“We are in an operation for our home, a war to ensure our existence, a war that we will win," the PM said in a televised address to the nation on Monday.

“This war was imposed upon us by a despicable enemy — by savages who celebrate the murder of women, children, and the elderly,” he said. “The atrocities carried out by Hamas have not been seen since the atrocities of ISIS. Children bound and executed with the rest of their families, young girls and boys shot in the back, executed, and other atrocities that I will not describe here.”

Attacking the group, Netanyahu said: "Hamas is ISIS.” "We will defeat [Hamas] precisely as the enlightened world defeated ISIS," he said.

He said Israel has only just begun to hit Hamas and that the pictures of destruction in Gaza “are only the start. We have wiped out hundreds of terrorists and we won’t stop there.”

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The escalating conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, the UN reported on Monday.

Over 120,000 people have been internally displaced in Gaza due to concerns over their protection and the destruction of homes, said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, speaking in New York.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, is sheltering roughly 137,000 people in 83 of its schools across the Gaza Strip.

Six health care workers have been killed and four others injured, with seven health care facilities and nine ambulances damaged, said reports.

Mass displacement due to protection concerns and damage to civilian property has also been observed in Israel.

In Gaza, humanitarians report that damage to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities has undermined services to more than 400,000 people. The Gaza Power Plant - now the only source of electricity - could run out of fuel within days.