Adam Goldsmith
Live reporter

Image source, EPA

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighs up a decision on the future of Gaza, the shortage of food and water continues inside the territory, according to the UN.

Overnight, twenty people were killed and dozens injured after four trucks overturned in Central Gaza, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency.

It is unclear exactly what caused the trucks to topple, but Gaza's civil defence agency says the area was under Israeli military control, with drivers losing control on uneven roads as desperate crowds appear to have sought aid.

Israel says it's looking into the incident, and Cogat - the Israeli military's aid body - is yet to comment.

Aid continues to fall from the sky into Gaza; the Israel Defense Forces say 107 packages were airdropped this morning.

But aid agencies say this doesn't deliver the volume required, and UN experts have also called for the distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to be dismantled as another 87 people were reportedly killed seeking aid - according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Tomorrow, Netanyahu will convene a military cabinet, where he is expected to push for a total Israeli reoccupation of Gaza - our digital middle east editor has more on what that could involve.

It won't be a simple choice, though. The country's army chief and other military leaders reportedly oppose the strategy, and a UN official has warned of "catastrophic consequences" if Israel expands its military operation.

We're ending our live coverage here for now, but we'll be sure to keep our news story up to date with any developments.

How the IDF manages military control of Gazapublished at 15:12 British Summer Time 6 August

15:12 BST 6 August

By Paul Brown

A senior United Nations official has expressed serious concerns about Israel potentially expanding its military operations in Gaza, following reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing to resume occupation of the entire territory.

"This would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and could further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza," said assistant secretary general Miroslav Jenča at a meeting of the UN Security Council yesterday.

Israel already asserts military control over the vast majority of the Strip, with the UN estimating that 87% of Gaza is either a designated military zone, or subject to evacuation notices.

After the breakdown of the ceasefire in March, Israel declared all border areas to be "dangerous combat zones" which have gradually expanded over the months that followed.

Periodically, the IDF also issues evacuation notices for certain areas, although it is not always made clear when these are rescinded.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapir says he has warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that fully occupying Gaza is a "very bad idea".

It comes after reports that Netanyahu will propose fully reoccupying the entirety of Gaza.

Lapir said in post on X he had met with the Israeli PM and told him: "The majority of the people are not behind you, the people of Israel are not interested in this war. We will pay a heavy price for it."

Tom Joyner
Live reporter

From the window of his apartment in central Gaza, Anas Al-Masry has spotted the silhouettes of parachutes dropping food from the sky.

But he's never been close enough to get his hands on any. Within a couple of hours, he sees the same parcels of aid for sale at local markets.

"The problem is that the packages are sold at crazy prices," he tells me. "This requires cash, and cash is also not generally available in Gaza."

In order to buy cash with funds in his bank account, he says, vendors charge a 55% fee, which he simply cannot afford.

What little cash he has left, he instead uses to buy food to feed his two young children.

His apartment in Deir al Balah is in one of the last remaining areas where Israeli forces do not claim full military control.

"The days are very exhausting in Gaza, but we are waiting for this war to stop."

In recent hours, 107 aid packages, including food, have been air dropped into Gaza by five countries, Israel's military says.

It says this is in coordination with the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Germany, Belgium and France, and is a continuation of a "series of actions to improve the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip".

Aid agencies have consistently said air drops are unable to deliver the volume needed, while the falling crates can cause injury and chaos on the ground.

They recently warned that the focus on air drops into Gaza is a "grotesque distraction" that will not reverse the territory's deepening starvation crisis.

Image source, Reuters

A group of United Nations (UN) experts have called for a controversial aid system in Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to be scrapped.

In a press release, they say the GHF - which is backed by the US and Israel - is an "utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law".

Since late May, the GHF has been responsible for running aid distribution sites in Gaza. In that time, it says it has distributed nearly 100 million meals.

But the UN says that at least 859 people have been killed around GHF sites since the beginning of its operations and label the organisation "an insult to the humanitarian enterprise and standards".

As a result, the experts say that "humanitarian assistance must be restored by dismantling the GHF" and suggest that "experienced and humanitarian actors from the UN and civil society" should take over the role of distributing aid in Gaza.

Verified video shows explosion near UN clinic in Gazapublished at 13:47 British Summer Time 6 August

13:47 BST 6 August

We have authenticated a video showing an explosion near a clinic run by the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) in northern Gaza following a reported Israeli air strike overnight.

In the video, a loud explosion is heard and a fireball lights up the area behind a building with a communications mast on the roof.

We have matched the distinctive building in the footage, which has a slightly curved front facade, to images available online of the Sheikh Radwan Clinic in the al-Maqousi area west of Gaza City.

Pictures uploaded online show the building before it suffered any damage and the name Sheikh Redwan Health Center can be seen on the wall in English and Arabic along with the UN crest.

