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Watch: How Hamas’ shock attack on Israel unfolded
Palestinian militant group Hamas has launched its biggest attack on Israel, with rocket strikes, killings and hostage taking. In turn Israel launched a retaliatory wave of air strikes on Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was “at war”. Hamas, which rules Gaza, would “pay an unprecedent price,” he added. BBC Verify have been…
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An all girls cricket team in India breaks with tradition
By Samira Hussain BBC News More than a dozen young girls from a small village cycle through farmland in the Indian state of Punjab. Moving along a dirt pathway, dressed all in white, their excitement starts to build. Amid the miles of wheat fields, emerges the source of their joy: two cricket pitches, with plastic…
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Hamas attack shocks Israel, but what comes next?
By Yolande Knell BBC News, Jerusalem Fifty years on from the Yom Kippur War, which began with a surprise attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria, Palestinian militants have launched a major assault. This too was unexpected, on another Jewish holiday. Tensions had recently risen in the Gaza Strip, but the conventional wisdom was that…
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Israeli partygoers who witnessed militant attack
Palestinian militants have attacked people attending an outdoor party near Kibbutz Urim in southern Israel. In video circulating online, people could be seen running and driving away from attackers. Two partygoers have spoken to the BBC about the moment the attack took place.
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Terence Davies: Screenwriter and film director dies aged 77
British screenwriter and director Terence Davies, known for films including Distant Voices, Still Lives, has died at the age of 77. He established himself with a trilogy of films – Children, Madonna and Child, and Death and Transfiguration – in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Born and raised in Liverpool, his work often has…
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Bowen: Israel blindsided by most serious attack in a generation
By Jeremy Bowen BBC international editor Israel was taken by surprise by the most ambitious operation Hamas has ever launched from Gaza. The scale of what’s been happening is unprecedented. Hamas breached the wire that separates Gaza from Israel in multiple places in the most serious cross-border attack Israel has faced in more than a…
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Massive explosion as Gaza high-rises destroyed by jets
Israeli warplanes have hit several buildings in the centre of Gaza City, including an 11-story building called Palestine Tower. It houses Hamas radio stations on the rooftop and also holds a cinema. Israel has launched retaliatory strikes in the Gaza strip, officials there say, after an unprecedented assault into Israeli territory by Palestinian militants earlier…
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Israel attack: What is Hamas, and other questions
By Raffi Berg BBC News Online Middle East editor The attack on Israel on Saturday has raised some key questions on search engines and social media about what has happened and why. Here are some of those questions answered. What is Hamas? Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist militant group which rules the Gaza Strip. Hamas…
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Israel attack: People hide in homes as Palestinian militants enter from Gaza
For hours, people in Israel have been phoning into news stations saying they’re trapped in their homes, after Palestinian militants entered their towns and villages in a huge surprise attack. Many are in hiding, saying they can hear gunfire, while others can not find loved ones. “The terrorists are trying to break into my house,”…
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BBC in Gaza: ‘People here are starting to feel the war’
Israel is carrying out retaliatory strikes in the Gaza strip, after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack. Palestinian officials say 161 have been killed in a wave of attacks. At least 40 people were killed in Israel, with militants entering from Gaza during heavy rocket fire on Saturday morning. There are also reports Israelis have…