Hamas‘ armed wing said on Monday evening it would begin executing an Israeli civilian captive for each new Israeli bombing of civilian houses without pre-warning.

‘We have decided to put an end to this and as of now, we declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of one the hostages of civilians we are holding,’ Abu Obaida, spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a recording released to Al Jazeera.

The group has abducted at least 100 people including women and children since clashes began on Saturday.

Obaida said Hamas has been acting in accordance with Islamic instructions by keeping Israeli captives safe.

He blamed the move on Israel’s stepped-up bombing and killing of civilians inside their homes in air strikes without warning them. 

Gaza has been devastated by airstrikes since Saturday, with the IDF claiming to have hit 500 targets on Sunday night alone. The densely-populated Jabalia refugee camp was among those hit early on Monday, with initial reports suggesting dozens of casualties.

Israel late on Monday ordered a ‘complete siege’ of the Gaza, cutting off electricity, fuel and food for the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people. 

Sitting on the back of a terrorist’s motorcycle, her outstretched arms pointing towards her helpless boyfriend, student Noa Argamani pleads for her life

A fireball erupts during Israeli bombardment of Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip on October 9 and cut off the water supply as it bombed targets

People standing on a rooftop watch as a ball of fire and smoke rises above a building in Gaza City on October 7, 2023 during an Israeli air strike

Israeli soldiers gather at an area along the border with Gaza, southern Israel, 09 October 2023

A paramedic holds a little girl with her face full of blood and dirt from the effects of the bombing of Israeli planes in Gaza on Monday 

A paramedic holds a little girl crying after being pulled from the scene of the bombing Gaza on Monday 

Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon

A missile explodes in Gaza City during an Israeli air strike on Sunday night 

In a video statement Monday, Israel’s foreign minister warned Hamas against harming any of the hostages who were taken from Israel and being held in Gaza. 

Eli Cohen said Israel was committed to bringing the hostages home ‘in the spirit of mutual responsibility.’

‘We demand Hamas not to harm any of the hostages, Cohen said. ‘This war crime will not be forgiven,’ he added.

Dozens of people are believed to have been taken hostage in Israel by Hamas fighters since the weekend.

They are now reportedly being held in locations across Gaza.

Unsettling footage has shown women being marched into vehicles, bloodied and bruised, often with their hands bound behind their backs.

Pictures on Saturday showed Israeli pensioners taken into the Gaza Strip on golf carts and families forced into trucks.

A student who attended a desert rave and a mother and her two young girls were among the innocent victims snatched on Saturday.

Noa Argamani, 25, was kidnapped as a video showed her sitting on the back of a militant’s motorcycle, with her outstretched arms pointing towards her helpless boyfriend, pleading for her life.

As violence escalates, Israel has responded with devastating airstrikes into the Gaza Strip, bringing down residential buildings they say contained military infrastructure.

The Israel Defense Forces announced on October 9 it had carried out more than 500 strikes on targets across the Gaza Strip overnight.

Palestinian officials said almost 500 people were killed, including 91 children, and over 2,700 were injured.

The death toll is expected to rise significantly. 

The Palestinian news agency WAFA said an airstrike early on Monday hit a market area ‘killing and wounding dozens and causing heavy destruction’.

A school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was also hit in the attack on the camp.

‘The school was severely damaged and was housing about 225 people, though no casualties were recorded among the displaced, but the school sustained significant structural damage,’ UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a daily press briefing. 

All UNRWA schools across the Gaza Strip are closed, and more than 300,000 people students are impacted, according to the UN. 

The Times of Gaza reported ‘dozens’ had been ‘killed and burned alive’ during the attacks on Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip.

Palestinians search for survivors after an Israeli airstrike on buildings in the refugee camp of Jabalia in the Gaza Strip on October 9, 2023

A Palestinian mourns the death of her relative following an Israeli airstrike on the refugee camp of Jabalia in the Gaza Strip on October 9, 2023

Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike on Gaza City, 9 October 2023

A smoke rises and ball of fire over a buildings in Gaza City on October 9, 2023

Palestinian officials said almost 500 people were killed, including 91 children, and over 2,700 were injured in the strikes. Pictured: smoke rises over Gaza on October 9 

With no sign of either side losing momentum, Israel declared a ‘complete siege’ of the Strip on Monday, ensuring ‘no electricity, no food, no fuel’ would reach the 2.3mn people living there.

The country’s defence minister said earlier today: ‘We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly.’ 

The EU also said today it would review all of its development funding to the Palestinian territories in response to Hamas’ attack on Israel. 

Brussels was later pushed to clarify this would not include humanitarian aid. 

Speaking from Jerusalem on Monday evening, Thomas Helm, Jerusalem Correspondent at The National, told MailOnline he had witnessed missiles hitting the city today, injuring a ten-year-old child.

He suggested there are no indications at present of the conflict waning. 

He said: ‘The thinking has been that [Hamas] launched their [strongest missiles] in the first barrage. But if they are still hitting Jerusalem now, it shows they still have a desire to escalate.’

With today’s response of a ‘complete siege’ of Gaza, Israel is now ‘trying to prepare their backers’ for the possibility that ‘this is going to be a long war’, Helm added. 

Some 300,000 reservists have been called up as Israel desperately looks to turn the tide. 

‘I got caught in a firefight and some of the the Israeli troops engaging were 70, 75-years-old,’ Helm said.

He suggested it was unlikely the threat of executing hostages would do much to deter Israeli airstrikes.

Along with hundreds of other young Israelis, Noa (pictured) and Avi had been enjoying a peace festival in the desert when they were forced to flee for their lives

A plume of smoke rises in the sky of Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on October 9, 2023

Israeli emergency responders inspect a damaged car after a barrage of rockets that were launched from the Gaza Strip landed in the Israeli settlement of Beitar Ilit, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank October 9, 2023

Benjamin Netanyahu said his country could not negotiate after shock attacks by Hamas that killed at least 900 people, and will launch a ground assault in retaliation.

‘We have only started striking Hamas. What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations,’ he said. 

It comes despite efforts from Qatar to mediate de-escalation talks with Israel and Hamas, aiming to secure a deal whereby both sides release captives.

The ongoing negotiations, which Qatar has been conducting in coordination with the United States since Saturday night, are ‘moving positively’ a source told Reuters earlier today.

‘We are in constant contact with all sides at the moment. Our priorities are to end the bloodshed, release the prisoners and make sure the conflict is contained with no regional spillover,’ foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said.

Reports of artillery shelling and gunfire near the Israel-Lebanon border fuelled growing fears that the fighting could spread to other areas in the region, should Israel’s opponents decide to strike against it following the attacks by Hamas during the weekend. 

Arab League foreign ministers are set to meet tomorrow to discuss ‘the Israeli aggression’ against Gaza, the group said.