Summary

  • Israel has launched strikes on Gaza, news agencies report, after PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his military to immediately carry out "powerful" attacks

  • Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating the ceasefire, with Israel's defence minister alleging Hamas attacked IDF soldiers in Gaza

  • In Jerusalem, fighter jets are heard overhead, while our correspondent reports renewed fear and tension in Gaza as residents anticipate strikes

  • It comes as Israel says a coffin handed over by Hamas on Monday did not contain the remains of a deceased hostage

  • Hamas says Israel is obstructing efforts to search for bodies in the Strip, and says it is postponing a planned handover of another dead hostage

  • All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed

  • Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,500 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry

Media caption,

Explosions seen in Gaza after Netanyahu orders strikes

  1. Two killed in fresh Israeli strike - reportspublished at 18:55 GMT
    Breaking

    Reuters and AFP news agencies report that two people have been killed and four people are injured following an Israeli strike near Gaza City, citing an update from Gaza's Hamas-run Civil defence agency.

    We're monitoring this and will bring you updates as we have them.

  2. Hamas-run health ministry says more than 68,500 killed in warpublished at 18:37 GMT

    In the latest daily update, Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health says that more than 68,500 people have died since the war began on October 7 2023.

    The ministry adds that a "number" of victims are still under rubble in areas where emergency crews have been unable to reach them.

    Since the ceasefire came into effect, the ministry says 94 deaths have been recorded.

    In the last 24 hours, it says hospitals in the Strip have recorded two deaths. Two bodies were recovered from the rubble. Seven others are also reported to have been injured, the ministry says.

  3. Israel launches strikes on Gaza, news agencies reportpublished at 18:25 GMT
    Breaking

    Israel has launched strikes on Gaza, local media and news agencies report.

    A spokesman for Gaza's Hamas-run civil defence agency tells AFP that Israel launched at least three air strikes.

    The IDF has not yet commented on the reports. We'll bring you more information as we get it.

  4. Hamas 'will pay a heavy price', Israeli defence minister sayspublished at 18:15 GMT

    Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said Hamas "will pay a heavy price", alleging the group has attacked IDF soldiers in Gaza and has violated the ceasefire agreement.

    "The attack on IDF soldiers in Gaza today by the Hamas terrorist organization is crossing a bright red line to which the IDF will respond with great force.

    "Hamas will pay with compound interest for attacking the soldiers and violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages," Katz says.

  5. Fighter jets heard in Jerusalem ahead of Netanyahu announcementpublished at 17:54 GMT

    Andre Lombard
    Reporting from Jerusalem

    More than an hour ago we heard what sounded like three fighter jets flying overhead. Around 20 minutes later we heard what sounded like three planes flying back in the opposite direction.

    Then came the announcement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that "powerful" strikes on Gaza would be carried out.

    With both Hamas and Israel accusing each other of breaking the US brokered ceasefire, this is a test of it - but American pressure should make sure it holds.

  6. Fear in Gaza as Netanyahu orders new strikespublished at 17:50 GMT

    Rushdi Abualouf
    Gaza correspondent

    Tension and fear spread across Gaza on Tuesday evening after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to launch immediate strikes on the enclave.

    Witnesses in several areas of Gaza City and Khan Younis said people hurried home as news of the order circulated.

    “The streets emptied as soon as they heard the Israeli threats,” Alaa Saleh, a teacher who is now working a taxi driver, told the BBC. “Everyone wanted to reach his tent or house before the planes arrived.”

    Most shops closed their doors before nightfall, and the normally crowded markets fell silent. Local residents said armed Hamas fighters who had been manning checkpoints on several main roads were seen withdrawing shortly before sunset.

    The renewed tension comes amid growing uncertainty surrounding the fragile truce and ongoing efforts to recover the bodies of Israeli captives believed to remain under the rubble or in tunnels.

    Residents in Gaza described a mix of anxiety and exhaustion after months of sporadic violence and repeated Israeli warnings of renewed operations

  7. Children among thousands of patients needing medical evacuation from Gazapublished at 17:38 GMT

    Yolande Knell and Jacob Evans
    Reporting from Jerusalem

    Earlier this week, our reporters wrote about children in Gaza who are waiting for medical evacuations.

