What we know about Israel's war with Hamas

JERUSALEM, unidentified — Israel bombarded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned his country's military campaign was only the start of a sustained war.

Netanyahu promised to "change the Middle East", with fears of a regional conflict growing amid clashes on the Lebanese border and expectations of an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.

This is what we know about the conflict so far:

Hundreds of Hamas militants attacked Israel from around 6:30 am (0330 GMT) on Saturday, the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, in an assault that came 50 years after the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

The Iran-backed Islamists fired thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel and used explosives and bulldozers to break through the security fence around the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

Using motorbikes, pickup trucks, motorised gliders and speed boats, the militants streamed into Israel, targeting cities including Ashkelon, Ofakim and Sderot.

The gunmen unleashed a massacre at a music festival attended by hundreds of young Israelis and foreigners near Kibbutz Reim, close to Gaza.

Israel said Hamas took around 150 hostages. They include at least 11 Thais, two Mexicans and an unknown number of Americans and Germans.

Israel declared war on Hamas on Sunday and has since unleashed thousands of air strikes on the militia's positions.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday ordered a "complete siege" on Gaza, meaning "no electricity, no food, no water, no gas".

The military has massed tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour near Gaza, and called up 300,000 reservists for a campaign it has dubbed "Swords of Iron".

Netanyahu vowed to reduce to "rubble" Hamas's hideouts in Gaza, an impoverished territory of 2.3 million people hemmed in by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade for more than 15 years.

Israeli air strikes pounded Gaza again on Tuesday, with the army saying it had "more or less restored control over the border" and was evacuating communities near the frontier.

Hamas launched a wave of rockets at Ashkelon on Tuesday, with at least one getting through Israeli air defences and hitting a residential area.

Its armed wing, the Ezzedine