The timelineof the blackSabbath.

The morning of Simchat Torah, October 7, 2023. Israelis wake to a heavy barrage of rockets and missiles fired by the Hamas terror organisation.

Sirens sound across the south, the centre, the lowlands and the hills around Jerusalem.

What is not yet known is that under cover of the barrage thousands of armed Hamas terrorists are breaking through the border fence and entering army bases and the communities along the border.

The sirens continue nationwide, from the communities around Gaza to the Sharon. Within minutes there are reports of impacts in Ashkelon, in Yavne and in Kfar Aviv.

Buildings are hit and people are wounded, one of them critically in Kfar Aviv; she later dies of her wounds.

The defence establishment is caught off guard. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant makes his way to military headquarters in Tel Aviv for an assessment with the security chiefs. At the same time reports come in of an ambulance driver fired on at the Urim junction, and of a fear that terrorists have entered the border communities by paraglider and vehicle.

Reports of terrorists inside the communities multiply.

A video showing gunmen driving unhindered down a main street in Sderot in a white pickup makes it clear that Israel is under a terror attack unlike anything it has known.

In footage filmed by residents the terrorists are seen firing at a police car, at balconies and at homes. Residents are told to stay indoors. The full picture is still unclear: neither the residents nor the security forces know how many terrorists have crossed into Israel, or from how many points.

By now it is known that fighting is under way in some of the communities around Gaza and that terrorists have taken over homes. The IDF declares a state of war readiness.

Members of Kibbutz Be'eri, under siege, report that dozens of terrorists are spread across the kibbutz and are trying to break into houses. Residents across the area are asking anyone they can reach for help, the newsrooms included, begging for troops to come now.

It later emerges that hundreds of terrorists entered Be'eri that Saturday. 102 members of the kibbutz were murdered in cold blood, most of them in the first hours of the attack. Against that number stood only the kibbutz's own emergency squad.

At around 09:00 a Shaldag commando team managed to link up with the squad. Only at about 13:00 did further forces reach the kibbutz. Thirty-three soldiers, police officers, security personnel, volunteers and members of the emergency squad fell in the battle for Be'eri. More than thirty residents were taken into Gaza; six are still held there.

A video circulates showing Hamas gunmen returning into Gaza in an IDF jeep they seized after a battle with soldiers.

The fear grows that soldiers - alive or dead - are being carried into the Strip in these vehicles.

At the same time Arabic social media fills with videos of soldiers taken alive, some in uniform and some not, being led into Gaza. There are indications that civilians have been taken too. The IDF has not yet confirmed any of it.

Days will pass before the defence establishment grasps that an unimaginable 251 civilians and soldiers were abducted into Gaza that Saturday.

Three hours into the attack, thousands of terrorists are inside Israel. IDF forces are fighting hard at several points at once and cannot reach every community.

Residents of Sderot and the communities around Gaza are begging for help.

In an unusual step, Tamir Steinman, Channel 12's southern correspondent, reads out messages sent to him directly by residents in order to direct forces to them. This is what he reads, live: "Tamir, please, the police are not answering. The terrorists are here in the neighbourhood. In our houses. At 101 Moshe Rabbenu Street in Sderot. Bring the police, they are shooting at the houses."

Families of people at the Nova festival, a nature party beside Kibbutz Re'im, report that terrorists have entered the site and are firing in every direction.

The mother of one of them goes on air and says her son fled from gunmen who shot at him and has been hiding in the open for more than two hours.

She says there are thousands of young people at the festival and that the police and the army are not responding to calls.

It later emerged that when the first sirens sounded many of them ran to their cars to get away and find shelter. The terrorists surrounded the long line of vehicles that formed and began slaughtering the people inside them and those fleeing on foot. 364 people, most of them in their twenties, were murdered at Nova.

Grave testimony was also collected of rape and sexual assault of women and men. Forty-four people from the festival were taken hostage into Gaza.

The first statement by a senior official: Commissioner Kobi Shabtai says, "We are in a state of war, there is no other explanation." Twenty-one scenes of fighting are active at once.

The national counter-terror unit, the tactical unit, the undercover unit and many other police forces are scrambled to the south. Police deploy across the country, ordered to prevent any flare-up in the mixed cities. The instruction to residents near Gaza: stay in your homes and lock your doors.

Fifty-seven Israeli police officers fell in the fighting that Saturday.

By now the border with Gaza is breached at several points. Images show the fence near Khan Yunis torn completely open.

