Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said every Hamas member was “a dead man” after the first meeting of his country’s emergency government.

The emergency government will give broader national consensus to military action. It also brings to the war cabinet two voices who are experts in military strategy.

Alongside him, opposition figure Benny Gantz said it was “a time for war”.

The announcement of the new cabinet came in the wake of savage attacks by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip.

But US President Joe Biden said he had spoken to Mr Netanyahu and made it clear that Israel must “operate by the rules of war”.

The death toll in Israel has reached 1,200. More than 1,100 people have been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza.