Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

I've had an update from a British doctor at the first UK-funded field hospital in Gaza.

The medical coordinator for the aid group UK-Med says “the good news” is they are able to “discharge a good number of patients daily”.

“This means that we are constantly ready to receive those arriving to us, and keep prepared for the next mass casualty incident,” she says over WhatsApp.

She also says, “this morning, we received a patient with a bullet injury from a stray bullet that fell into his tent - he’s stable right now, but will need surgery".

Outpatient clinics at the field hospital in southern Gaza have been treating malnourished children, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women this week.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Israel has continued its military offensive with deadly strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Deir al-Balah in the centre, and Khan Younis in the south.

The military says it had hit over 75 what it described as "terror targets" in the past day.

Following international pressure, Israel started allowing the UN to bring in dozens of aid lorries to Gaza this week, easing an 11-week blockade. But there are reports of problems with looting, including by armed gangs.

The UK, France and Canada threatened "concrete actions" over Israel's renewed military operation in Gaza and the worsening humanitarian situation.

That's brought stinging criticism from the Israeli prime minister, who's accused them of wanting Hamas to stay in power.

The health ministry run by Hamas says 60 people have been killed and another 185 wounded in Gaza in the past 24 hours.

It says this brings the total number of people killed in the strip to 53,822 since October 2023.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Imogen James
Live reporter

As we head towards lunchtime in London, here’s the latest on the Israel-Hamas war:

About 130 aid lorries have entered Gaza this week, after Israel eased an 11-week blockade.

But on the ground, one man told the BBC the aid trucks are a “drop in the ocean of Gaza’s needs”.

Our international editor Jeremy Bowen says it’s clear the current aid is not enough.

On Thursday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video criticising the leaders of the UK, France and Canada.

He accused them of siding with “mass murderers” after they released a statement earlier in the week criticising Israel over the lack of aid reaching Gaza.

British Armed Forces minister Luke Pollard told the BBC he rejects this description, saying Britain has always supported “Israel’s right to self-defence as long as they conduct that within international humanitarian law”.

Netanyahu’s statement followed an attack in Washington DC, where two Israeli embassy workers were shot dead outside a Jewish museum on Wednesday night.

Leaders worldwide, including Keir Starmer, have condemned the attack.

Image source, EPA

German government spokesperson Sebastian Hille has commented on the restart of aid deliveries to Gaza after an 11-week blockade.

Hille says the aid Israel is now allowing into the Strip is "too little, too late and too slow".

"Now it's a matter of increasing it significantly ... and ensuring that these aid supplies reach the people so that the suffering in the Gaza Strip comes to an end."

While driving to bakeries to distribute aid last night, 15 trucks were looted in Southern Gaza, according to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).

The WFP says the trucks contained "critical food supplies for hungry populations waiting anxiously for assistance".

"We need support from the Israeli authorities to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster, more consistently, and transported along safer routes, as was done during the ceasefire," the WFP says.

At the moment, it says, it cannot operate safely in the area.

Image source, EPA

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

A man in southern Gaza, who doesn’t want to be named for safety reasons, tells us over WhatsApp that he hasn’t seen any of the aid that’s started to arrive in recent days.

“I swear to you that no liquids of any kind have reached us yet, nor food, nor tents for shelter,” he writes.

In northern Gaza, 23-year-old Esraa Shaheen describes the situation as “very difficult”.

“There is a lot of danger, continuous bombing,” she writes on WhatsApp.

Esraa has previously said she would never leave her home in Gaza City after returning during the ceasefire earlier this year.

But now, she says it’s becoming too dangerous to stay.

“Probably we won’t stay for long. We will have to evacuate,” she writes.

WhatsApp messages are one of the few ways the world can find out what's happening in Gaza. Since the war started in 2023, Israel hasn't let foreign media enter the area, except for rare, escorted visits with its military.

Image source, EPA

Hanya Aljamal, programme co-ordinator for Action for Humanity in Gaza, has told the BBC that although about 100 aid trucks are entering the region, they actually need around 500 to 600.

This matches what UN bodies have estimated as we've reported earlier.

After 80 days of blockade, the small number of trucks getting into Gaza is "basically nothing," she says, and nothing has "effectively reached" her in Deir al-Balah.

