Israel's move to ban the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees:

• The Israeli parliament has voted to pass a law that would effectively ban Unrwa, under legislation due to come into effect within three months
• Unrwa's director said the organisation is "not sure there is a plan B right now" and that Gaza's aid supply chain will "fall apart"
• Aid organisations said Unrwa is "indispensable" in Gaza and that no viable alternatives exist
• Israel's allies have widely criticised the ban, with the US and others urging Israel not to implement it

Gaza

• The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 93 Palestinians are killed and missing following an Israeli attack on a residential building in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza

Lebanon

• Lebanese state media reports that Israeli forces made their deepest incursion into southern Lebanon, while Israeli forces say 50 rockets was launched from Lebanon into Israel
• The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) has also reported that a rocket hit its headquarters in Naqoura, in the country's south

We are ending out live coverage now. Thank you for joining us.

Image source, Reuters

Turning now to Lebanon, where the country's state National News Agency (NNA) reports that Israeli tanks have rolled into the outskirts of the village of Khiam.

It marks Israel's deepest incursion yet into southern Lebanon since it launched the ground invasion last month, NNA says.

The outlet reports on the entry of "a large number of tanks belonging to the Israeli occupation army" into the eastern outskirts of Khiam - Israel has not yet commented.

Hezbollah says it targeted Israeli troops south and southwest of Khiam on Tuesday with rocket and artillery fire, and claims Israeli forces have yet to assert full control over any village in Lebanon.

Several aid agencies have condemned Israel's move to ban the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, from working in its territory, with many warning it could seriously endanger humanitarian operations within Gaza.

Here's what they said:

• Unrwa: Operating in Gaza will be "impossible" if Israel fully implements its ban on the agency and it would "compromise" the safety of staff, the director of Unrwa in Gaza says
• Médecins Sans Frontières: Christopher Lockyear, MSF secretary general, says the ban would have "catastrophic implications" on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and also in the West Bank "for generations to come"
• Unicef: Ricardo Pires, Unicef communications manager, describes the move as dealing a "heavy blow", adding that more children would die of preventable diseases and hunger
• ActionAid: The ban is a "reckless attack on humanitarian aid that will cost the lives of countless Palestinians", says Jamil Sawalmeh, the organisation's country director for the Palestinian territories
• World Health Organization: The head of WHO,Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says the move "contravenes Israel's obligations and responsibilities and threatens the lives and health of all those who depend on Unrwa"
• The International Organization for Migration: Amy Pope, the head of the IOM, says Unrwa is "absolutely essential to the people of Gaza", adding that it could not play the role of Unrwa
• Oxfam: Sally Abi Khalil, regional director, says the move will "further undermine" the international community's ability to provide enough aid to Gaza, warning that it will lead to "more death, more suffering and more forced displacement"

Could Israel’s government decide not to implement the ban on Unrwa?published at 17:12 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October

17:12 GMT 29 October

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, Reuters

That is the intriguing suggestion being made by the UK government.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy told MPs on Monday his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz had floated the possibility of delayed implementation during a call at the weekend.

Lammy told the Commons: “When I raised this issue with Foreign Minister Katz yesterday, he was at pains to explain that, although the Knesset could pass its bill today, that does not mean that it has to be implemented.”

Lammy echoed the point a little later. His Development Minister Annaliese Dodds repeated it, too, in the Commons on Tuesday afternoon.

So far, we have only Lammy’s account of what Katz said. The BBC has asked Israel’s foreign ministry for a response.

But Katz’s words could be what is politely known as a form of diplomacy – offering reassurance to one’s allies in private while striking a more robust tone in public at home.

Israel may want to temper international criticism of the Knesset’s vote and try to stop allies taking retaliatory action.

The calls for sanctions and trade curbs were deafening in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon.

Israel may also want to play for time and see how the world looks in three months – the existing timetable for the implementation of the Unrwa ban – when a new US president will have been elected.