    Amar Abu Said, a Palestinian boy, lies on a bed, looking poorly, as a woman touches his face
    Image caption,

    Amar Abu Said is paralysed from the neck and needs specialist treatment

    In different wards of Nasser Hospital lie two 10-year-old boys, one shot by Israeli fire and paralysed from the neck down, another with a brain tumour.

    They are among some 15,000 patients who the World Health Organization (WHO) says are in need of urgent medical evacuations.

    Ola Abu Said sits gently stroking the hair of her son, Amar. His family says he was in their tent in southern Gaza when he was hit by a stray bullet fired by an Israeli drone. It is lodged between two of his vertebrae, leaving him paralysed.

    "He needs surgery urgently," Ola says, "but it's complicated. Doctors told us it could cause his death, a stroke or brain haemorrhage. He needs surgery in a well-equipped place."

  8. Ceasefire agreement was agreed just weeks agopublished at 17:23 GMT

    It's nearly three weeks since Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire deal that would see the release of all remaining hostages being held by the armed group and the retreat of Israeli troops from part of Gaza.

    Announced at the start of the month, the terms of the deal largely aligned with the first part of Trump's 20 point peace plan.

    The deal was expected to increase aid into Gaza and see Palestinian prisoners released.

    But the ceasefire has been tenuous - and Israel has launched air strikes into Gaza, while Hamas has yet to return all of the remains of deceased hostages, citing difficulty locating them.

    Earlier this year, a previous ceasefire collapsed after a wave of Israeli air strikes - which Netanyahu said was a response to Hamas' "repeated refusal to release our hostages".

  9. Israel accuses Hamas of 'deception plot' as Hamas says it's postponing handover of dead hostagepublished at 17:07 GMT

    Frank Gardner
    Security correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

    Israel says it will carry out what it calls "intense strikes" on Hamas in response to what it claims are repeated violations of the Trump-brokered Gaza ceasefire plan.

    Israel has accused Hamas of firing on its forces occupying part of the Gaza Strip as well as what it says was "a deliberate deception plot".

    Last night Hamas handed over what it said were the remains of another Israeli hostage. But Israel says forensic tests showed they belong to a body already recovered from Gaza two years ago.

    Drone footage taken by the IDF appears to show a body being taken out of a building in Gaza, placed in a shroud in a shallow grave then covered in soil. Israel says Hamas then carried out a fake excavation.

    Hamas did not immediately comment on the drone footage but says it is postponing a planned handover of another dead hostage "due to violations" of the ceasefire plan by Israel. It says Israel is to blame for the delay in handovers by impeding the excavation work needed to recover the bodies.

  10. Hamas accuses Israel of 'fabricating false pretexts'published at 16:48 GMT

    In a statement a little earlier, Hamas accused Israel of seeking to "fabricate false pretexts in preparation for taking new aggressive steps" in Gaza.

    It says Israel is obstructing efforts to search for bodies in the Strip, and calls on mediators to "allow the relevant bodies to carry out their humanitarian tasks away from political and aggressive calculations".

  11. Israel says coffin from Hamas did not contain another hostage's bodypublished at 16:38 GMT

    The statement from Benjamin Netanyahu's office comes as Israel says a coffin handed over by Hamas on Monday did not contain the body of another deceased hostage.

    Forensic tests showed the remains belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, whose body was recovered by Israeli forces in late 2023, and not to any of the 13 deceased hostages still in Gaza, his office said.

    It accused Hamas of a "clear violation" of the two-week-old Gaza ceasefire deal. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

    The group has said it is committed to the deal brokered by the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, but that it needs help to find remains buried under the rubble left by two years of war.

  12. Israeli PM Netanyahu orders military to immediately strike Gazapublished at 16:31 GMT
    Breaking

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the military to immediately carry out "powerful" strikes on Gaza, his office says.

    This is a breaking story and we'll bring you more updates as we get them.