Flour is supposed to go to bakeries so they can bake bread to hand out, but Aljamal says these distribution points are "absolutely crammed."

People are now standing in "huge queues trying to fight for their lives essentially".

Aljamal says her family, like most in Gaza, are down to one meal a day that is lacking a lot of nutrition.

"The public have been starved for 80 days."

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

We’ve been speaking to bakers in southern and central Gaza as food aid starts to trickle in.

A baker in central Gaza says he’s already baked a batch of bread this morning and handed it to the World Food Programme to give out to civilians.

“The flour we currently have allows us to work for two more days,” he says.

In Khan Younis, in the south, another baker tells us he’s hoping to start work today, but says: “Until now, I haven’t received any flour.”

People across Gaza tell us it has become almost impossible to find flour during Israel’s 11-week blockade.

Israel now says it will allow a “minimal” amount of food in.

Image source, Reuters

The Hamas-run civil defence agency says 18 people have been killed on Friday after Israeli strikes.

There were strikes across Gaza, including in the north and in the central city of Deir al Balah, according to the agency.

A woman and her child were killed in Israeli strikes in the Jabalia area in the north of Gaza, a spokesperson for the civil defence agency says. It's not clear if the woman and child are included in the 18 reported deaths.

The Israeli Defence Forces say on Telegram their air force has "struck over 75" targets in Gaza in the past day.

As we've been reporting, a limited amount of aid is now being delivered again.

At the same time, Israel is continuing its expanded military operation across the Gaza Strip, with the Israeli Defence Forces saying it has hit "over 75" targets in the past day.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Image source, Anadolu/Getty Images

Image source, Anadolu/Getty Images

Aid level clearly inadequatepublished at 11:17 British Summer Time 23 May

11:17 BST 23 May

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor

Image source, EPA

It is likely that more pressure will be put on Israel to allow further aid into Gaza, probably from the Americans, which is the pressure that really counts as far as they are concerned.

The sight of dozens of starving kids fighting with empty pots to try to get a little bit of food is something which Trump has said he does not like.

At the moment it is clear that levels of aid are completely inadequate.

More than two million people live there, and all supplies of aid have been shut off by Israel since early March, followed by Israel then breaking the ceasefire and continuing attacks.

So now the fact that some dozens of lorries are getting in, it is still not even a drop in the ocean in terms of overall needs.

This is an area where a very respected international body that assesses the dangers of food emergencies said that the whole population is in danger of famine.

As we've reported, Israel says about 100 aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday.

But how much aid does Gaza actually need?

Before the war, about 500 lorries a day went into the Gaza Strip, bringing food, medicines, baby food and medical equipment. That number dropped sharply when the war started.

Now, UN bodies estimate 600 trucks a day are required to begin tackling Gaza's humanitarian crisis.

Just 100 aid trucks a day would be the "bare minimum" for Gaza's food needs, World Food Programme official Antoine Renard told the BBC earlier this week.

Israel has repeatedly denied there is a food shortage in Gaza.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

People in Gaza are telling me about their struggles with hunger and Israel’s intensified military campaign.

“The situation is getting worse due to the large-scale displacement,” Abd al-Fatah Hussein tells me over WhatsApp from a displacement camp in southern Gaza’s al-Mawasi area.

WhatsApp messages are one of the few ways the world can find out what's happening in Gaza. Since the war started in 2023, Israel hasn't let foreign media enter the area, except for rare, escorted visits with its military.

The BBC also works with trusted Palestinian freelancers working in Gaza to bring you updates on what is happening.

“The repeated air strikes, especially during the night, add to the suffering,” Hussein writes.

The father-of-two says there is “no room” in al-Mawasi, where people ordered by the Israeli military to leave their homes are being told to go for safety.

“There is no electricity, no food, insufficient portable water, and no available medicine,” he says.

He describes the aid trucks coming in as a “drop in the ocean of Gaza’s needs”.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

As we've mentioned, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised Western leaders.

In a video posted on Thursday evening, Netanyahu says he "could never understand" how leaders of France, Britain, Canada and others can't see that Hamas wants to "destroy" Israel.

Earlier this week, the three leaders released a statement opposing the expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza and criticising the lack of aid being allowed into the region.

The UK has also suspended trade talks with Israel and imposed new sanctions on Israeli settlers.