Nukhba terrorists and civilians from Gaza pour unopposed into Israel. Some come in vehicles and on motorcycles, others on foot, some even on crutches. They flood the communities in numbers, destroying, looting, and filming themselves abusing and murdering civilians in their own homes.

All of it is broadcast live on social media.

As the hours pass it becomes clear that a disaster without precedent is unfolding beside Re'im. The terrorists are slaughtering the people at the party. They comb the ground for anyone still hiding. They loot, abuse, rape, set fires, shoot and finish off the wounded.

Hundreds of young people spend hours hiding in ditches and containers, in bushes and orchards.

One of them, on air, says he is hiding and can hear bullets and screaming around him. Rescue forces struggle to reach the area to stop the terrorists and evacuate the survivors. Many of the wounded die where they lie.

Only in the afternoon are most of the survivors brought out. The rest, the following day.

In his first statement from headquarters in Tel Aviv, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says: "Hamas made a grave mistake this morning. It opened a war against the State of Israel." He announces a broad call-up of reservists.

More than a hundred wounded have already been evacuated to hospitals around the country.

A terrified resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz says: "The terrorists are inside my house, they are shooting into the house."

A Palestinian "journalist" who entered Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside Hamas gunmen reports live that hostages are being taken into Gaza.

This is what he says: "After walking for about an hour or more we succeeded in entering one of the most important kibbutzim in the occupied territories. We entered Nir Oz and Nir Am. And here is the scene before you: we are in the heart of the community. Our fighters managed to engage in direct confrontations, to abduct residents and soldiers, and to kill gunmen who tried to defend themselves and opened fire on our fighters. A scene like this has never been seen. We will keep reporting to you on these events, which are happening at this moment near the Gaza border, about five kilometres away."

In these hours the first victim whose name is cleared for publication is Ofir Libstein, head of the Sha'ar HaNegev regional council. Libstein fell in the exchange of fire in the battle for Kfar Aza, where he lived. It later emerged that his son Nitzan was murdered in the attack as well.

Sixty-four residents of Kfar Aza were murdered and 19 were taken into Gaza. Hamas keeps firing rockets and the IDF strikes targets in the Strip.

Heavy fighting continues between IDF forces and Hamas terrorists at several points. Special units reach some of the communities and manage to clear them, but in others the killers move from door to door, break into homes, loot them, fire at safe-room doors to force people out and murder them, and burn houses down with the families inside.

Ayelet Hakim, a resident of Be'eri, describes live on air how terrorists are breaking into her home. After the massacre it emerged that her sister and brother-in-law, Raz and Ohad Ben Ami, also of Be'eri, had been taken into Gaza.

In a later interview she said: "I am angry all the time. From the moment it happened, when I was in the safe room. I am angry about being abandoned, I am angry about the murder. I am angry about the massacre. I am angry that they did not come. I am angry that it took them so long to arrive."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first statement: "The enemy will pay a price it has never known. We are at war and we will win."

At the same time: a wave of air force strikes in Gaza, and helicopters flying special forces into the border area. IDF units are fighting holding battles in at least ten communities and at the Erez crossing.

A resident of Sufa says: "The army is not here, my husband and the emergency squad are fighting the terrorists."

Ella Ben Ami, 23, describes live on air how she saw pictures on Telegram of her father Ohad held in Gaza while she herself was locked in a safe room. Like her, many other families are seeing the abduction videos and trying to piece together anything about their relatives, many of whom have been out of contact for hours.

All that morning Ella had been exchanging messages with her father until he was taken. Raz, her mother, was released in the hostage deal of November 2023. Ohad, her father, was released in a deal in February 2025.

IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari, in his first statement: there are many points of fighting and many terrorists still inside Israel, but the IDF is sending large numbers of soldiers and commanders to the area.

In some communities the terrorists have barricaded themselves inside residents' homes and are holding them hostage.

The networks are flooded with video and with information, some of it false. The spokesman asks the public and the press to be responsible about what they spread.

Survivors of the Nova festival who reached the nearby moshav of Patish on foot manage to reach their families after hours out of contact. One of them says in an interview: "I am shaking. That was four or five hours of a horror film. We ran, everyone running, in panic attacks, not knowing where to run. Running, taking cover, it was simply surreal."

They say they saw no rescue or security forces in the area, apart from one police officer who led them to safety.

