Israel-Hamas war latest news: Israeli military confirms ground raid in Gaza after evacuation order

The Israeli military has confirmed for the first time that ground troops have entered the Gaza Strip as conflict in the Middle East continues. It comes after Palestinians began a mass exodus from northern Gaza on Friday after Israel’s military told some one million people to evacuate.

In a statement on Friday, the Israeli army said troops had entered Gaza to battle militants, destroy weapons and search for evidence about the missing hostages held by Hamas, the ruling militant group that staged a brutal attack on Israel nearly a week ago and has fired thousands of rockets since.

The UN has warned that so many people fleeing en masse — almost half the Gaza population — would be calamitous, and it urged Israel to reverse the evacuation order. Meanwhile, Hamas officials have claimed that 70 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on convoys fleeing Gaza City.

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In a statement on Friday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas. Mr Netanyahu delivered the threat in a nationally televised address. “This is just the beginning,” he said. “We will end this war stronger than ever. We will destroy Hamas.”

Elsewhere, AP reports that an Israeli shell landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon, killing a Reuters videographer and leaving six other journalists injured.

In the UK, Rishi Sunak said Israel has “every right to defend itself” from Hamas attacks but stressed that civilian safety must be “paramount in our minds”. The prime minister