Jerusalem/IBNS: At least 1,008 individuals have been killed in Israel since Hamas militants crossed into the country in a surprise attack on Saturday, state-owned Kan TV news reported Tuesday.

A total of 2,741 injured people were treated in Israeli hospitals since Saturday, including 25 who were in critical condition. Most of them have been discharged, with 544 injured people still in hospitals, it said.

A total of 4,949 rockets have been launched at Israel since Saturday, it added.

According to Israeli Defence Forces, about 1,500 bodies of Hamas militants were found in southern Israel.

The death toll and injuries from Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have risen to 788 and 4,100, respectively, according to the latest update by the Palestinian Health Ministry on Tuesday.

Hamas on Saturday launched a surprise attack on Israeli towns adjacent to the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel to launch retaliatory strikes on Gaza.

According to a CNN report, at least 900 people in Israel and more than 680 people in Palestine have been killed so far as Israel pounds Gaza with unrelenting airstrikes.

More than 100,000 people have been displaced so far, according to reports.

Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu earlier gave a strong message to the world when he equated Hamas with ISIS and vowed that his country would defeat the 'terrorists'.

“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.”

[With UNI inputs]