By this hour more than 300 wounded are being treated in hospitals around the country, and the Home Front Command announces that schools will be closed in the south, in the Tel Aviv area, in Jerusalem and in the Sharon.

Eli Bin, director of Magen David Adom, reports the number of wounded and killed that the rescue teams have been able to reach so far.

An ambulance driver was murdered on his way to an evacuation.

Bin stresses that the published figure is preliminary and that his teams have not been able to reach every area. In an unusual step, he explains live on air how to stop a haemorrhage.

At headquarters, security assessments are held with the prime minister, the defence minister and the chief of staff.

Yossi Keren, acting head of the Sha'ar HaNegev regional council: "The messages we are getting from our communities turn your stomach. People are bleeding and no one is reaching them."

IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari is interviewed. The main points:

- The IDF has declared a state of war in the south. We are in hard hours of war.

- We are opening command posts in every community around Gaza. The assumption is that terrorists entered all of them.

- We will investigate ourselves fully, later. Right now we have to mobilise in order to win, and we will win.

- There are currently no incidents on the northern front, but the IDF is reinforcing it.

- On the claims that there are hostages: I will confirm them only once I have full command of the details. We will tell the hard truth as it is, only after we have verified it in facts and in real intelligence. There will be nothing we know that the public does not.

Footage is published of a Gazan bulldozer tearing through the border fence, and of a drone dropping a fragmentation grenade onto an IDF armoured vehicle and destroying it.

A survivor of the Nova festival, evacuated to Soroka hospital, describes how the terrorists fired RPGs at him and his friends. Route 232 is described as a killing field. "There are missing people there, there are dead on the roads. Very, very hard sights. My shirt became a tourniquet for the wounded on the ground."

In Ofakim, some 25 kilometres from the Gaza border, gun battles continue between police and army forces and the enemy. Survivors of the festival find shelter in Ofakim as well.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad announces that it is holding Israeli hostages.

Esther, a survivor of the Nova festival evacuated to hospital, says: "We overturned the car, we fell into a ditch. We lay there two and a half hours, playing dead, and next to us the driver who had been shot. He was already unconscious."

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declares a civil state of emergency across Israel and orders all police volunteers called up.

Residents of Ein HaShlosha: terrorists are still slaughtering our fellow members; in Nir Yitzhak a terrorist is riding around freely on a motorcycle.

Several terrorists have been killed in Ofakim, but the fighting in the city goes on.

The wounded keep pouring into the hospitals, above all Soroka and Barzilai.

More than 300 people have already been brought to Soroka and its call centre has collapsed. At Barzilai some 60 wounded are in serious to critical condition.

Prof. Hezi Levy, director of Barzilai: "The injuries are mainly penetrating injuries. We are seeing people with gunshot wounds."

The newsrooms continue directing army and police forces to places where civilians report terrorists firing. Hundreds of calls from worried families whose relatives are missing reach the newsdesks.

Sderot mayor Alon Davidi: "The people of Israel have not yet been exposed to the atrocities they committed here. These are not things human beings do. They simply have to be wiped out."

Police and army forces are handling a hostage incident in Ofakim.

Prime Minister Netanyahu convenes the cabinet to brief ministers on the situation and to approve the state of war by vote.

Seven IDF battalions are operating in the communities around Gaza to halt the enemy and pull civilians out of the inferno.

The United States issues three official statements saying it stands with Israel and will support the decisions it takes regarding Gaza.

The death toll is updated to at least 40. In Sderot the sights are grim: abandoned vehicles with bodies lying beside them.

The terrorists publish footage from the body cameras they wore, showing them breaking into homes in Kibbutz Be'eri armed with rifles, drills and hammers.

All day long, countless calls have come in from civilians pleading for help. Nine hours into the attack it becomes clear that some of them are no longer alive.

Southern correspondent Tamir Steinman, in tears: "All morning I have been speaking with people in the communities around Gaza, and now, to our sorrow, they no longer answer. We spoke only an hour or two ago, and now it turns out they are gone. From what I am able to find out, I understand why they no longer answer."

The public learns that senior reserve officers, among them former deputy chief of staff Yair Golan, have joined the fighting in the south and are pulling out wounded and people who are cut off.

The US defence secretary: the Pentagon will make sure Israel has the means to defend itself.

Rocket fire continues across the country. Since morning: 60 impacts in Ashkelon, two people murdered by a rocket strike.

It later emerges that in the first day of the war the terror organisations in Gaza fired 4,300 rockets into Israel.

