While the UN said its aid could not yet reach the Palestinian population, the United Arab Emirates says it has reached an agreement with Israel to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza.

The agreement was announced last night following a phone call between UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa'ar.

"The aid will address the food needs of approximately 15,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip in the initial phase," according to a statement on the UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

The aid also includes "essential supplies" to support bakeries and "critical items" for infant care "while ensuring a continuous supply to meet the ongoing needs of civilians", UAE says.

The UAE has not provided details about how the agreement will work, or who will be responsible for the aid entering and being distributed in Gaza. Israel has not yet commented on the agreement.

Image source, Reuters

Over 19 months ago, Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023.

During that attack about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Hamas still holds 58 hostages after having handed over some others in recent months in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel's aims include destroying Hamas, returning the hostages and making sure Israel cannot be threatened in future.

The Israeli government also said it wanted tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to be able to return to their homes in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, following attacks by Hamas's ally Hezbollah.

More than 53,000 people in Gaza - mostly civilians, the majority of whom women and children - have been killed in the fighting, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The UN says most of the 2.3 million population have been forced from their homes and that there are "catastrophic" levels of food insecurity. In recent days, the UN said Israel had given permission for around 100 aid lorries to enter Gaza after 11 weeks of blocking all aid - even though the latest aid could not yet reach the population.

• Everything you need to know about what Hamas is and why is it fighting with Israel in Gaza can be found here

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor

The UK government's announcement on suspending a trade deal with Israel yesterday was significant - in particular the tough tone they chose to use.

I have been reporting on this story since the 1990s. I don't think I've ever heard a British government talk about Israel's conduct of its military operations in that way before.

The Israeli media this morning is full of the implications of this, as well as a sense that Israel is hurtling towards pariah status among its allies - that's something which, while the government will keep pushing back hard on it, people in Israel will be concerned about.

The amount of aid that's going in frankly looks like a token - a token mostly aimed at the way Donald Trump and some significant Americans have said they don't want to see pictures of starvation.

Britain, Canada and France will have to decide what to do if Israel does not listen to their calls to stop the offensive and let in a significant and large number of shipments of aid - neither of those things have happened yet.

As we've been reporting, the UN says the aid trucks haven't reached people in Gaza yet.

It comes after a series of Israeli strikes hit the territory overnight. Here are some latest pictures.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Antoine Renard, the UN's World Food Programme representative in East Jerusalem, says the "temporary opening up" of aid into Gaza is "not sufficient at all" for the "acute food needs".

"So far, only very few trucks managed to leave from Kerem Shalom [border crossing] and the platform that is in Gaza towards the Strip," he tells the BBC World Service's Newsday programme.

Asked about Israel's plan to change the way aid is distributed in Gaza away from relying on the UN, Renard says it is important the existing food network is allowed to stay in place.

There needs to be sustained large-scale aid, "otherwise we will not avert what is currently a whole population on the brink of starvation", he says.

Davide Ghiglione
Reporting from the Vatican

Image source, Reuters

Over in the Vatican, Pope Leo has just given an address in which he called for "sufficient humanitarian aid" to be allowed into the Gaza Strip.

During his first general audience in St Peter's Square the Pope said: “The situation in the Gaza strip is ever more worrying and painful.

"I renew my appeal to allow for the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring to an end the hostilities, the high price of which is paid by children, the elderly and the sick.”

The emergency coordinator in Gaza for the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders, Claire Manera, tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that medical supplies are "critically low".

"There is a small amount of aid that is inside, but it hasn't reached the communities at all," she says, adding Israeli officials are placing conditions on how it is distributed which are "not safe".

Meanwhile, homes and hospitals are "being targeted" and "the access to healthcare and to any kind of assistance is becoming impossible", she says.

She says the condition of people there is "deteriorating", and the number of children coming in with third-degree burns is "horrific".

The "agony" of children without pain medication, people on the streets "desperate for food", and mothers "watching their children starve", are things that are "getting worse every day", she says.

Michael Kleiner, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party in Israel, and president of the party's internal court, blames Hamas for preventing peace, and notes they are still holding hostages.

"The moment Hamas will decide it stops, it stops," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme, calling on those who criticise Israel to call on Hamas to accept a peace proposal.

