Video shows the bloody aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Israel’s Be’eri kibbutz

Warning: this video contains graphic images.

Quiet streets in Jaffa as Israel reels from Hamas attack

TEL AVIV — The streets around the Clock Tower in the historic port of Jaffa are usually bustling with people, but this morning they are practically empty.

It’s “the most important place in Jaffa, this square,” said Bashar Harar, 56, as he looked out at the empty chairs and tables in front of Tower Toast, the café where he works.

“There are no people, there are no tourists,” he said, noting that the Clock Tower, which commemorates Israelis killed in the battle for the town in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, is usually popular among tourists.

Harar said he could understand why the square was so quiet. “This time is more dangerous,” he said.

124 IDF soldiers confirmed dead so far

Israel’s Defense Forces said Tuesday 124 of their soldiers have been killed since Hamas invaded Israel on Saturday.

An unconfirmed number of Israeli soldiers have also been taken hostage.

7 Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza, authorities say

Government officials in Gaza confirmed Tuesday the deaths and names of seven Palestinian journalists who have been killed since Hamas’ violent incursion into Israel and Israel’s retaliatory air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Gaza residents ‘traumatized’ as relentless Israeli bombing continues

As Israel brought its military might to Gaza, home to more than two million people, resident Ahmad Alghari said he and his family heard sorties of F-16s and relentless bombings every few minutes.

“Everyone freezes, starts shaking and tried to find their moms or sisters or brothers to hang on tight,” the 33-year-old breakdancer told NBC News in a telephone interview.

“Sometimes we jump when we hear the sound of a bomb. Most people are like zombies,” he said. “They are traumatized,” he said, adding the siege imposed by Israel had left ordinary civilians like him without food, clean water and electricity.

Over 180,000 people displaced in Gaza, United Nations says

The United Nations is sounding the alarm about the humanitarian crisis developing in Gaza amid retaliatory strikes by Israel in the aftermath of the Hamas incursion.

Mass displacement of civilians has escalated in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, the U.N. said in its Tuesday report, reaching over 187,518 and is expected to increase further.

Nearly 137,500 internally displaced people are sheltering in 83 U.N. schools in all areas of the Gaza Strip, the report said.

Friend of missing mother says her children were used as human shields

A friend of a mother taken by Hamas militants in Saturday’s attack said her children were used as human shields as the fighters focused on killing and kidnapping Israeli civilians.

Moshiko Ben-Giat, who described himself as a longtime friend of the mother, who’s still missing, said militants took her two boys, one aged 4 and one aged 4 months.

The boys were “dragged by the Hamas terrorists from house to house … to be used as a human shield,” Ben-Giat said today on MSNBC.

The neighbor looking after the pair was also enlisted to tell locals in Hebrew to come out of shelters, but some did not comply and survived, he said. The children were taken toward Gaza, but as they neared the border the neighbor was told to take them back, Ben-Giat said.

Both children were recovering at a medical facility, Ben-Giat said, where their father reunited with them. The fate of their mother remains unknown.

IDF’s fighter jets strike more than 200 targets inside Gaza

Israel’s Defense Forces continued to strike targets inside the Gaza Strip Tuesday, three days after Hamas’ violent incursion into Israel.

The IDF said it was striking “terror targets belonging to terrorist organizations” inside the enclave in retaliation.

Overnight, it said dozens of fighter jets struck over 200 targets in Rimal and Khan Yunis, which the IDF said are used as “terror hubs” by Hamas.

Israeli mother wants missing son home ‘safe and alive’ 

Lightning strikes over Gaza as buildings burn

Israel says border with Gaza finally secured

Israel says it has retaken full control of its border with Gaza, three days after Hamas fighters broke through the fence to launch their operation.

No Hamas militants have crossed into Israel since last night, spokesperson Richard Hecht said, although he added that infiltrations could still be possible.

1,500 bodies of Hamas militants found in Israel, IDF says

The bodies of some 1,500 Hamas militants have been found inside Israel, IDF spokesperson Richard Hecht said, three days after the group launched its bloody incursion from the Gaza border.

That number would be a sign of the significant force Hamas appeared able to muster for its daring operation.