A fierce gun battle is under way at the police station in Sderot.

When the attack began, realising that terrorists were surrounding the station, several officers climbed to the roof and fought from there. The terrorists booby-trapped the entrance and prevented other forces from getting inside or evacuating the wounded from the battle on the roof.

The battle for the station lasted more than 20 hours. At around 22:00 the police southern district commander, Maj. Gen. Amir Cohen, ordered the building destroyed in order to kill the last terrorists holding out inside. Only at 4 in the morning was the site under control.

Ten police officers fell in that battle.

A first report of terrorists holding 50 hostages in Be'eri's dining hall.

It later emerged that about 40 terrorists had barricaded themselves in the home of kibbutz member Pessi Cohen and were holding 15 hostages - not as first reported.

Negotiations with the terrorists went on for hours, accompanied by heavy fire from both sides.

In the afternoon a tank and a force under Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram reached the scene. Two shells were fired at the house: the first at the lawn in the yard, where six bound hostages had been held, the second at the roof. The roof collapsed. Counter-terror troops then stormed the building and overcame the enemy.

Two of the 15 hostages survived. All the terrorists were killed apart from one who surrendered and was captured. Afterwards, relatives of the victims claimed in the media that the tank shells were what killed the hostages.

In July 2024 the IDF published its inquiry into the battle, finding that most of them were murdered by Hamas Nukhba gunfire rather than killed by the shells. The inquiry also found that Brig. Gen. Hiram's decisions were reasonable given the conditions on the ground. It emerged that when the hostage Yasmin Porat called the police, the terrorists forced her to report that they were holding 50 hostages and were barricaded in the kibbutz dining hall. That is where the mistaken reports began.

In Sderot the fierce battle for the police station continues, and in the communities around Gaza residents are still shut in their homes, hearing gunfire and explosions on every side.

Yoni Asher goes on air and says he managed to trace his wife Doron Katz-Asher's phone to Khan Yunis, and that he fears she, his daughters and his mother-in-law have been taken into Gaza.

Doron Katz-Asher, 34, and her daughters Raz, 5, and Aviv, 3, had been staying at Kibbutz Nir Oz over the holiday with Doron's mother, Efrat Katz, and her partner Gadi Mozes. At around 11:00 contact with the family was lost. It later emerged that they had been taken into Gaza.

Efrat was apparently killed by accident by fire from a combat helicopter while she was being abducted. Gadi, Doron and the girls were taken as well.

Doron and her daughters were released after 49 days in Hamas captivity. Gadi was released in a deal in January 2025. Doron's brother, Ravid Katz, was murdered that Saturday.

At Kibbutz Nir Oz, home to 400 people until that Saturday, 44 were murdered and more than seventy were taken. Fourteen members of the kibbutz are still there.

Hamas claims it holds dozens of civilians and soldiers it has abducted. More and more calls come in from families with reason to believe their relatives have been taken.

Sigal, the sister of taxi driver Eitan Levy, describes speaking to him in the morning and hearing him being abducted by terrorists. "My brother called us at 06:20. He said he was frightened, that there were a lot of missiles. Suddenly I hear him screaming and then I hear 'Allahu akbar'. They pulled him out of the taxi.

"I hear screaming and my husband hears shots. We were on the line for three hours, on mute, and we could hear Arabs around him."

It later emerged that Eitan had indeed been abducted. In December 2023 his family was told that he had been murdered and that his body was being held by the terror organisation.

At this hour it is cleared for publication that in addition to the 40 Israelis murdered, more than 800 have been wounded. But from the reports of the security forces and the correspondents on the ground it is clear that the numbers will rise substantially and that the scale of the disaster is not yet visible to the public.

In an unusual step the political correspondent Yaron Avraham says: "The public has to be prepared - and we must not lie to ourselves - and be told that the numbers will be significantly higher. We do not fully understand this - not only us, the IDF too does not fully understand this disaster. There are many places they have not yet reached. There are people lying on the ground. Some are alive and some are not."

In the cabinet's security assessments they weigh how to act given the possibility that a northern front will open too. On the one hand they want to give the south the attention needed to regain control; on the other they fear the surprise attack is a diversion before a planned Hezbollah offensive.

At Nirim a special force manages to kill nine terrorists inside the kibbutz and continues sweeping to clear the community and get the residents out.

More is revealed of the disaster at the festival site beside Re'im: a whole area in flames, the burnt-out cars of people who ran for their lives trying to escape the terrorists.

