This is the shocking moment an Israeli missile strike was captured destroying a building near the BBC’s rooftop base in Gaza.
The shaky footage shows reporters ducking for cover after the deafening sound of an explosion can be heard, before capturing the shocking scene of a building collapsing in a fiery blaze.
Plumes of grey smoke engulf the area as the sound of the blast echoes around the site, following the retaliatory strike on Saturday.
Cameras propped on tripods bare full witness to the carnage, as reporters in press flak jackets and safety helmets peer from behind a wall before bravely running out to check the footage.
Another reporter films the horrific scenes on his phone as the reporters carefully retreat back to their positions.
A second explosion in the night was captured during a live report on TV by a BBC journalist who can be seen tensing instinctively and ducking his head at the sound of the sudden explosion.
BBC reporter Rushdi Abu Alouf was speaking to presenter Maryam Moshiri live on air when the blast interrupted his report.
Alarmed, Ms Moshiri responded by saying: ‘That sounds like it was quite close to you Rushdi’.
There appeared to be some issues with communication equipment following the explosion, and Mr Alouf could be seen readjusting his earpiece as Ms Moshiri’s voice from the studio could be heard playing out from his side with some lag.
Mr Alouf confirmed that the explosion sounded ‘quite close’.
The presenter asked if Mr Alouf could hear her, and asked: ‘Are you okay to stay where you are or would like to move?’
This comes as the the Israeli government formally declared war on Sunday and gave the green light for ‘significant military steps’ to retaliate against Hamas for its surprise attack.
The declaration came as the military tried to crush fighters still in southern towns and intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
It also suggests that the conflict is set to intensify, invting speculation around whether Israel will launch a ground assault into Gaza, a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties.
On Saturday, Al Jazeera journalist Youmna El Sayed was reporting live when she was forced to take cover.
While informing viewers about the ‘barrages of rockets’ being launched into Gaza, El Sayed – who was wearing a helmet – screamed as she was forced to take cover as a huge fireball erupted behind her.
Reporters in press flak jackets and safety helmets peer from behind a wall before bravely running out to check the footage
Plumes of grey smoke engulf the area as the sound of the blast echoes around the site, following the retaliatory strike on Saturday
The footage captured the shocking scene of a building collapsing in a fiery blaze
Cameras propped on tripods bare full witness to the carnage as reporters retreated to take cover during the missile strike close to the BBC’s Gaza base
She then turns around to see smoke billowing from what is believed to be a residential building which was destroyed by a missile.
Earlier on Saturday, Palestinian militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, striking by land, air and sea in attacks killing at least 22 Israelis.
More than 24 hours after Hamas launched its unprecedented incursion out of Gaza, Israeli forces were still trying to defeat the last groups of militants holed up in several towns.
At least 700 people have reportedly been killed in Israel, a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades, and more than 300 have been killed in Gaza as Israeli airstrikes pound the territory.
The Israeli rescue service Zaka said its paramedics removed about 260 bodies from a music festival attended by thousands that came under attack.
The total figure is expected to be higher in the deadliest attack in Israel in decades as other paramedic teams were working in the area.
The coordinated attack has seen border fences broken down, tanks immobilised, dozens of hostages reportedly taken and residential buildings targeted by airstrikes.
The murder of civilians has drawn widespread condemnation from world leaders and prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say the country is at ‘war’.
The Israeli army said that the high number of civilian and military personnel taken hostage by terrorist group in Saturday’s surprise attack on Israeli towns near Gaza would shape the future of the war how Israel would retaliate, according to Reuters.
BBC reporter Rushdi Abu Alouf can be seen tensing instinctively and ducking his head at the sound of the sudden explosion
BBC reporter Rushdi Abu Alouf was speaking to presenter Maryam Moshiri live on air when the blast interrupted his report
There appeared to be some issues with communication equipment following the explosion, and Mr Alouf could be seen readjusting his earpiece
Alarmed, Ms Moshiri responded by saying: ‘That sounds like it was quite close to you Rushdi’
Meanwhile, in northern Israel, a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group fanned fears that the fighting could expand into a wider regional war.
Authorities were still trying to determine how many civilians and soldiers were seized by Hamas fighters during the mayhem and taken back to Gaza.
From videos and witnesses, the captives are known to include women, children and the elderly.
The leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, Ziad Nakhaleh, said his group, which took part in the attack, is holding more than 30 Israelis, among dozens he said were captive in Gaza.
He said they would not be released until all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are freed.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said as many as 1,000 Hamas fighters were involved in the assault, a high figure that underscored the extent of planning by the militant group ruling Gaza.
This is the terrifying moment a missile strike hit a Palestinian tower as Al Jazeera journalist Youmna El Sayed was reporting live coverage of a brutal first day of war
The gunmen rampaged for hours, gunning down civilians in towns, along roads and at a techno music festival being held in the desert near Gaza.
Israel has hit more than 800 targets in Gaza so far, its military said, including airstrikes that levelled much of the town of Beit Hanoun in the enclave’s northeast corner.
Warplanes fired tons of explosives on 120 targets, Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters, saying Hamas was using the town as a staging ground for attacks.
There was no immediate word on casualties, and most of the community’s population of tens of thousands of people are likely to have fled before the bombardment.
‘We will continue to attack in this way, with this force, continuously, on all gathering (places) and routes’ used by Hamas, Hagari said.
The Jewish nation is raining down fire on fighters in the Gaza strip in a ruthless counteroffensive in the south while it also pounds Lebanon with artillery in the north
In the deadliest day of violence in Israel in 50 years, the middle eastern country’s warplanes strafed densely populated Gaza City with bombs in retaliatory strikes
Civilians on both sides were already paying a high price.