We have done a reverse image search of key frames from the video to be sure it is recent.

The Reuters news agency has since been to the scene and taken photographs of the aftermath of the strike.

• Follow live updates from BBC Verify on Gaza and more

Image source, Reuters

People in Gaza are continuing to queue for water, while air drops of humanitarian aid have been taking place across the territory.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Doctors at a hospital in central Gaza say they’re struggling to deal with the number of casualties brought in since last night - after reports of lorries overturning onto Palestinians.

A local transport association said 26 lorries were carrying goods for Gazan merchants – after Israel agreed to allow private imports for the first time in months.

Crowds of desperate people and local gangs appear to have surrounded the convoy as it travelled on a badly damaged road - with one report saying that a rocket-propelled grenade was fired.

Four drivers are said to have lost control of their lorries and their vehicles overturned – crushing people.

The UN says there are still massive food shortages in Gaza, blaming Israeli policies and the general lawlessness for difficulties picking up aid from crossings. Israel blames the UN for distribution failures.

We're still trying to find out more details about a reported incident involving trucks overturning in Gaza - and our colleagues over at BBC Verify are looking into video purportedly showing the aftermath of the incident.

A little earlier the Hamas-run government media office said a truck carrying food "overturned" on a crowd in the central Gaza Strip, killing 20 Palestinians and injuring dozens.

Since then, the Hamas-run civil defence agency has released a statement reporting that the total number of commercial trucks overturned was four - something it says is due to rugged and dangerous roads.

A local transport association said 26 lorries were carrying goods for Gazan merchants – after Israel agreed to allow private imports for the first time in months.

As a reminder, the Israeli government does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza to report freely.

The BBC has asked for comment from Cogat, the Israeli military body which oversees the entry of aid into Gaza.

A further 138 people were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in the last 24 hours, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says, bringing the total death toll since the start of the war to 61,158.

The ministry says 771 injured people arrived in Gaza's hospitals in the past day and a number of victims remain under the rubble as ambulances and Gaza's civil defence crews cannot reach them.

Also in their latest update, the health ministry went on to outline the number of casualties and fatalities of those seeking aid.

It says 87 people were killed while trying to get aid, and 570 others were injured.

The founder of the Gaza Soup Kitchen - which provides food to people in the Strip - tells the BBC that his organisation "can do very little" to support people in Gaza right now.

Speaking to the BBC's Newsday, Hani Almadhoun says the aid they can provide isn't sufficient for young families. "Even if we get them a soup, it's not like the kid will have the soup", he says.

He says many new mothers and parents are not eating well and having a hard time sourcing supplies for their children.

"You can imagine a mum with a baby trying to chase an airdrop food package, and the dangers and risks if she does that," he says.

"She won't be able to do that, and then the people who grab the aid go sell it for a buck or two," he adds.

Almadhoun goes on to criticise Israel's methods of getting aid into the territory, calling airdrops a "theatrical production", saying much more aid could reach Gazans if trucks were allowed in freely.

Israel has previously insisted there are no restrictions on deliveries and that there is "no starvation" in Gaza.

Image source, Ramez Habboub/GocherImagery/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Malak Hassouneh
Reporting from Jerusalem

A spokesman for the Hamas-run civil defence agency in Gaza, Mahmoud Basal says 20 people were killed and more than 30 injured when four trucks overturned on Tuesday evening.

He says that the area was under Israeli military control and that the roads were rugged and dangerous.

Local journalists say the incident occurred southeast of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza at just after 22:00 local time (20:00 BST) last night.

Crowds reportedly moved towards the trucks, climbing on top, causing the drivers to lose control on the uneven roads.

The spokesman for the private transport association in Gaza, Jehad Isleim, says 26 commercial trucks entered Gaza yesterday. Twenty made it through safely while six were looted, they say.

Four of those were overturned and 10 drivers were injured, they add.

The Israeli military tells the news agency AFP it is looking into the reports, and the BBC has asked for comment from Cogat, the Israeli military body which oversees the entry of aid into Gaza.

On Tuesday, Israel announced that it would start to allow food to enter the Strip through the private sector "to increase the volume of aid entering the Gaza Strip, while reducing reliance on aid collection by the United Nations and international organisations".

Video shows apparent aftermath of deadly Gaza food truck incidentpublished at 10:49 British Summer Time 6 August

10:49 BST 6 August

By Joshua Cheetham

Back now to reports from Gaza's Hamas-run government media office, which says that 20 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured overnight when a truck carrying food "overturned" on a crowd.

We’re currently analysing a video that purportedly shows the aftermath of this incident, which is said to have happened around midnight local time (22:00 BST).

The footage is too graphic to share here but several bodies are visible and at least one large vehicle. At two different points we can see bodies apparently under the wheels.

There isn't a moment in the video that clearly shows an overturned vehicle. The footage appears to have been filmed at night, but the exact location is unclear.