Netanyahu accuses the leaders of having "effectively said they want Hamas to remain in power", and says they have sided with "mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers".

"You're on the wrong side of humanity and you're on the wrong side of history," he tells the leaders.

Image source, Reuters

We've heard from British Armed Forces minister Luke Pollard, who says he condemns the murder of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington DC, but doesn't agree with Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's criticism.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he says the best way to "bring peace to the Middle East is with an immediate ceasefire being restored in Gaza with Hamas releasing the hostages without any further delay and massive amounts of aid getting to the Palestinian people in Gaza".

He adds this is the case the UK prime minister has been making alongside Britain's allies.

Pollard says Netanyahu's comparison between the killings of two Israelis in the US and siding with Hamas is "not correct".

"We stand in support of Israel's right to self-defence as long as they conduct that within international humanitarian law; a position we've had since those appalling attacks on 7 October. We are also very clear we need to see aid get to the people who are genuinely suffering in Gaza."

He says this has been their consistent position for months.

Image source, Anadolu via Getty Images

The UN says that without immediate fuel deliveries, water and sanitation facilities in Gaza, its partners warn that water operations could fully shut down by the end of the week.

Israel cut power lines to Gaza’s main desalination plants in March, saying it wanted to pressure Hamas to release its remaining hostages. Since then, the plants’ capacity have dropped significantly.

Aid has started entering Gaza, including some drinking water, but fuel has not been included so far. Israel says there is no fuel shortage in Gaza.

Parents in Gaza have told the BBC that after 19 months of war, their children are now used to drinking salty water. Doctors say they’ve seen a rise in serious kidney problems because of this.

“We know it is undrinkable water, and we still drink it,” says Raed al-Zaharneh, a father-of-four in Khan Younis. “We’ve had stomach pain and diarrhoea, but we put up with it. What do we do? We need to drink. There’s no alternative.”

• Read the full story: Gazans fear shutdown of water plants as Israel widens offensive

Image source, EPA

The military agency responsible for co-ordinating logistics between Israel and Gaza has given an update on aid deliveries.

Cogat (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories) says "107 trucks carrying humanitarian aid by the UN and the international community" entered the Gaza Strip yesterday through the south-eastern Kerem Shalom Crossing.

The UN hasn’t yet confirmed if this aid has reached people in Gaza.

"We will continue facilitating humanitarian aid into Gaza while making every effort to ensure that the aid does not reach the hands of Hamas," the agency adds.

Israel has accused Hamas of stealing supplies, but the group denies this.

Humanitarian groups are warning that Gaza’s 2.1 million people are likely to face "high levels of acute food insecurity", with basic foods running low and prices soaring.

According to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, half a million people are at risk of "catastrophic food insecurity" in the coming months. This means the level of malnutrition could lead to starvation and high death rates.

A UN World Food Programme official said the UN and its partners have over 140,000 tonnes of food ready at aid corridors, enough to feed everyone in Gaza for two months, and are prepared to bring it in at scale.

Israel says there is no shortage of aid and accuses Hamas of stealing supplies to give to its fighters or sell for money – an allegation the group denies. The UN has also denied that aid has been diverted.

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Cairo

Image source, Reuters

About 130 lorries have made it across the border into Gaza within the last three days.

Most of them are still waiting in warehouses belonging to international aid organisations.

This morning, the bakers put out a statement that they cannot produce food any more because there is not enough security to protect them.

On Thursday, as flour and fuel were being delivered to bakers in refugee camps, it was a chaotic situation as a mass of hungry people tried to take the goods.

A convoy of about 20 lorries came through, carrying flour with one carrying medicine, local authorities say.

As the convoy was approaching the middle of the Gaza Strip, it was attacked by what local journalists describe as "gangs" trying to loot them.

There was shooting at two of the lorries, and a small Hamas police unit exchanged fire with the looters.

After that, there were three Israeli air strikes in the area, killing six Hamas police.

Later, the Hamas government media officer released a statement, calling this a "massacre".

This just shows how difficult and fragile the security situation is on the ground.

We need to remember that 100 trucks are not enough.

After 11 weeks of aid not being allowed in by Israel, the famine is looming. There is no fuel or gas to cook in Gaza, so 100 trucks is very little.

People believe they need at least 500 trucks every day for two months to change the situation.