As we've just reported, the UK and more than 20 other nations say the "suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths".

Our colleagues at the World Service have been speaking to sick children at the Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.

One 17-year-old says the hospital is unable to even provide food to its patients, leading to him suffering from severe malnutrition.

He was told by a doctor it is difficult to perform surgery on him because his wounds are not healing properly due to the lack of food.

"He said I need to eat, but how? I can’t even get a piece of bread. I’m not asking for meat or anything expensive. I’m only asking for a piece of bread. That’s all."

One mother at the hospital tells us her son has dropped in weight from 40kg (88lb) to just 10kg.

She says he needs to be treated in intensive care, but Shifa hospital cannot provide the care he needs.

"Right now, there is no fish, no meat, not even milk for the children of Gaza—not just for my son.

"Because of the closure of the crossings, Gaza’s children have become trapped by hunger."

A 15-year-old girl at Shifa says there is a "severe and devastating famine in Gaza" - where a single kilogram of rice now costs more than $75 (£56).

The girl, who had to have her arm amputated, says that if she had access to enough food she would already have left hospital. Instead, she adds, malnutrition has slowed her healing and led to other serious heath problems.

"I’m supposed to be a child, but sadly my childhood has been stolen from me here in Gaza."

Image source, EPA

We've just had a statement from the UK and more than 20 other countries calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza.

Here's the statement from the UK Foreign Office in full:

We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now. The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.

The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.

We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.

The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law. The hostages cruelly held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023 continue to suffer terribly. We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release.

A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families. We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs [non-governmental organisations] to do their life-saving work safely and effectively. We call on all parties to protect civilians and uphold the obligations of international humanitarian law.

Proposals to remove the Palestinian population into a “humanitarian city” are completely unacceptable. Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law. We strongly oppose any steps towards territorial or demographic change in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The E1 settlement plan announced by Israel’s civil administration, if implemented, would divide a Palestinian state in two, marking a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution.

Meanwhile, settlement building across the West Bank including east Jerusalem has accelerated while settler violence against Palestinians has soared. This must stop. We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.

Further bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this. We are prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region.

This statement has been signed by: The foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Plus the EU commissioner for equality, preparedness and crisis management.

Laila Ezzat al Shana, a displaced Palestinian who was in Deir al-Balah, tells the BBC shots were fired in very close proximity to her.

"It's a miracle to stay alive," she says.

Asked if she's been able to get any food, Laila says no aid is getting into the territory and food is very expensive.

Deir al-Balah resident Abdullah Abu Saleem shared his ordeal following overnight shelling in the city.

In an interview with AFP news agency, the 48-year-old says he heard "huge and powerful explosions shaking the area as if it were an earthquake".

Saleem says he is "extremely worried and fearful that the army is planning a ground operation in Deir al-Balah and the central camps where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering".

On Sunday, the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for civilians in Deir al-Balah, urging them to move towards al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast.

Hamdi Abu Mughseeb, 50, tells AFP that he and his family fled northwards from their tent south of Deir al-Balah at dawn following a night of intense artillery shelling.

"We saw tanks advancing over a kilometre from the (southern) Khan Yunis direction toward the southeast of Deir al-Balah," he says, adding: "There is no safe place anywhere in the Gaza Strip... I don't know where we can go."

Experts have warned that more than 1.5 million people in Gaza, two thirds of the pre-war population, are at risk of severe malnutrition or starvation until at least October.

In a recent report, the IPC - a body which specialises in global food security - says "goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks".

Nearly 500,000 people are considered to be facing "catastrophe", the IPC's most severe classification. An additional 1.1 million are in an "emergency" risk category, the second highest on the scale.

The warning comes as the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, says it has more than three months of food for Gaza's population "stockpiled in warehouses" just outside the border in Israel. "The suffering in Gaza is manmade and must be stopped," UNRWA adds.

The agency's statement comes hours after the Gaza health ministry said 19 people had died of starvation in the last 24 hours.

Israel controls the flow of aid into Gaza and currently allows a limited amount to be distributed at US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites. There have been multiple reports of guards stationed there opening fire on Gazans seeking aid.

Prior to the GHF sites being introduced, Israel had blocked any aid from entering Gaza for 11 weeks.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Israeli tanks have advanced into the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for the first time, with local doctors reporting several people there have been killed by shelling.

Footage shows Israeli air strikes in Deir al-Balah.

