’s bloody attack on Israel last week.

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Israel’s warning to 1.1million residents in Gaza to evacuate to the south of the coastal enclave has triggered a ‘mass displacement’, according to the United Nations.

‘Mass displacement from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip has been ongoing since… Friday morning, after Israel ordered residents to evacuate the areas ahead of military operations,’ the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said in an update.

‘Humanitarian partners report that the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has risen significantly over the last 24 hours; however, the exact number is unknown,’ it added.

Pope Francis has called for humanitarian corridors to help those under siege in Gaza and renewed his appeal for the release of hostages held by militant Islamist group Hamas.

‘I strongly ask that the children, the sick, the elderly, women and all civilians do not become victims of the conflict,’ the Pope said during his weekly address to the crowds in St Peter’s square.

‘Humanitarian right must be respected, above all in Gaza.’

Medics in Gaza warned that thousands could die as hospitals packed with wounded people run desperately low on fuel and basic supplies.

Palestinians in the beseiged enclave, which is home to 2.3million people and one of the most densely populated places on Earth, have struggled to find food, water and safety amid Israeli blockades.

The situation is set to become more dire for those who have been unable to evacuate as Israel prepares for a ground offensive.

A British girl trapped in Gaza has told how she fears she will be killed in an Israeli airstrike as she described waking up to find ‘bombs and dead people’.

Clutching her British passport tightly for reassurance, the British-Palestinian heartbreakingly says she arrived in Gaza to ‘have some fun and see my family’, but now fears she will never make it home.

It comes after the UK government pledged to evacuate Britons from the Gaza Strip, which is under near-constant bombardment by Israeli missiles ahead of a suspected ground offensive.

Two flights were initially cancelled before the first repatriation plane landed in Cyprus on Saturday, and the government is now telling UK citizens to ‘be ready’ in case the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt opens.

Pro-Palestine activists have plotted a wave of sledgehammer attacks on British defence contractors who they say have links to Israel – after claiming responsibility for defacing BBC’s HQ with red paint.

Palestine Action plans to attack the buildings linked to three companies – Elbit Systems, Rafael and Teledyne.

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The head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK has called on the British government to ‘stick to its own historic, legal and political responsibilities’ and to stop ‘giving the green light’ to Israel amid its bombardment of Gaza.

The IDF has said that 126 Israeli hostages are confirmed to have been taken by Hamas.

The update comes after Israel previously said that around 150 people were being held captive in Gaza.

A family member has shared a heartbreaking video of her two younger cousins, nine-month old Kfir and four-year-old Ariel, after they were abducted by Hamas during the Israeli kibbutz massacre.

Yifat Zailer, 37, from Israel, said that six of her relatives had been taken from their home Nir Oz kibbuz in southern Israel.

As well as the two young children, who were named at a press conference held by children of British-Israeli hostages on Thursday, Yifat’s aunt Shiri Silberman-Bibas, 30, Shiri’s 37-year-old husband and her parents, Yosi and Margit Silberman, are also missing.

The devastating video shows the young children playing gleefully and laughing at the camera.

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The IDF says troops have arrested 330 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including 190 affiliated with Hamas, since fighting erupted in southern Israel last Saturday.

Last night alone 33 Hamas members were arrested, the military says.

Israel has reportedly carried out military operations in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

More than 50 people have been arrested during morning raids today, Al Jazeera reports.

At least 55 West Bank Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7, according to the Palestinian Authority health ministry.

Labour’s David Lammy said the Foreign Secretary’s suggestion that there must be ‘no resiling’ from support for Israel ‘must be right.’

The Shadow Foreign Secretary told Sky News: ‘Israel has a right to get those hostages.

‘It has a right to degrade the military equipment and rockets that have been used against it to deal with the tunnelling of Hamas and we must recognise that Israel is facing a huge existential crisis.

‘Against that backdrop of course they have the support of the UK government and I would not seek to be partisan about that, except to say that it’s hugely important that that is done as Keir Starmer has said, along the lines of international law.’

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said that ten is ‘not an unreasonable estimate’ of the number of British hostages taken by Hamas terrorists.