Three months would be a good time for Israel to negotiate concessions from the US in return for not implementing the ban, or at the very least delaying it.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) says a rocket has that hit its headquarters in Naqoura, southern Lebanon, was "likely" fired by Hezbollah or an "affiliated group".

"While some peacekeepers suffered minor injuries, fortunately no one was seriously injured," it says in a post on X.

An investigation has been opened into the incident, Unifil says, warning that "any deliberate attack on them is a grave violation of international humanitarian law".

"We remind Hezbollah and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property."

Image source, EPA

The director of Unrwa in Gaza says it will be "impossible" to continue operating there if Israel fully implements its ban on the agency.

Sam Rose tells the BBC Newshour programme that Unrwa would not be able to bring in supplies, and the safety of its staff and premises would be compromised.

Speaking from Khan Younis, he says: "There are hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in buildings under the safety of a UN flag and if that protective status of the buildings is taken away then of course we can't in any way pretend to guarantee that safety."

Asked if Unrwa's work could be transferred to another UN agency, Rose says the way that Unrwa operates is different to other UN agencies.

"We're not just distributing aid or providing water - we're running a health system, we're running an education system," he says.

"Other UN agencies work on policy, they work on normative issues, they provide support to member states or government. They are not in the business of running health services, or education services."

Founded in 1949, the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or Unrwa, works in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, initially caring for the 700,000 Palestinians who were forced from or fled their homes after the creation of the state of Israel.

It has long been criticised by Israel, with many there objecting to its very existence.

The fate of refugees has been a core issue in the Arab-Israeli conflict, with Palestinians harbouring a dream of returning to homes in historic Palestine, parts of which are now in Israel.

Israel rejects their claim and criticises the set-up of Unrwa for allowing refugee status to be inherited by successive generations.

It says this entrenches Palestinians as refugees, and encourages their hopes of a right of return.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Unrwa is now the biggest UN agency operation in Gaza. It employs some 13,000 people there and is key to humanitarian efforts.

It distributes aid and runs shelters and key infrastructure - such as medical facilities, teacher training centres and almost 300 primary schools.

These have been a source of criticism from Israel, which has denounced the agency's teaching and textbooks for, in their view, perpetuating anti-Israel views.

In 2022, an Israeli watchdog said Unrwa educational material taught students that Israel was attempting to "erase Palestinian identity".

The European Commission identified what it called "anti-Semitic material" in the schoolbooks, "including even incitement to violence", and the European Parliament has called repeatedly for EU funding to the Palestinian Authority to be conditional on removing such content.

Unrwa has previously said reports about its educational material were "inaccurate and misleading" and that many of the books in question were not used in its schools.

After the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel, allegations that some Unrwa staff were involved further amplified calls in Israel for the agency to be banned. The UN investigated Israel’s claim and fired nine people, but it said Israel had not provided evidence for more allegation and Unwra denied any wider involvement with Hamas.

The UK's Middle East minister has told the BBC that the vote in Israel's parliament on Unrwa "clearly jeopardises the entire international humanitarian response in Gaza".

Speaking to the BBC World Service's Newshour programme, Hamish Falconer said the UK was "disappointed" that the Israeli parliament went ahead with the vote despite international concern and said he would urge Israel not to implement the decision.

Asked how the UK would be able to convince Israel to reverse its decision, he said the UK would "press on the Israelis to change the approach" and "do everything we can both publicly and privately".

Falconer said the UK does not "accept the premise that Unrwa is broken and needs to be replaced" and supports the recommendations made following an independent UN review of the organisation conducted by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

The Visual Journalism Team

According to a recent US letter to the Israeli government, lorries of humanitarian aid paid for by the US are being held up by Israel at the border crossings with Gaza.

Washington has demanded that Israel boosts the amount of aid getting into Gaza within 30 days and has set a target of 350 lorries a day.

Let's put that number in context. Before the war about 500 lorries a day crossed into the territory. Most were commercial vehicles supplying shops and other businesses - but those have almost completely stopped.

