Will operate forcefully everywhere: Netanyahu asks Gaza residents to leave for other countries

Netanyahu has also thanked US President Joe Biden, 'the President of France, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and many other leaders for their unreserved support for Israel.'

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the residents of Gaza to leave because the Israeli army will "operate forcefully everywhere".

"Hamas has started a brutal and evil war," Netanyahu said in a post on X.

"The IDF will immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas's capabilities. We will destroy them and we will forcefully avenge this dark day that they have forced on the State of Israel and its citizens. As Bialik wrote: 'Revenge for the blood of a little child has yet been devised by Satan," the Israel PM's post read.

In his post, Netanyahu also praised members of the ISrael Defence Forces (IDF) and reminded them that they are "the continuation of the heroes of the Jewish people, of Joshua, Judah Maccabee and the heroes of 1948 and of all of Israel's wars".

He has also thanked US President Joe Biden, "the President of France, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and many other leaders for their unreserved support for Israel."

Netanyahu signed off by saying, "This war will take time. It will be difficult. Challenging days are ahead of us. However, I can promise one thing: With the help of G-d, the forces that we all have in common and our faith in the Eternal One of Israel, we will win".

Hamas fighters began their attack at dawn on Saturday with a huge barrage of rockets into southern Israel, giving cover to an unprecedented, multi-pronged infiltration of fighters into Israel from Gaza, a narrow strip that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians.

On Sunday, the conflict spread, with the Israeli military reporting that mortar bombs were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. Israeli forces responded with artillery strikes into Lebanon.

Hamas fighters killed at least 250 Israelis in clashes throughout Saturday and into Sunday, and escaped back into Gaza with dozens of hostages. More than 250 Gazans were killed when Israel responded with one of its most devastating days of retaliatory strikes.

(With Reuters inputs)