He says almost 100 aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday, "most of them" carrying medical equipment.

When it's put to him that the UN and others say the aid is not yet being distributed, he says the "main problem" is that Hamas has been "taking over the convoys" and Israel wants to ensure aid reaches the population.

Addressing international pressure over Israel's new offensive in Gaza, he says Hamas is the enemy of the Palestinian population, not Israel, adding Europe doesn't understand this.

Kleiner calls for people to look at the "whole picture", questioning what they would say were they to view the German city of Dresden during World War Two, and asking if people would say "how miserable are those German victims, and how cruel are the British for bombarding them".

Some 58 hostages remain in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

I've been catching up overnight with 31-year-old Adham al-Batrawi, who was telling me last week of the "creative ways" people in Gaza had found to survive, including turning pasta into an imitation of bread.

"Honestly, I don't really know how to describe the situation here, it's extremely bad," Adham, a graphic designer displaced in central Gaza, said by WhatsApp.

"There's a major shortage of food. I spent the whole day today searching for flour and couldn't find any. Things are getting harder every single day."

He adds the war "has shown us things I never thought I'd witness. I've had to do things I never imagined I'd have to in my entire life. It's heart-breaking".

Some 15 people have been killed in Gaza in Israeli air strikes since midnight, the Hamas-run Civil Defence service says.

The figure includes 11 who were killed during a strike in Jabalia in northern Gaza - with 13 more injured.

Two further people, including a child, were killed in a separate strike on the town.

In two separate strikes that took place in areas to the east of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, two more people died and others were injured.

The agency specifies these figures relate to deaths since midnight local time.

Separately, the AFP news agency reports that 19 have been killed overnight in total.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Jerusalem

I’ve been receiving more messages from people in Gaza, who have been telling me about their struggles with hunger as they wait for food and other aid to arrive.

As a reminder, Israel does not allow international journalists free access to Gaza, so many of our interviews are conducted over phone calls and messages, as well as by trusted Palestinian freelancers working with the BBC.

“We are in tents under the scorching heat, struggling with empty stomachs," a nurse in southern Gaza tells me over WhatsApp.

"My children are crying from hunger. I don’t know what to do - as a mother, I stand helpless. I can’t protect them from the missiles, or the hunger, or the heat, or the insects and crawling creatures."

A father of two in Khan Younis writes: “I am not well, neither I nor my children."

Image source, EPA

Nothing but domestic and international political pressure will convince Benjamin Netanyahu to pull back from a renewed offensive in Gaza, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Yesterday, the UK government announced it had suspended talks on a trade deal with Israel, summoned the country's ambassador and imposed fresh sanctions on West Bank settlers. It also joined other nations in condemning the situation in Gaza and calling for more aid to enter the territory.

Olmert, a critic of the current Israeli leadership, says the pressure is "not insignificant" but "not sufficient yet", suggesting US President Donald Trump "maybe" could tip the balance for Netanyahu.

On the UK's action, he says "carry on the political condemnation as much as you can", but adds "don't punish the Israeli citizens with economic sanctions", arguing many are calling for an end to the war.

"I consider the condemnation coming from Prime Minister Starmer and others as support of the demand that unites the majority of Israelis to end the war and bring the hostages back," he says.

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Cairo

Two million people are facing starvation in Gaza.

All eyes have been on the spot where the trucks are supposed to be taking or getting the food to the people. That is not happening.

Since yesterday, the trucks have been waiting and waiting and this morning it's the same situation.

Even 100 trucks are not going to make a huge difference, because Gaza has been without food for 11 weeks.

If you look at pictures people have posted from the markets, they're almost empty, there is no fruit, vegetables, no protein, no meat, no chicken in Gaza.

And most importantly, no fuel to run the generators in the hospital. No medicine into Gaza. 25% of the water in Gaza is contaminated and not drinkable.

So the situation remains very catastrophic.

On Sunday, Israel agreed to allow a limited amount of aid into Gaza, ending its 11-week blockade.

Israel said 93 trucks carrying aid were transferred to Gaza on Tuesday, a much higher figure than the five trucks that crossed the day before.

However, the UN has said that aid has yet to reach the civilian population.

