Palestinian death toll rises to more than 1,500: Live updates

Israel is engaging in collective punishment and does not have the right to breach international law in its response in Gaza, Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said.

The Taoiseach also called for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to allow aid to reach Palestinians.

The war, which was ignited by a wide-ranging Hamas attack into Israel, has already claimed at least 2,600 lives on both sides.

Israel has cut off food, water and electricity to Gaza in response to the attack on Saturday and has carried out airstrikes in the region.

Yehu Orland wore a shirt honoring a close friend who was killed two days earlier defending Israel, and he expected to have tears in his eyes on Thursday night when his country’s national anthem played before a game in Brooklyn.

But the coach of Maccabi Ra’anana believes continuing his team’s tour against NBA clubs while his country is at war was the right decision.

“We are the first team that is playing since the war started and nobody will break Israel, because we are a strong nation,” Orland said before the game.

Rishi Sunak has called on Israel to “protect ordinary Palestinians” as it hunts down Hamas militants responsible for killing hundreds of Israelis.

Downing Street confirmed the prime minister spoke to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday after agreeing to send Royal Navy vessels and Royal Air Force surveillance planes to support Tel Aviv after Hamas’ attack.

A No 10 spokesperson said that during the phone call Mr Sunak “reiterated that the UK stands side by side with Israel in fighting terror” and that Hamas should “never again be able to perpetrate atrocities against the Israeli people”.

Campus debates about Israel at the elite university have a way of turning into national conversations, where no one feels their rights are being respected, Josh Marcus reports.

British Palestinians have said they are “terrified” for their family members still living in Gaza amid Israel’s siege on the territory.

Mohammed Awad told the PA news agency his “entire close and extended family”, including his parents, siblings and young relatives, live in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

His family told him the atmosphere in Gaza is “full of the terrors of war” and they were trying to distract themselves, he said.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” following an attack by Hamas militants on Saturday, saying authorities would cut electricity and block the entry of food and fuel.

Less than a month before Hamas fighters blew through Israel’s high-tech “Iron Wall” and launched an attack that would leave more than 1,200 Israelis dead, they practised in a very public dress rehearsal.

A slickly produced two-minute propaganda video posted to social media by Hamas on 12 September shows fighters using explosives to blast through a replica of the border gate, sweep in on pickup trucks and then move building by building through a full-scale reconstruction of an Israeli town, firing automatic weapons at human-silhouetted paper targets.

At least 100 people have travelled from the UK to Israel to serve in the Israeli military following the attacks by Hamas, joining others from around the world. Bel Trew and Namita Singh speak to those ready to take up arms.

Human Rights Watch Confirms Israel’s Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza, Lebanon on October 10 and 11, The Independent’s International Correspondent Bel Trew reports.