The Israeli military has previously avoided a major ground operation in the area – where it’s said to believe some remaining hostages may be held by Hamas.

There’s been no immediate comment from the army about its advances – a day after it issued evacuation warnings for tens of thousands of residents.

The UN and other aid agencies say the military orders in Deir al-Balah affect key humanitarian operations.

An official from the Hamas-run health ministry says at least 19 Palestinians have died from hunger in Gaza in the past 24 hours.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's what we know so far about today's events in Gaza:

• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has launched an air and ground operation on Deir al-Balah
• It is the first time since the war broke out in October 2023 that the area of central Gaza has been targeted by IDF ground forces
• Thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering in Deir al-Balah, where Israeli hostages are also assumed to be held
• Israeli tanks and armoured military vehicles entered the area early this morning, alongside waves of artillery and air strikes
• Attacks are also being carried out elsewhere in Gaza, including air strikes on Gaza City - where one strike was caught on camera

• The escalation comes as more and more cases of starvation in Gaza are being reported, with one official from the Hamas-run health ministry saying 19 people have died of hunger in the last day
• The total death toll since the war began has risen to over 59,000, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says - Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to 251 others being taken hostage

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says 59,029 people have been killed and over 142,000 injured in the Strip since Israel launched its offensive against Hamas on 7 October 2023.

Approximately 130 people have been killed and over 1,000 injured in the past 24 hours, it says.

It adds that a number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, with ambulance and civil defence teams unable to reach them.

We've just been getting some pictures from Deir al-Balah, which shows smoke billowing into the air after Israeli air strikes.

The ground incursion in the central Gazan city marks a change in stance from the Israeli military, as it has been largely spared from a major ground operation in the 21 months of war against Hamas.

There are more buildings still standing than in other parts of the Strip and there have been functioning medical points, drinking water from the desalination plant and waste disposal systems.

Below are some of the latest images:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

On a near daily basis, we see desperate Palestinians getting killed while they are trying to get food for themselves and for their families.

Yesterday in the north of the Gaza Strip, a large crowd of people waiting for UN's food aid lorries to come in managed to stop one of those lorries and make off with flour.

Witnesses say they held their hands in the air when Israeli soldiers started firing at them, but the fire continued.

The World Food Programme (WFP) says snipers and tank fire were involved.

But the Israeli military disputes these accounts. It says its forces felt an immediate threat and fired warning shots. It has shared some footage that showed its soldiers standing by while a big crowd of Palestinians appeared to be surrounding an aid lorry that had been stripped of its supplies.

At least 67 people were killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

According to the WFP, nearly one in three people in the Gaza Strip are now going for days at a time without getting any food.

The Gazan health ministry, run by Hamas, has said that at least 19 people, including children, have died from hunger in the past day.

The grim scenes we saw yesterday followed on from the ones we saw a day earlier, when more than 30 people were killed close to a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site in southern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Update 22 July: This post was updated to add the source for the numbers killed. The BBC cannot independently verify the death toll as it is not allowed into Gaza to report freely

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Deir al-Balah is one of the few parts of Gaza where Israel has not conducted a major ground operation in 21 months of war against Hamas.

Because of that, tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have remained crammed in the city, alongside locals.

There are more buildings still standing than in other parts of the Strip and there have been functioning medical points, drinking water from the desalination plant and waste disposal systems.

The UN and other humanitarian agencies relocated key parts of their operations to Deir al-Balah from Rafah after Israeli forces entered the very south of the Gaza Strip over a year ago.

One of the reasons why Israeli sources say there was not previously an army incursion of Deir al-Balah was because of concerns about the presence of Israeli hostages held there by Hamas.

It is not clear what might have changed the military’s thinking.

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a British charity, says the intensity of challenges in Gaza are "beyond description".

The charity's communications officer says the situation in Deir al-Balah is "extremely critical" and shelling is taking place all around their office.

Military vehicles, Mai Elawawda says, "are just 400 metres away from our colleagues and their families, who endured a harrowing night after relocating there".

Everyone is evacuating, Elawawda explains, adding that most people are unsure where they should go next.

"One colleague shared that the area is filled with shelling and quadcopter strikes, and there’s growing fear about both staying and attempting to leave," she says.

While we've been reporting Israel's ground assault in Deir al-Balah, the IDF is also continuing to strike other areas of Gaza.

These images show the moment a building was hit this morning in Gaza City, the major city in the north of the Strip.

Image source, BBC/Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

Local residents are describing what they say is the worst famine in Gaza’s history, with most markets closed due to the acute shortage of food.

