Yossi Landau has spent decades collecting corpses in Israel, but he almost reached breaking point recovering the remains of people killed by Gaza militants in the country's deadliest assault.

Landau woke to the sounds of sirens on Saturday, a moment he had become "used to" as Israelis took shelter from incoming rocket fire.

It was not until later that he realised the launches were "only a cover up, because the main part is the invasion" by Hamas militants, who swept across the Gaza border to kill an estimated 1,200 people.

Hundreds of Hollywood celebrities signed an open letter Thursday condemning the "barbaric acts" of Hamas fighters who murdered and abducted Israeli civilians in a shocking weekend assault.

"Wonder Woman" actress Gal Gadot, an Israeli, was among film and TV stars on the list, which also included Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Pine, Mayim Bialik, Liev Schreiber, Michael Douglas and Jerry Seinfeld.

"Hamas murdered and kidnapped innocent men, women, and children. They kidnapped and murdered infants and the elderly," the open letter, released by Creative Community For Peace, said.

Israel has throughout its history been targeted by hostage-taking in standoffs resolved by both force and diplomacy, but the mass seizure of citizens by Palestinian militant group Hamas presents the authorities with an unprecedented quandary.

Estimates point to around 150 women, children and men being held by Hamas in its Gaza stronghold after its attack on Israel on Saturday. Some who say their loved ones are in mortal have posted images on social media.

The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court on Monday applied for arrest warrants against three top leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas whose bloody October 7 attack triggered the ongoing war.

Karim Khan also said he was applying for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Here is what we know about the three Palestinians that ICC prosecutor Karim Khan wants arrested.

- Ismail Haniyeh, the politician:

US President Joe Biden condemned Donald Trump on Thursday for describing Hezbollah as "very smart" even as the Lebanese militant group exchanges fire with Israel following the Hamas attack on the US ally.

During a campaign speech in Florida, Trump also falsely accused the Biden administration of bankrolling the Hamas assault as a result of a prisoner exchange deal with Iran, which has historically funded Hamas and Hezbollah.

Rescuers lifted a cement block and pulled the lifeless body of a Palestinian from the rubble of a residential building destroyed by Israeli air strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip.

"Why? We did nothing, oh God," screamed a weeping young man as his relative was wrapped in a shroud and carried away on a stretcher as fighting triggered by Hamas's deadly attack on Israel raged for a sixth day.

The Hamas-ruled enclave has been under heavy bombardment since Saturday when the group's fighters crossed into Israel and killed more then 1,200 civilians, soldiers and foreigners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday showed visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken horrific pictures of babies he said were killed by Hamas militants in Israel over the weekend.

The pictures were posted by the prime minister's office on X, formerly Twitter. One picture showed a dead baby in a body bag while the other showed the charred remains of another infant.

Like clockwork, every 30 seconds Israeli artillery goes into action against a barely visible target somewhere in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Israel has vowed to "crush" Hamas after gunmen from the Palestinian Islamist group stormed across the border and killed 1,200 people -- the deadliest attack on the country since it was founded 75 years ago.

Six days since the offensive took Israel by surprise, its army has kept pounding the densely populated Gaza Strip with artillery shells and air strikes, as it prepares for a possible ground invasion.

In its bloody assault on Israel, Hamas was aiming to break a stalemate in Gaza, analysts say, but with its neighbour now determined to eradicate the Islamist group, it may have made a fatal mistake.

Responsible for governing the coastal enclave since its violent takeover in 2007, Hamas had come under pressure from the Palestinian public for the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, said George Giacaman, a professor at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank.

Low-cost carrier flydubai announced flights to Kabul on Thursday, becoming the first international airline to resume services since US forces' chaotic withdrawal in 2021.

Twice-daily flights will begin on November 15, the Dubai-based airline said. Taliban authorities swiftly returned to power after the hasty US evacuation.

"flydubai... announced today the resumption of flights to Kabul International Airport," said a statement on the carrier's website.