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Israel formed an emergency unity government on Wednesday as its jets pounded Gaza and tanks massed around the Palestinian enclave, and the army said it killed three Hamas militants in a fresh confrontation on nearby Israeli territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to form a war cabinet with former defence minister and centrist opposition party leader Benny Gantz and focus entirely on the conflict, a joint statement from Gantz's National Unity party said.

Israel's death toll rose to 1,200 with over 2,700 wounded, its military said, from Hamas militants' weekend rampage after breaching the border fence enclosing Gaza on Saturday in a shock mass infiltration of nearby Israeli towns and villages.

Israeli reprisal strikes on blockaded Gaza have killed 1,100 people and wounded 5,339, Gaza's Health Ministry said. Some 535 residential buildings had been destroyed leaving around 250,000 homeless, Hamas officials said. Most of the displaced were in U.N.-designated shelters, others huddling in shattered streets.

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In the two years since Simone Biles returned home from the Olympics mentally and physically empty, it has taken everything for her to make it back to the top. She first had to withdraw from her sport in order to heal, with many hours spent in therapy. Since her return, she has thrown herself back in like never before.

It is a result of that hard work, commitment and mental strength, as well as her unparalleled talent, that Biles is once again, officially, the best gymnast in the world. On Friday, Biles won a record-extending sixth world all-around title at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp with a score of 58.399.

“It was emotional, and it means everything,” said Biles afterwards. “The fight, everything that I’ve put in to get back to this place, feel comfortable and confident enough to compete. It was a lot.”

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NATO’s secretary-general met with Ukraine’s president to discuss the status of the war and needs of troops on Thursday, the day after Russia accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg agreed to make efforts to get NATO members to help provide additional air defense systems to protect Ukraine’s power plants and energy infrastructure that were badly damaged by Russian attacks last winter.

Zelensky also reminded the secretary-general of the persistent drone, missile and artillery attacks that often strike residential areas and were blamed Thursday for at least three civilian deaths in the past day.

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Foreign ministers from the G7 group of major industrialised countries condemned the staging of what they called “sham elections” by Russia in occupied Ukrainian territories.

“We … unequivocally condemn the staging of sham ‘elections’ held by Russia on sovereign Ukrainian territory in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia oblasts and Crimea,” the G7 statement said in a statement, published by the UK’s Foreign Office, on Tuesday.

“These sham “elections” are a further violation of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and of the UN Charter.

Russia is suffering “mounting casualties” on the battlefield in Ukraine and is trying to recruit foreigners to replace its depleted troop numbers, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has said.

The Kremlin has tried to sign up salaried recruits from Armenia, Kazakhstan and Uzbek migrant builders, the MoD said in a statement.

It added: “Russia likely wishes to avoid further unpopular domestic mobilisation measures in the run-up to the 2024 presidential elections.