Gaza's sole border crossing with Egypt, the only entry point not controlled by Israel, was hit by an Israeli air strike for the third time in 24 hours, a journalist and an NGO said.

The third strike against the Rafah crossing consisted of "four missiles" which targeted the Palestinian side of the crossing, local Egyptian group Sinai for Human Rights reported.

Witnesses had said the second strike hit the no-man's land between the Egyptian and Palestinian gates, damaging the hall on the Palestinian side.

READ MORE

Israel places Gaza Strip under total siege where 'no place is safe'

Israel mourns its '9/11' as China calls for two-state solution

Wider conflict could 'erupt' in region following Israel attacks

The Israel military said it could "neither confirm or deny" any strike on the crossing "at this point." Sinai for Human Rights said the strikes had prompted the closure of the crossing, but there was no immediate confirmation from either side.

As part of continued strikes across Israel, Hamas claimed to have hit Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, which the Israelis have denied.

 

Soaring death toll

Israel's embassy in Washington said the death toll from the weekend Hamas attacks had surpassed 1,000, dwarfing all modern attacks on the West except for 9/11.

The victims were overwhelmingly civilians, gunned down in homes, on streets or at an outdoor dance party. Scores of Israelis and some foreigners were captured and taken to Gaza as hostages, some paraded through the streets.

Gaza's health ministry said Israel's retaliatory air strikes had killed at least 830 people and wounded 4,250. The strikes intensified on Tuesday night, shaking the ground and sending more columns of smoke and flames into the sky.

Israeli airlines El Al, Israir and Arkia added more flights to bring back reservists, according to their websites and Israel's airports authority, though the prospect of more conflict also stoked sector worries about staff shortages. 

The flights come after Israel said it had called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists and warned residents of Palestinian enclave Gaza to evacuate in a sign it could be planning a ground assault in response to Palestinian militant group Hamas' unprecedented weekend attack.

Meanwhile, two members from Hamas's political office, Jawad Abu Shammala and Zakaria Abu Maamar, were killed in an air strike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, an official from the group said.

In a statement, the Israeli military confirmed killing Abu Shammala, saying he had been struck "overnight."

Four Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza City, media unions and officials said, as heavy fighting raged for a fourth day. The latest deaths bring the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the fighting since Saturday to eight, the Palestinian Press Union said in a statement.

The Red Cross said it stood ready in its role as a neutral intermediary to help clarify the fate of those missing after the surprise Hamas assault on Israel.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was ready to help reunite families and called for all hostages to be freed immediately.

Israel pounded Hamas targets in Gaza and said the bodies of 1,500 fighters were found in southern towns recaptured by the army in battles near the Palestinian enclave.

 

Detainees must be treated 'humanely'

Hamas has held around 150 hostages since its surprise incursion on Saturday - among them children, elderly and young people who were captured at a music festival where some 270 died.

"Killing civilians and ill-treatment are prohibited by the Geneva Conventions. In addition, the conventions demand that the wounded and sick are cared for," said ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric.

"People detained must be treated humanely and with dignity. Hostage-taking is prohibited under international humanitarian law and hostages should be immediately released unharmed."

Qatar said it was too soon to start brokering talks on a potential prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari said it was "too early" for mediation when asked about the prospects for a potential prisoner exchange.

"At this moment, it is a very difficult point to say that any party can start with mediation. I think we need to see developments on the ground," he told reporters.

French President Emmanuel Macron denounced "unacceptable blackmail" by Hamas after the Palestinian militant group threatened to execute some of the around 150 hostages it abducted in the weekend assault.

"The blackmail by Hamas after its terrorist acts is odious and unacceptable," Macron told reporters on a visit to Germany.

The French president added that he considered it "likely" that Hamas had received outside "help" in its attack against Israel. But he stressed there was "no formal trace" of any "direct involvement" by Iran, at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

 

'Failure of U.S. politics in the Middle East'

German federal prosecutors announced a probe into Hamas on suspicion of kidnap and murder of German citizens following the militant group's weekend assault on Israel.

Prosecutors "have opened an investigation against unidentified members of the radical Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas," a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office told AFP.

The probe is over suspicions "of belonging to a foreign terrorist group, hostage-taking and murder," she said. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Israel-Gaza conflict showed the "failure" of Washington's Middle East policy and called the creation of "an independent sovereign Palestinian state" a "necessity."

The Russian leader made the comments while meeting Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Moscow, days after Hamas launched a massive attack on Israel. 

"I think many people would agree with me that it's a clear example of the failure of U.S. politics in the Middle East," Putin said.

He spoke of the "necessity to implement the decisions of the UN Security Council on the creation of an independent sovereign Palestinian state."

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday