Assault is designed to give militant group control over the Palestinian narrative as regional relationships change

There are two key questions in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s surprise assault on Israel: what was the attack designed to achieve, and why now?

Even as the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel was at war with Hamas and the other Gaza factions, it is important to understand what Hamas’s military aims did not include. Hamas fights its periodic conflicts for political reasons, to shore up support in Gaza and elsewhere and to ensure its continuing relevance.

Images from Israel and Gaza fill the front pages of newspapers around the world after Palestinian militants launch unexpected and sweeping attack

• Live: Hamas Gaza hideouts will be turned to ‘rubble’, Netanyahu says

The most serious escalation between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in 50 years has dominated global headlines.

At least 250 Israelis have died in Hamas attacks, Israeli officials have said. Meanwhile, at least 230 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli retaliation.

Hundreds are dead after a surprise attack by Hamas, prompting Israel to declare a state of war and launch retaliatory strikes

• Live: Hamas Gaza hideouts will be turned to ‘rubble’, Netanyahu says

Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories are reeling after the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched the biggest attack on the Jewish state in 50 years. Hundreds are dead after a surprise attack on the morning of a Jewish holiday and Israel has declared a state of war.

Here is what we know so far:

Israeli forces continued to battle Hamas fighters on the streets of southern Israel on Sunday and launched strikes that levelled buildings in Gaza, more than 24 hours after the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise and unprecedented incursion into Israel – the deadliest in decades.

At least 600 Israelis were killed, including 44 soldiers, and more than 2,000 wounded, Israeli media reported.

At least 370 Palestinians were killed, including 20 children, and 2,200 wounded as a result of airstrikes in Gaza since Saturday, the Palestinian authority said. Seven people were also killed by Israeli army fire in the West Bank.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was at war and would exact a heavy price from its enemies. Hamas leaders said they were prepared for further escalation.

Israel military officials said “hundreds of terrorists” had been killed and dozens captured as the fighting continued on Sunday.

Israeli military said a “substantial” number of civilians and soldiers had been taken to Gaza and were being held hostage.

In northern Israel, a brief exchange of strikes between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.

In neighbouring Egypt, a policeman shot dead two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian at a tourist site in Alexandria.

The UN security council is due to meet on Sunday after the secretary general, António Guterres, urged “all diplomatic efforts to avoid a wider conflagration”.

Israel will stop supplying electricity, fuel and goods to Gaza, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office on Saturday night.

The US president, Joe Biden, issued a staunch condemnation of the attacks by Hamas against Israel, saying in an address on Saturday: “The United States stands with Israel”. He issued a statement earlier calling the attacks “horrific” and an “appalling assault”.