A line of Israelis snaked outside a central Israel police station to supply DNA samples and other means that could help identify missing family members.
Israeli TV news aired a stream of accounts from relatives of captive or missing Israelis who wept and begged for assistance and information.
In Gaza, the tiny enclave of 2.3 million people sealed off by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade for 16 years since the Hamas takeover, residents feared an intensified onslaught.
Israeli strikes flattened a number of residential buildings. Some 74,000 displaced Gazans were staying in 64 shelters, with the number expected to increase.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNWRA, said a school sheltering more than 225 people took a direct hit. It did not say where the fire came from.
Several Israeli media outlets, citing rescue service officials, said at least 700 people have been killed in Israel, including 44 soldiers.
The Gaza health ministry said 313 people, including 20 children, were killed in the territory.
Some 2,000 people have been wounded on each side.
An Israeli official said security forces have killed 400 militants and captured dozens more.
The exchange of fire with Hezbollah added to concern that the conflict could spread.
Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets and shells on Sunday at three Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border, and the Israeli military fired back using armed drones.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah is estimated to have tens of thousands of rockets at its disposal.
Since its brutal 2006 war with Israel, Hezbollah has stayed on the sidelines amid previous outbreaks of Israeli-Hamas fighting. But if destruction in Gaza escalates, it may feel pressure to intervene.
The security cabinet also approved ‘significant military steps’. The steps were not defined, but the declaration appears to give the military and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a wide mandate.
Speaking on national television on Saturday, Mr Netanyahu vowed that Hamas ‘will pay an unprecedented price’. He further warned: ‘This war will take time. It will be difficult.’
In a statement, his office said the aim will be the destruction of Hamas’ ‘military and governing capabilities’ to an extent that prevents it from threatening Israelis ‘for many years’.
Israelis were still reeling from the breadth, ferocity and surprise of the Hamas assault.
The group’s fighters broke through Israel’s security fence surrounding the Gaza Strip early on Saturday.
Rockets struck buildings across southern Israel – and militants are reported to have taken to the streets after ‘infiltrating’ the country
Smoke billows from a building in Gaza after Israel fired missiles in response to Palestinian air strikes on Saturday
Using motorcycles and pickup trucks, even paragliders and speedboats on the coast, they moved into nearby Israeli communities – as many as 22 locations.
The high death toll and slow response to the onslaught pointed to a major intelligence failure and undermined the long-held perception that Israel has eyes and ears everywhere in the small, densely populated territory it has controlled for decades.
The Israeli military was evacuating at least five towns close to Gaza and then scouring them for militants.
Much of the territory’s population was thrown into darkness on Saturday night as Israel cut off electricity and said it would no longer supply power, fuel or other goods to the territory.
One woman sheltering at an UNWRA school in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood described a panicked flight from her home in the middle of the night. The Israeli military made announcements on loudspeakers telling people to leave.
‘We didn’t know where to go,’ she said. ‘It was a miracle we arrived at the schools because there was no transport.’
The presence of hostages in Gaza complicates Israel’s response. Hamas officials have said they will seek the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, and Israel has a history of making heavily lopsided exchanges to get captive Israelis home.
An injured man is carried on a stretcher by members of the Israeli security forces following air strikes in southern Israel
A family, including a tearful girl, is evacuated after a rocket attack in southern Israel on Saturday
A woman stands in a damaged room in Ashkelon, Israel after rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip by Hamas militants
The military has confirmed that a ‘substantial’ number of Israelis were abducted on Saturday without giving an exact figure.
Over the past year, Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around the Al-Aqsa mosque, a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.
At least 232 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed and at least 1,700 wounded in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Hamas fighters took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive into Gaza, a deeply sensitive issue for Israel, in harrowing scenes posted on social media videos, AP reports.
Among those killed in Israel was Lt. Col. Jonathan Steinberg, a senior officer who commanded the military’s Nahal Brigade, a prominent infantry unit.
Hamas gunmen have taken dozens of hostages off the streets of Israel as the war takes a darker turn and the death toll reached 450 after less than one day.
Yesterday, Rishi Sunak said Israel has an ‘absolute right to defend itself’ after attacks by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip.
In a post on X, formally known as Twitter, Mr Sunak wrote: ‘I am shocked by this morning’s attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli citizens.
‘Israel has an absolute right to defend itself.
‘We’re in contact with Israeli authorities, and British nationals in Israel should follow travel advice.’
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has also condemned the ‘horrific’ attacks by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip in southern Israel.
Mr Cleverly wrote on social media: ‘The UK unequivocally condemns the horrific attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians.
‘The UK will always support Israel’s right to defend itself.’
The Jewish nation is raining down fire on fighters in the Gaza strip in a ruthless counteroffensive in the south while it also pounds Lebanon with artillery in the north.
In the deadliest day of violence in Israel in 50 years, the middle eastern country’s warplanes strafed densely populated Gaza City with bombs in retaliatory strikes.
Israeli and Palestinian citizens have been fleeing homes close to the border as both sides stepped up air strikes and engaged in gun battles throughout the day.
Other public figures have taken to social media to criticise today’s attacks, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘I utterly condemn the ongoing attacks on Israel and her citizens.
‘There is no justification for this act of terror which is being perpetrated by those who seek to undermine any chance for future peace in the region.
‘Israel has a right to defend herself.’
Ireland’s deputy premier has condemned attacks from Hamas militants on Israel and called for ‘all hostilities’ to stop.
Mr Martin, who is Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, expressed his sympathies over the lives that had been lost.
‘I strongly condemn the firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas and attacks against Israel from Gaza,’ Mr Martin said.
‘I deeply regret the loss of life and the impact on civilians.
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