Large numbers of security personnel are on the ground, but they have not yet been able to reach all the wounded and the dead because of the fear of explosive devices.

National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz, to the public: "The citizens of Israel stand behind the defence establishment, and the government has our backing to exact a heavy price. The answer will be sharp and painful and will be seared in for many years."

Navy ships destroyed four Hamas vessels - two speedboats and two fishing boats carrying dozens of terrorists. A bulldozer was destroyed as well, its Hamas driver trying to breach the border fence near Zikim.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Joe Biden speak by phone. Biden stresses that the United States stands with Israel and fully supports its right to defend itself. Netanyahu thanks him and says a powerful, prolonged campaign will be needed - one Israel will win.

Rami Davidian, a resident of Moshav Patish, is filmed live rescuing young people who had been at the party near Re'im and were hiding in nearby orchards. Worried parents send him locations or phone numbers of others hiding in the open, and he goes out for them too.

After that Saturday it emerged that Davidian had helped rescue dozens of young people, perhaps hundreds. For that he was honoured with lighting a beacon at Israel's 76th Independence Day ceremony, alongside four others who saved lives that day. His niece, Cpl. Ofir Davidian, fell on the day of the massacre.

Moshe Or says on air that his brother Avinatan and his girlfriend Noa Argamani were filmed being taken into Gaza by gunmen: "You can see Noa frightened, terrified. I cannot imagine what is going through her head."

Hundreds of Israelis are still out of contact. Hospitals open emergency centres for families.

Soldiers and special forces are still fighting in 22 communities. In some the clearing is close to done; in others sweeps and fighting continue. Two hostage situations are still under way - in Ofakim and in Be'eri.

The IDF forms a holding line along the Gaza border and strikes anything and anyone approaching it. All the roads around the area are closed - nothing goes in or out.

Four divisions are mobilised. In addition to the seven battalions fighting in the communities, 30 more arrive and prepare to respond. Throughout the day there were difficulties moving reservists to their assembly points.

After the IDF confirms that civilians and soldiers were abducted into Gaza, the media publish videos that had been circulating on social media and Telegram since that morning, showing Israelis being taken into the Strip.

Civilians and soldiers, some in uniform and some not, are dragged into Gaza surrounded by gunmen and a rampaging crowd. Some are pulled along on foot, others carried in vehicles and on motorcycles.

Among the hostages are women, children, elderly people and their caregivers. The number is unknown at this stage; only after long days will it be known: 251 people. Before the war, two soldiers and two more civilians were already being held in Gaza.

MK Yair Lapid announces that he is calling for a professional emergency government: "Israel is at war. I have informed Prime Minister Netanyahu that in the current emergency I am prepared to set aside every disagreement and form with him a small, professional emergency government that will run this hard campaign."

Lapid adds that the extremist elements must be removed from the cabinet. "Netanyahu knows that a war cannot be run with the current cabinet," he says, referring to ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

At the festival site near Re'im the rescue effort continues.

The IDF bombs high-rise buildings in Gaza, among them Hamas command centres. Two buildings collapse.

Twenty terrorists are killed near Kerem Shalom by special forces.

Alongside the fighting in the south, the IDF is also preparing on the northern front and in the West Bank.

The assessment is that Israel faces fighting in Gaza "on another scale". Two of the challenges the army will face: the Hamas leadership is hiding in tunnels and surrounding itself with dozens of hostages. Their exact location is unknown.

The IDF publishes pictures of terrorists captured alive by Israeli forces and brought in for interrogation.

Five terrorists have been barricaded in a house in Ofakim since the morning, armed to the teeth with grenades and weapons. They are holding a couple hostage - Rachel and David Edri.

The couple's son helps the forces outside: he sketches the inside of the house for them ahead of the breach. The incident ends after many hours, when a counter-terror unit storms the house, kills the terrorists and saves the hostages.

Rachel later described how they survived those hours: "I saw the terrorists were angry. I asked them if they were hungry, I made them coffee and cookies. They started singing Lior Narkis songs to me - I distracted them."

Their story is among the best known of the battle for Ofakim that Saturday. The city was hit hard: 52 of its residents were murdered or fell that day.

During these hours Prime Minister Netanyahu meets National Unity chairman Gantz and opposition leader Lapid. The possibility of forming a unity government is discussed.

A senior coalition figure: "Every other subject is off the table" - a reference to the judicial overhaul that had convulsed the country in the months before the attack.

