October 8, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

At least 260 bodies have been found at the site of an Israeli music festival following Saturday's attack by Hamas, according to Israeli rescue service Zaka.

Hamas gunmen shot at fleeing attendees and took others hostage at the festival in a rural farmland area near the Gaza-Israel border, according to social media videos and accounts from festivalgoers.

The terrifying attack was just one of multiple locations hit on Saturday morning by the most sustained and coordinated assault inside Israel ever carried out by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group designated as a terror organization by the United States, European Union and Israel.

The outdoor Nova Festival event was supposed to be an all-night dance party, celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Read more about the festival attack here.

CNN's Paul P. Murphy, Allegra Goodwin, Benjamin Brown and Sharif Paget contributed reporting to this post.

Islamic Jihad — a militant Palestinian faction which has also carried out terror attacks in Israel — is holding at least 30 hostages in Gaza who were captured Saturday, according to the group's secretary general, Ziyad al-Nakhala.

The group is calling for Israel to release some of its fighters in exchange for the hostages' release.

"The Islamic Jihad Movement currently has more than 30 prisoners, and they will not return to their homes until our prisoners are liberated," al-Nakhala said in a recorded, televised speech late Sunday.

Some context: Islamic Jihad and Hamas are separate organizations, but they both operate in the Gaza Strip and they are aligned in their opposition to Israel.

The total number of hostages taken during Hamas' assault this weekend is not yet clear, but Israeli officials have said there are dozens of captives.

At least three Americans have been killed following the attacks in Israel close to the Gaza border, according to an internal US government memo reviewed by CNN. 

Earlier Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN the US had received reports of missing and dead Americans, and the administration was working “overtime” to verify. 

The internal memo says the State Department is aware of three US citizens killed in the Gaza periphery, as well as additional Americans who have not been accounted for.

CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment.

The US embassy in Jerusalem, meanwhile, has also updated its contingency planning “for any potential evacuation by land or air,” according to the memo. On Saturday, the embassy issued a “shelter in place” for embassy personnel after Hamas launched its surprise attack.

At least 413 Palestinians have been killed, including 78 children, and 2,300 others wounded in Gaza since Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

Power cuts in the territory pose "a big challenge for the medical sector," the ministry said, threatening the lives of hundreds of others who need treatment.

Key context: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Saturday that Israel will halt the supply of "electricity, fuel and goods" into the Gaza Strip, although military spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said Sunday only electricity had been cut.

Since then, power is only available for an average of four hours per day, down from the usual eight hours.

Israel has formally declared war on Hamas, which controls Gaza, after the militant group's surprise attack Saturday. It has been pounding the territory with airstrikes since.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan has demanded the United Nations Security Council condemn the “ruthless terror attacks” by Hamas against Israel.

“In the wake of the Holocaust, the world swore, 'never again,'” he continued. “This very body, the UN, was established on the ashes of the Holocaust. Yet yesterday, we watched as hundreds of Jews were massacred in cold blood. This is a 'never again' moment.” 

“Today, many members of the international community are supporting Israel,” he told reporters. “But if history has taught us anything, we know that tomorrow that may not be the case,” Erdan said, adding "the UN, the Security Council, have a very short memory when it comes to Israel."

The ambassador said the reports and videos depicting Hamas' kidnapping and killing of Israeli citizens are "blatant, documented war crimes."

Erdan condemned Hamas as a "genocidal Islamist jihadist terror organization," saying it is "no different than ISIS." The Palestinian militant group is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, Israel and other countries.

"Israel is at the forefront of the war on terror," Erdan told reporters.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in Gaza as Israeli Defense Forces continue to target Hamas positions on the strip, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said on Sunday.

The statement also noted that a "UNRWA school sheltering displaced families in the Gaza Strip was directly hit today (Sunday). The school, sheltering more than 225 people, was severely damaged. No casualties were recorded among the displaced."

At least 13 family members, including four toddlers, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to a relative and journalist Hassan Eslayeh.

The airstrike also killed four more people and injured 25 others, according to Eslayeh. He also shared with CNN the names of the people who were killed.

Pictures and a video shared on social media showed the four toddlers from the Abu Daqqa family wrapped in white clothes in a hospital morgue in Gaza with visible head injuries.

Mohammad Abu Daqqa, a relative, said five residential buildings were destroyed in the Israeli airstrike. Each building was three or four stories tall.

Some background: Hamas, the Islamist militant group designated as a terror organization by the US, European Union and Israel, controls Gaza. The densely populated enclave is home to some 2 million Palestinians.

Israel formally declared war on Hamas Sunday, after the group's surprise attack the day prior, setting the stage for a massive military response. Israel has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes.

At least 370 Palestinians have been killed and 2,200 others wounded in Gaza since Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

A US Navy carrier strike group is headed to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, as Israel prepares for a large-scale campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was sailing with the Italian Navy earlier this week, according to the ship’s social media, putting it close to Israel.

The carrier will be accompanied by guided missile destroyers and guided missile cruisers, which are two other classes of Navy warship.

The US is also taking steps to bolster its presence of fighter jets in the region, including F-35, F-15, F-16 and A-10 squadrons. It sent several of these aircraft to the Middle East in recent months in response to aggression from Iranian forces across the region, including in Syria and in the Gulf of Oman.

Why it matters: The strike group’s presence is intended as a deterrent to Hezbollah in Lebanon and other militant groups aligned against Israel, the officials said.

US President Joe Biden warned Saturday that “this is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage.”

Remember: Hamas, like Hezbollah, has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and Israel.

Israel accuses its archenemy Iran of backing Hamas.

An official in US President Joe Biden's administration said Saturday that it's not yet clear whether Iran played a direct role in this weekend's attacks on Israel, but that there is no question Hamas is funded, equipped and armed by Iran.

Additional US assistance is on its way to Israel, US President Joe Biden told Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call Sunday.

Biden once again expressed sympathy for those missing, wounded and killed, and discussed efforts to ensure no other rivals of Israel take advantage of the situation, according to the readout.

The two leaders are expected to stay in contact in the coming days.