The earliest version we’ve been able to find online was published by the Palestinian-run Quds News Network.

• You can follow the work of our colleagues at BBC Verify in their live page here

Raffi Berg
Middle East digital editor

Image source, Getty Images

As we’ve been reporting, the UN has warned of "catastrophic consequences" if Israel expands its Gaza operations, following reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will propose fully reoccupying the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military says it currently controls about 75% of Gaza - territory containing most of the almost entirely displaced population of 2.1 million. These areas are mostly in the north and south.

Full military occupation would require sending in tens of thousands more troops to take over the rest of Gaza, including the coastal strip, the central region and the capital, Gaza City.

The coast includes al-Mawasi - an Israel-designated civilian "safe zone" where up to about half a million Palestinians are sheltering in overcrowded and harsh conditions. Military action in more areas would inevitably uproot many more Palestinians.

It would also involve pushing into remaining Hamas strongholds, including areas where hostages are believed to be held.

Families fear this could increase the chance that hostages will be killed by their captors. Last August six hostages were found killed, believed to have been shot shortly before the IDF reached their location.

As far as the UN is concerned, Gaza was already under Israeli occupation, even without a military presence on the ground, before the invasion which followed Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

It says the occupation begun in 1967 and did not end when Israel pulled all its troops and settlers out of the territory in 2005, because Israel kept control over Gaza's air space, coastal waters and shared border.

Image source, Reuters

The group that represents families of many Israeli hostages says Israel’s government is on the verge of making a decision that could bring "disaster" to those still held captive by Hamas.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has strongly opposed the Gaza reoccupation plan since it was first reported earlier this week, warning that expanding the war will endanger the lives of the hostages and “guarantee” failure.

In a social media post last night, the group shared pictures of protestors on the streets of Israel, where it says thousands came together to pressure the government to reach a ceasefire-hostage release agreement.

Netanyahu grappling with divisions at top of government and militarypublished at 10:02 British Summer Time 6 August

10:02 BST 6 August

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting yesterday with senior security officials, a day after media reports quoting an unnamed Israeli official - widely believed to be Netanyahu himself - suggested that the prime minister had already made a decision to expand the military operation in Gaza and fully occupy the territory, where two million Palestinians live.

According to Israeli media, there was a tense exchange between Netanyahu and the army’s chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, who is against the idea of fully occupying Gaza.

Kan Radio reports Zamir told the meeting that the “complete conquest of the Gaza Strip was tantamount to walking into a trap and would endanger the lives of the hostages and the troops”.

This is another suggestion of the divisions between Israel’s political and military leaders. For some time, the military leadership has been saying that their job in Gaza is done as Hamas no longer poses a threat as an organised military force.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

The families of the hostages have reacted angrily to reports of a possible expansion of military activities, which will probably see the military entering parts of Gaza where the hostages are believed to be held. They say that the government’s strategy of putting military pressure on Hamas has failed to guarantee their release, and time is running out to save the 20 hostages thought to be alive.

Polls suggest the vast majority of the Israeli public favour a deal with Hamas and the end of the war. Many here believe that Netanyahu is prolonging the conflict to guarantee the survival of his coalition, which relies on the support of ultranationalist ministers who have threatened to quit the government if there is any deal with Hamas.

Image source, Reuters

It is not clear if full occupation means a short-term operation or a long-term takeover. The speculation could also be part of a strategy to put pressure on Hamas to make concessions in stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

But ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have publicly defended expelling Palestinians from Gaza - which could amount to the forced displacement of civilians, a war crime - and resettling it with Jews.

Image source, Reuters

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz says the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will follow the government’s orders, regardless of its top official's opinion on plans to expand its operations in Gaza.

It comes after IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir reportedly opposed politicians over plans to take full control of the Gaza Strip.

He is said to have warned the prime minister that expanding Israel’s military occupation would put the remaining Israeli hostages in danger and exhaust the army.

In a social media post, Katz says it is Zamir’s “right and duty to express his position in the appropriate forums".

But after Israel's political leaders make decisions, the IDF will carry them out "with determination and professionalism,” he says.

In its latest update, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says it has recorded five deaths as a result of malnutrition in the last 24 hours.

It says this brings the total number of deaths due to "famine and malnutrition" in the Gaza Strip to 193, including 96 children.

Gaza's Hamas-run government media office says 20 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured overnight when a truck carrying food "overturned" on a crowd.

In a statement, it alleges Israel "forced" the truck to "enter via unsafe routes" that had been damaged by bombing.

The incident happened around midnight near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal tells the AFP news agency.

The Israeli military tells AFP it is looking into the reports, and the BBC has asked for comment from Cogat, the Israeli military body which oversees the entry of aid into Gaza.

The latest figures from the UN indicate more than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since late May.

The Israeli government does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza to report freely on the situation there.