After long hours of fighting the IDF regains control of Kibbutz Re'im.

As Hamas declares that the dozens of Israelis it took into Gaza are already concealed in its tunnels, the video of the abduction of Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or is published.

Their families authorise its release. The image of Noa, surrounded by gunmen, carried into Gaza on a motorcycle and screaming "don't kill me", will appear on front pages around the world and become a symbol.

Noa was freed on June 8, 2024, after eight months in captivity, in Operation Arnon, together with the hostages Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv and Almog Meir Jan. The four were rescued from the Nuseirat refugee camp by IDF and Shin Bet forces, in an operation in which Chief Insp. Arnon Zamora of the counter-terror unit fell.

In the evening Hamas fires a heavy barrage at the centre of the country; several rockets score direct hits. Eight people are wounded, three of them seriously.

At this point it is cleared for publication that at least 200 Israelis have been murdered and 1,100 wounded. The figures keep climbing.

MK Gantz is weighing joining an emergency government.

A report comes in that UNIFIL forces have abandoned several positions in southern Lebanon.

The gunfire at the Sderot station continues, and it is cleared for publication that the commander of the Rahat police, Ch. Supt. J.R. Davidov, fell in an encounter with terrorists.

At the festival site near Re'im the search continues for people who have not yet contacted their families. Some of the communities around Gaza also report many people out of contact.

A heavy barrage is fired at the lowlands and the Tel Aviv area.

Minister Gallant warns: "We will change the reality in Gaza for 50 years."

At a special government meeting ministers blame the security establishment, calling it an intelligence failure of the first order. Others in the government argue that this is not the moment for a commission of inquiry.

President Biden speaks and expresses unequivocal support for Israel. He sends condolences to those who lost loved ones in the massacre. Defence Minister Gallant extends the special home front status to all of Israel.

The main points of the speech:

- The United States stands with Israel and will never turn its back on it. We will let Israel go on defending itself.

- The terrorists killed not only Israeli soldiers but civilians, in their homes. Whole families were taken captive by Hamas on one of the most important holidays in the Jewish calendar.

- This is not the moment for anyone to exploit these attacks. The world is watching.

- This is a terrible tragedy; families have been torn apart - it is heartbreaking.

Illumination flares over Ofakim show that the IDF is still hunting terrorists, into the night, trying to clear the ground.

Two hostage situations are still under way - in Ofakim and in Be'eri - and in the hard battle at the Sderot police station the last terrorist has not yet been overcome.

Bulldozers have begun taking the station apart, on the orders of the police southern district commander, Maj. Gen. Amir Cohen.

Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses the country and promises that Israel will avenge the massacre Hamas carried out.

Sirens sound at the same time in Sderot and the communities around Gaza.

The north is still quiet and no special instructions have been given to residents, but forces along the border are being reinforced.

The main points of the speech:

- Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel and murdered innocent civilians, children and the elderly.

- What happened today has never been seen in Israel, and I will make sure it does not happen again.

- The IDF will immediately use all of its power to destroy Hamas's capabilities.

- I say to the residents of Gaza: get out now - because we will act everywhere and with all our force.

- Israel will settle accounts with anyone who harms a hair on the head of a hostage.

- The war will be long and hard; difficult days lie ahead.

The government meeting ends and quotes from it are published.

Ministers complain: we heard the prime minister's and the defence minister's updates hours ago through the media.

Netanyahu announces that decisions will be taken in the security cabinet alone.

At that hour two suspects are identified on the northern border. The IDF fires illumination flares and pushes them back.

Tens of thousands of reservists gather at their emergency depots, draw equipment and begin training on the Golan Heights.

The Israeli airlines add flights so that reservists abroad can get home and reach their units.

The Sderot police station is on fire. Residents are asked to stay inside and lock their doors, for fear that a terrorist who had been barricaded in the station escaped and is moving freely through the city.

(More on the battle at the Sderot station at 15:48.)

The IDF spokesman clears for publication: the commander of the Nahal Brigade, Col. Yehonatan Steinberg, fell in the fighting at Kerem Shalom.

He was among the first to race towards the kibbutz when it became clear terrorists had entered. The force he was with ran into a squad of terrorists, and there he was hit and fell.

Moshav Netiv HaAsara, next to the Gaza border, announces that at least 15 of its residents were murdered in cold blood.