Speaking to Sky News, he said Israel is still identifying who was killed and who was taken hostage when the terror group launched its bloody incursion from Gaza last Saturday.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he was not afraid as he had to seek cover when sirens warned of Hamas rockets during his visit to Ofakim in southern Israel this week.

‘I made a decision that I would go to southern Israel. I recognised that there were risks involved in that.

‘Sadly, for the people living in southern Israel, moving quickly to bomb shelters in response to air threats, alerts, is a regular occurrence.

‘They were very, very used to it and therefore was it quite reassuring.

‘I wasn’t afraid because, as I say, the swiftness and professionalism of the people I was with was incredibly reassuring,’ he told Sunday With Trevor Phillips on Sky News.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Hamas wants to turn the conflict into a ‘war between the Muslim world and the wider world’, as he urged Israel to show restraint and discipline.

He told Sunday With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: ‘Friends speak honestly with friends and we have a very, very good working relationship with the Israeli government and whenever I have spoken to them I have reinforced the UK’s position about the preservation of life, the avoidance of civilian casualties.

‘I know the Israelis completely understand that, President Herzog has said their operations will be in accordance with international law.

‘I have said it’s in Israel’s interest to avoid civilian casualties and Palestinian casualties because Hamas clearly wants to turn this into a wider Arab-Israeli war or indeed a war between the Muslim world and the wider world and none of us, including Israel, want that to be the case and so that’s why we do give that strong advice from a position of friendship.’

He added: ‘I’ve said that restraint, discipline these are the hallmarks of the Israel Defence Force that I want to see and indeed those are the hallmarks of a high-functioning military organisation, which the IDF is – in stark contrast to the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas.

‘Israel seeks to avoid civilian casualties, Hamas seeks civilians in order to target.’

The Israeli army has set up a two mile (four kilometre) buffer zone near the border with Lebanon.

Civilians have been told that entering the area is strictly prohibited after a man was reportedly killed in Shtula by missile fire from across the border.

Antony Blinken met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met in Riyadh today, in what the US Secretary of State called a ‘very productive’ meeting as Washington works to contain the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

‘The Secretary highlighted the United States’ unwavering focus on halting terrorist attacks by Hamas, securing the release of all hostages, and preventing the conflict from spreading,’ the State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

‘The two affirmed their shared commitment to protecting civilians and to advancing stability across the Middle East and beyond,’ Miller added.

Israel’s army says it is striking targets in Lebanon after a reported attack on the northern border village of Shtula.

At least one person, a 40-year-old man, was killed in the strikes and three were wounded, Israeli medics said.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing the anti-tank missile, according to reports.

The United States is offering Americans in Israel and their immediate relatives evacuation by sea from northern Haifa to Cyprus on Tuesday, a US embassy spokesperson said.

Hamas is blocking civilians from leaving the northern Gaza Strip as hundreds of thousands flee for their lives.

Two lorries are blocking a road into the southern region as a huge convoy of vehicles forms behind, shown in aerial photos released by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

Around 1.2million desperate Palestinians have been rushing to escape the Gaza Strip by vehicle or on foot amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to turn the area into ‘rubble’.

Military forensic teams in Israel have examined bodies of victims of last week’s Hamas attack on communities around the Gaza Strip and found multiple signs of torture, rape and other atrocities, officers have said.

Around 1,300 bodies have been brought to an army base in Ramla in central Israel where forensic checks were carried out to determine the identity of the dead and the circumstances of their deaths.

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage of the ninth day of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Here’s what you need to know this morning:

Israel is readying its troops for an offensive on Gaza, with a ‘joint and coordinated attack [on Gaza] from the air, sea and land’ expectedHundreds of thousands of Gazans have heeded Israel’s warning and fled to the south of the small strip of land as air strikes continue to bombard the enclave. Others remain in their homes and trapped in hospitalsThe Gaza Health Ministry said 2,329 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting erupted, making this the deadliest of the five Gaza wars for both sidesIran told Israel via the United Nations that it would intervene if operations in Gaza continued, a report has claimedIDF troops are hunting Hamas commander Yahya Sinwar – described as Palestine’s Bin LadenAround 1,300 bodies have been brought to an Israeli army base for forensic checks, with experts saying multiple people killed by Hamas suffered rape, torture and other atrocities