According to the UN, Israeli authorities required the UN trucks to offload their supplies on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, which is located on the border with southern Gaza.

UN teams inside Gaza were unable to collect the aid on Tuesday after waiting several hours for the Israeli green light to access the holding area.

There are five other crossing points controlled by Israeli forces – Kissufim and Gate 96, which are on the border with central Gaza; Erez and Erez West, which are on the border with northern Gaza; and the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which has been closed since Israeli forces seized it a year ago.

Starmer and Lammy sound genuinely angry at Israelpublished at 07:26 British Summer Time

07:26 BST

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

After more than a year and a half of the war in Gaza, Britain appears to have finally lost patience with Israel.

Speaking to MPs, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy sounded genuinely angry.

The PM said he was "horrified" by Israel's decision to escalate its military campaign.

Israel's actions, Lammy said, were isolating Israel from friends and partners around the world and "damaging the image of the State of Israel in the eyes of the world".

Britain is not alone in expressions of outrage or threats of concrete action.

The EU says it's reviewing its association agreement with Israel, which governs its political and economic relationship.

And on Monday night, Britain joined France and Canada in signing a strongly worded joint statement, condemning Israel's military action.

Even US President Donald Trump has expressed impatience, warning that "a lot of people are starving" as he concluded his regional tour last week.

Image source, Reuters

Yesterday, the UK suspended talks on a trade deal with Israel, summoned the country's ambassador and imposed fresh sanctions on West Bank settlers.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the military escalation in Gaza as "morally unjustifiable" and said the conflict was "entering a dark new phase".

Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the situation in the territory "intolerable", saying "humanitarian aid needs to get in at pace".

The move followed warnings of starvation in Gaza after Israel launched a new military operation over the weekend.

Israeli foreign spokesman Oren Marmorstein responded, external to Lammy's statement on X, saying the decisions on sanctions were "unjustified".

"External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction," he said.

The leaders of the UK, Canada, and France also issued a joint statement in which they called on the Israeli government to end its "egregious" military expansion and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza".

• You can read more about yesterday's exchange in Parliament in our news story.

Image source, Reuters / Cogat

As we've been reporting, Israeli officials say 93 UN aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip yesterday. However, the UN says its teams have been left waiting for permission from Israel to collect the supplies.

The Israeli military's Coordinator of the Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat) says the aid includes flour for bakeries, baby food, medical equipment, and pharmaceuticals.

The aid was transferred through the Kerem Shalom Crossing "only after a thorough security inspection", it says.

"The IDF will continue to facilitate humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip while making every effort to ensure that the aid does not reach the hands of the Hamas terrorist organisation," it says in a message on social media.

In another message on social media, addressed to the people in Gaza, Israeli military's Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir says: "We are not the ones who have deprived you of food, shelter, and money."

He adds: "Hamas is responsible for starting the war. It is responsible for the difficult situation of the civilian population - it brought destruction, and it will not be the one to rebuild."

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

The aid that has entered Gaza includes flour for bakeries, food for community kitchens, and vital medicines as well as desperately needed baby formula.

But while dozens of lorryloads of supplies have cleared Israeli security checks, so far, they’ve only been transported to the Palestinian side of the main crossing point.

The UN’s humanitarian office says its team in Gaza waited for hours yesterday for Israeli military permission to access the crossing and collect the supplies, but this was not given.

Experts have warned of looming famine in Gaza and under international pressure, on Sunday, the Israeli prime minister said a basic amount of aid would be allowed to enter.

Israel’s closest allies are calling for a dramatic increase in supplies going in. The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged the aid sent so far was “not in sufficient amounts".

Image source, Reuters

Aid is yet to be distributed in Gaza, the UN says, despite supplies entering following the end of an 11-week blockade.

According to Israeli officials, 93 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday "after a thorough security inspection".

But the UN’s humanitarian office says they have only been transported to the Palestinian side of the crossing.

It says its team in Gaza waited for hours on Tuesday to access the crossing and collect the supplies, but it says the Israeli military has not yet given its permission.

It comes amid rising international pressure for aid to reach civilians in Gaza amid warnings of looming famine.

We'll be following this story throughout the day, bringing you live updates, analysis and reporting, so stay with us.