Thousands of Israelis answer Magen David Adom's call to give blood. Long queues form at donation centres through the day. The service renews its appeal and opens collection points around the country to help the many wounded.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Noam Tibon says by phone: I got my son and my granddaughters out of the massacre at Nahal Oz. He describes joining soldiers on the ground and killing terrorists who had surrounded the house.

Israeli forces thwart an infiltration by sea at Zikim beach.

In the days after that Saturday it emerged that Zikim beach had become a scene of massacre. Terrorists murdered a group of fishermen and bathers who were there when the attack began.

The IDF is operating intensively in the communities around Gaza. Half of them have been cleared of terrorists and retaken.

In Kfar Aza and Be'eri residents are still trapped, and Israeli forces are still fighting hard in both kibbutzim.

The Home Front Command opens a centre for families searching for relatives at Airport City, next to Ben Gurion airport. Families arrive and meet social workers there for initial information about their missing. Where needed they leave DNA samples and further personal details.

A worried father: "I am frightened for my daughter. I know she is not on the lists. I am losing hope."

The known number of wounded climbs to 1,600.

The hostage situation in Be'eri ends and it is reported that all the hostages were freed alive.

It later emerged that of the 15 hostages, two survived. Only one of them, Hadas Dagan, had been in the house throughout the battle (more on the incident at 15:57).

Long hours have passed since the attack began: in Kfar Aza the search for terrorists goes on, and in Be'eri families are still shut in their safe rooms. Those who have been evacuated are taken to Netivot and from there to the Dead Sea. Yaniv, a member of the kibbutz: "There are so many terrible rumours, so much uncertainty."

Rocket fire on the communities around Gaza and on Ashkelon continues.

At this hour it is reported that counter-terror forces stormed the house of the Ofakim couple held hostage for long hours and rescued them. Three officers were wounded in the operation, one of them seriously.

(More on the Ofakim hostage incident at 19:01.)

Sirens continue across the communities around Gaza and in Ashkelon.

An exchange of fire between Israeli forces and terrorists at Kibbutz Be'eri. Some of the terrorists had apparently been hiding in the kibbutz through the day in order to go on killing under cover of darkness.

Unlike the morning, at this hour there is a heavy presence of special forces in the kibbutz - the counter-terror unit, the police undercover units and the IDF's special units. Israeli forces overcome the terrorists.

A direct hit on a house in Sderot. The rocket came through the roof and tore a large hole in it, with shrapnel damage to the walls. No one was hurt.

A building in Ashkelon is hit as well and a woman is seriously wounded. Barzilai hospital in the city takes a direct hit. Its director, Prof. Hezi Levy: "We are assessing the damage with engineers right now, trying to understand the scale of it."

Twenty-two hours into the attack, the newsrooms are still receiving calls from residents trapped in their homes.

Families, pregnant women, children and elderly people are still shut in their safe rooms, waiting to be evacuated.

After long hours the last of the terrorists barricaded in the Sderot police station is killed. Dozens of terrorists were killed in that battle over the course of the day (more at 15:48).

Hamas continues firing rocket barrages at Sderot and the communities around Gaza throughout the day.

Many countries publish statements of support for Israel and light up their city centres with the Israeli flag. At the same time pro-Palestinian demonstrations are held in a number of European cities, particularly in London, where the police raised their alert level.

It is reported that more than 1,700 wounded have been rushed to hospitals in the past 24 hours.

The two hospitals that took in the largest numbers are Soroka in Beersheba and Barzilai in Ashkelon. More than 620 wounded were brought to Soroka, 130 of them in serious or critical condition, even though it has only 12 operating theatres.

Surgery that was neither urgent nor life-saving was transferred to hospitals in the centre of the country.

Magen David Adom keeps calling on the public: give blood.

As the hours pass the scale of the destruction becomes clearer. At this hour it is cleared for publication that at least 250 Israelis were murdered in the attack - and the numbers are still rising.

06:00. Israel wakes to a very hard morning, after the deadliest day in its history. At this hour it is not known how many civilians and soldiers were taken into Gaza, but it is clear that it is dozens, perhaps hundreds.

Days later it emerged that more than 3,000 terrorists crossed into Israel that Saturday, through at least 120 breaches in the border fence.

Almost 1,200 civilians, soldiers and members of the security forces were murdered or fell on the bloodiest day in the history of the State of Israel.

It would also emerge that 251 soldiers and civilians, among them infants, children and elderly people, had been taken into the Gaza Strip.