In March, the World Food Programme said that addressing simple food needs would require at least 300 lorries a day to enter Gaza and distribute food - a figure that has not been reached since the conflict started.

In the chart you can see how, according to UN figures, the number of lorries entering Gaza fell at the start of the war, rising to a peak of about 190 per day in April before falling back again.

An average of just 35 a day have entered in the first three weeks of October.

Israel disputes the UN figures, but its data shows just 39 lorries a day entered , external in the first 12 days of October, with the highest number of 226 a day entering in April.

Israel has previously insisted there are no limits to the amount of aid that can be delivered into and across Gaza and blames UN agencies for failing to distribute supplies. It also accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.

Fergal Keane
Reporting from the Unrwa offices in Jerusalem

Image source, EPA

At the Unrwa headquarters in Jerusalem, staff were still absorbing the news of the Knesset vote.

Spokesman Jonathan Fowler describes it as “outrageous” and rejected Israel’s assertion that the organisation was colluding with Hamas.

“We said that the prospect of this vote was outrageous. The fact that the vote has happened is equally outrageous. It creates an incredibly dangerous precedent, not just for this region, but potentially with international implications in other places.”

Fowler says the legislation goes against all norms of international law, Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law, UN resolutions, and rulings by the International Court of Justice.

“It opens the road for serious operational impacts on what we do as an organisation,” he says.

On the current crisis in Gaza, Fowler says banning dialogue between Unrwa and Israeli officials would affect the logistical platforms getting aid into the Gaza Strip.

“You know, we're to bring in supplies through the ports in Israel. Staff need to deploy. Can they cross the territory of Israel? … In other words, we need to have a open channel of dialogue. This is the same in all war zones for the United Nations, an open channel of dialogue with all parties where we're able to actually ensure that our convoys can move safely.”

Eight Austrian soldiers working for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon have been injured in a strike in Lebanon, Austria's Defence Ministry says.

The UN Interim Force (Unifil) soldiers sustained minor injuries in the strike, which hit Camp Naqoura near the Israeli border, spokesman Michael Bauer says in a post on X.

He says it's "currently not possible to say where the attack came from" and that Austria's Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner "condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms" and calls on "all sides to immediately cease hostilities in the vicinity of the UN mission site".

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Elsewhere, Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, has posted a picture on X of Hezbollah's new leader Sheikh Naim Qassem, with the words: "Temporary appointment. Not for long."

Gallant's comment comes after Israeli forces killed much of Hezbollah's top brass over the past few weeks, including long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli air strike in Beirut in September.

Hezbollah announced Qassem's appointment earlier today, describing him as "bearing the blessed banner in this march".

Barbara Tasch
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Banning the UN Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa would put children at greater risk than they are right now, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) says.

“This is a very heavy blow to our ability to save children’s lives,” Ricardo Pires, Unicef communications manager, tells the BBC.

He explains that more children will die of preventable disease and hunger, not just “bullets fired on the ground and bombs dropped from above” if Unrwa cannot keep operating.

"Unrwa is indispensable," Pires says. The humanitarian response in Gaza is very likely to collapse without the agency and Unicef does not have the ability to replace them, he says, echoing what other organisations have said.

They are “our arms on the ground”, Pires says, that allow Unicef to reach children in need.

He calls Unrwa the "backbone" of its logistical operation on the ground, elaborating that there won’t be enough people working in children’s hospitals without them, and storing and distributing medical aid and vaccines would become almost impossible.

It is “imperative” that the international community intervenes to stop Unrwa from being banned, Pires adds.

Image source, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya

The director of a hospital in northern Gaza is calling on the international community to “immediately” establish a humanitarian corridor.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, which has been attacked by Israeli forces, tells BBC Arabic that his hospital cannot help injured patients due to a “severe shortage of fuel, medical supplies, food, and water”, as well as destroyed infrastructure.

