The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said that one of their helicopters took out Hamas fighters near the Zikim border fence, as these images purport to show.

The video show a number of buildings being destroyed, with a second piece of footage appearing to show at least one person being hit by ordnance.

The images were obtained from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday, October 10, along with a statement saying (in Hebrew): 'An IDF force from the Magellan unit this morning identified a squad of armed terrorists near the fence in the Zikim area, the force directed a helicopter gunship to the spot which attacked the squad after a short time and eliminated it.

'The IDF continues to attack many targets of the terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip on a large scale.'

Nearly 1,600 Israelis and Palestinians have died since Saturday, with thousands more wounded, according to the latest figures.

The Israeli government has formally declared war on Hamas and has given the go-ahead for 'significant military steps' to retaliate against the organisation over the surprise attack that saw hundreds of civilians slaughtered at a music festival and in their homes in a number of villages.

The Israeli military has reportedly bombed parts of Gaza in retaliation, with Israeli defence forces continuing to battle Palestinian militants in several key locations.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes in Gaza as airstrikes level buildings.

Israel has called up 300,000 reservists even as its military has said that it has regained large swathes of territory in the south of the country.

Hamas has pledged to kill its Israeli hostages if the military targets civilians. Hamas have said they have 130 hostages, including both soldiers and civilians.