"My children cry from hunger all night," Mohammad Emad al-Din, a father of two who works as a barber in Gaza, tells the BBC.

"They’ve had only a small plate of lentils over the past three days. There’s no bread. A kilo of flour was $80 (£59) a week ago. I had to stop working after my salon’s solar panels were damaged in an air strike."

Residents blame the worsening situation on Israeli restrictions, saying not enough food supplies are being allowed into the territory, deepening the humanitarian crisis.

Figures released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef show alarming levels of child malnutrition.

In May alone, over 5,000 children under the age of five were treated for acute malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 600 with severe acute malnutrition a life-threatening condition.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned last week that Gaza is facing famine-like conditions across the entire territory, citing critical access restrictions, food shortages, and market collapse.

Image source, Reuters

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

At least 19 Palestinians have died from hunger in the past 24 hours in Gaza, according to an official from the Hamas-run health ministry

Dr Khalil al-Daqran, spokesperson for al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, tells the BBC that the situation in Gaza’s hospitals has become critical.

"Nineteen people, including children, have died of hunger," he says.

"Hospitals can no longer provide food for patients or staff, many of whom are physically unable to continue working due to extreme hunger."

He adds that even basic items like infant formula are no longer available.

"Hospitals cannot provide a single bottle of milk to children suffering from hunger, because all baby formula has run out from the market."

Image source, Getty Images

The UN's under-secretary-general for its humanitarian office, Ocha, says the head of the branch's Palestinian Territories arm is in Deir al-Balah and intends to stay there.

"Just spoken to Jonathan Whittall," Tom Fletcher wrote on X late on Sunday night, external. "He’s in Deir el Balah, Gaza, with Israeli air strikes intensifying."

He said Whittall was "surrounded by our team, and civilians we stay to help," while praising the "exceptional courage and integrity" of the Ocha team. "They are best of UN. And all of us."

Image source, Getty Images

As we've reported, the Israeli military yesterday issued evacuation orders for Deir al-Balah, where it has not launched a ground offensive during its 21 months of war against Hamas.

The IDF said people should evacuate immediately and move towards al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast.

The military's Arabic language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said Israel was "expanding its activities" in Deir al-Balah, including "in an area where it has not operated before".

Pictures showed hundreds of people fleeing with their belongings.

Image source, Getty Images

The UN's humanitarian office, Ocha, said the displacement order issued by the Israeli military on Sunday - before today's assault began - was "yet another devastating blow" to humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

It said there were dozens of important resources such as humanitarian warehouses, medical clinics and critical water infrastructure in Deir al-Balah.

"Any damage to this infrastructure will have life-threatening consequences," it warned.

The new order "cuts through Deir al-Balah... further splintering the Strip," Ocha said, adding that it will limit the ability of its humanitarian teams to move safely and effectively in Gaza.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

The Israeli military's evacuation order on Sunday caused widespread panic among tens of thousands of Palestinians.

The affected neighbourhoods of Deir al-Balah are crowded with displaced people living in tents.

The order also alarmed the families of Israeli hostages – with a number of those still held captive by Hamas assumed to be in the area.

They fear that an Israeli attack could endanger their loved ones.

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent, reporting from Istanbul

Israeli forces have launched a ground and air assault on the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, prompting fresh waves of displacement among civilians already uprooted by the ongoing conflict.

The operation began early on Monday, just hours after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings to residents of six residential blocks in the south-western part of the city.

The area is currently packed with thousands of displaced people from Rafah and Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

Local journalists told the BBC that Israeli tanks and military vehicles pushed into the city from the Kisufim checkpoint under heavy artillery and air cover.

Dozens of shells reportedly struck the Abu al-‘Ajin and Hikr al-Jami’ neighbourhoods, as ground forces moved in.

Footage shared on social media showed flashes of explosions and the sound of sustained gunfire as Israeli troops advanced.

Thousands of residents fled the city overnight towards the coastal area of al-Mawasi, near Khan Younis, which has become one of the few remaining zones of relative refuge in southern Gaza.

There are growing fears among local residents that the latest military push could be part of an effort to carve out a new corridor that would isolate Deir al-Balah from the surrounding central Gaza region.

If confirmed, this would be the third such axis, following the establishment of Israeli military routes through the Netzarim corridor in southern Gaza City and the Morag axis in Rafah.

The BBC has asked the Israeli military for comment.