“The circumstances are catastrophic in every sense and require urgent international intervention to establish a humanitarian corridor, allowing specialized medical personnel to provide essential care for the injured,” Abu Safiya says.

Israel says the hospital had been used by Hamas - claims denied by local health officials – and that it detained about 100 "terrorists" at the hospital before withdrawing.

“Almost all medical staff were arrested, leaving only a few basic personnel - just one or two doctors to care for 150 patients,” Abu Safiya says, adding the hospital could no longer provide surgery and that ambulances were unable to function.

Image source, EPA

If you're just joining us, here a look back at the key developments so far today:

• Israel's parliament voted yesterday evening to expel UN agency Unrwa - which coordinates aid for Palestinians - from operating in its territory
• That decision has been met with an outcry from Israeli allies, including the US, UK and Germany, and from aid organisations that operate in the region
• It follows growing anger from Israel over what it believes are Unrwa's biased views towards it. Israel has accused Unrwa of employing Hamas operatives who played a role in the 7 October attacks
• Unrwa organises the majority of Gaza's humanitarian response, including providing access to food and water and to schooling. The agency's director says he is "not sure there is a plan B" for providing aid
• Separately, Israel carried out an airstrike on a residential building in northern Gaza, leaving at least 93 people killed or missing, and a unknown number trapped beneath the rubble

Rights groups are continuing to react to the news that Israel's parliament has voted to expel Unrwa from the country.

"This ban on Unwra's life-saving work in Israel is a reckless attack on humanitarian aid that will cost the lives of countless Palestinians.

"We strongly condemn the legislation, and stand in solidarity with Unrwa," Jamil Sawalmeh, country director for the Palestinian territories for the not-for-profit organisation ActionAid says in a joint press release with more than 50 aid groups.

"There is no viable alternative to Unrwa. With a mandate from the UN General Assembly, it provides crucial services such as education, healthcare and social support to millions of Palestinians who rely on these services for their daily survival," Sawalmeh adds.

Image source, Reuters

The head of the World Health Organization has described the decision by the Israeli parliament to ban Unrwa as "intolerable".

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that the move "contravenes Israel's obligations and responsibilities and threatens the lives and health of all those who depend on Unrwa".

In a post earlier this morning Ghebreyesus stressed the need for hospitals to be "shielded from conflict at all times", and called for an immediate ceasefire.

"Intensive military operations unfolding around and within healthcare facilities and a critical shortage of medical supplies, compounded by severely limited access, are depriving people of life saving care," Ghebreyesus wrote.

At least 43,061 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, the Hamas-run ministry of health in the territory says in its latest estimate, external.

It adds that 101,223 others have been injured.

What we can tell from Beit Lahia imagespublished at 13:03 Greenwich Mean Time 29 October

13:03 GMT 29 October

By Richard Irvine-Brown

Image source, Getty Images

We’ve been looking at images from news organisations on the ground in Beit Lahia, where more than 90 Palestinians have been reported killed or missing, trying to find exactly where this happened.

Cross-referencing photographs and videos from these, they were filmed on the southernmost block of the Akka road, in the most densely built-up area of Beit Lahia. Two videos show what appears to be 13 bodies wrapped in blankets there.

The position of a building at a 45 degree angle to the others, an oddity in the otherwise grid-lined neighbourhood, helped identify the street. Tiny details, like the shape of balconies and arches on buildings confirm these images are from the same spot.

However, they do not make clear which building was struck. With so much of the street and the neighbourhood already in ruins, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell.

We do know the position these agencies were filming is 325m from the site of a building collapse nine days ago, in which 87 people were reported killed; an incident which prompted the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process to say, “Nowhere is safe in Gaza”.

The Gaza health ministry says at least 93 Palestinians are killed and missing, external following an Israeli attack on a residential building in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

It says a number of people are a number of people still under the rubble, with ambulances and rescue services unable to reach them.

Gaza's civil defence agency says the number of people killed in the attack has risen to 93.

The Israeli military said it is "looking into the reports".