Image source, Getty Images

Our coverage is closing now but you can continue reading about the latest updates and analysis about the Israel-Gaza war here:

• Our Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen reflects on six months of conflict: Obstacles to peace seem larger than ever after six months of war
• BBC Verify assesses the evidence behind Israel's key war aim of destroying Hamas: Six months on, how close is Israel to eliminating Hamas?
• Israel says it will open a crossing to northern Gaza, where starvation is most acute, and will also open a major port. But how will the new the Erez and Ashdod Gaza aid routes work?

You can also read more on our Israel-Gaza war page here.

Today's live page was written by Lipika Pelham, Thomas Mackintosh and Jemma Crew, and edited by Alys Davies, Emily McGarvey and Jack Burgess.

Image source, EPA

Today marks half a year since the deadly 7 October Hamas attacks in Israel.

About 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 250 others taken hostage during the attacks.

An Israeli military campaign has followed, which has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Here are some of the latest developments as the world reflects on the last six months:

• Israel's military says it has declined the number of forces in southern Gaza in order to regroup and conduct preparations for its next stage in the war
• The US says Israel is likely trying to "rest and refit", and it is not necessarily indicative of any new operations

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is "one step away from victory" but adds there will be no ceasefire without the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas

• A new round of truce talks are set to begin in Egypt later today
• The World Food Programme has reiterated its warning of imminent famine in northern Gaza, and says children are dying of hunger

• Mourners have been attending the memorial site for those killed during the Nova music festival in the 7 October Hamas attacks, near the border with Gaza, in southern Israel

• UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has called on Hamas to release the remaining hostages, saying it is "utterly inhumane" to extend families' agony

After Hamas’s assault on Israel on 7 October, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country's aims in Gaza were the destruction of Hamas and the return of the hostages.

Some 253 hostages are thought to have been taken to Gaza from Israel last October and Hamas was thought to have about 30,000 fighters in Gaza. In a recent statement, the IDF said it had killed about 13,000 Hamas fighters since the start of the war, although it did not say how it calculated that figure.

Hamas is an Islamist group which is committed to the destruction of Israel and is designated as a terrorist group by the UK and many other countries.

Since Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza in an attempt to achieve its stated aims, at least 33,000 people have been killed, and tens of thousands injured by Israeli strikes, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, most of whom it said were women and children.

There’s been only one temporary ceasefire, at the end of November, during which over 100 hostages were released, but talks mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt have failed to bring about a permanent solution.

Israel wants a temporary pause in fighting and has said it will not end the war until Hamas is annihilated. Hamas is sticking to its demands of "a permanent ceasefire that would lead to a full withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes.

As we’ve been reporting, 253 people were taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October.

Of these, 109 have been released as part of prisoner exchanges or in separate deals and three have been rescued by the Israeli army.

About 130 remain unaccounted for, at least 34 of whom are presumed dead. The bodies of 12 hostages have been recovered, including three that the IDF admitted to accidentally killing in one of their operations.

The most recent of these was recovered yesterday, when the Israeli army announced it had returned the body of Elad Katzir from the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza.

Hamas says the number of dead hostages is higher than this as a result of IDF air strikes, but it is not possible to verify these allegations.

The two youngest hostages taken in the Hamas attacks were Ariel and Kfir, who were 4 years and 9 months old respectively at the time of their abduction. Their deaths have been reported, but not confirmed.

• The BBC has put together stories of those hostages who are still being held, which have either been confirmed by the BBC or credibly reported

Image source, Family handout

Khan Younis residents return home to extensive devastationpublished at 17:36 British Summer Time 7 April

17:36 BST 7 April

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

As the war in Gaza enters its seventh month, the hopes of over a million Palestinians in their last refuge in Rafah are growing to return to their homes in northern Gaza.

Muhammad al-Mughrabi, 32, from Gaza City, currently residing with his family in Rafah, expressed his optimism and hope. He told me: "Today, I am filled with hope as my neighbour in a tent from Khan Younis was able to return home.

"Despite knowing that my house was completely destroyed, I dream daily of returning to my hometown. I will set up a tent over the rubble of my house and live there with dignity, rather than being compelled to reside in the courtyard of a hospital."

Recently, thousands of displaced individuals have returned to their homes in Khan Younis, the second largest city in Gaza Strip, after Israeli forces announced it was declining its number of troops in the city.

Videos circulating on social media depict the extensive devastation in Khan Younis. Numerous buildings have been reduced to rubble, cars lie charred on the roadside, and there is widespread destruction of roads and infrastructure.

One video from al-Amal Hospital reveals collapsed walls, shattered windows, and the destruction of the emergency room, rendering the ICU units non-operational. As a result, the city is now devoid of a functional hospital.

Image source, EPA

As a reminder, it's six months to the day since Hamas fighters broke through from Gaza into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage on 7 October.

In response, Israel vowed to "crush and destroy Hamas" so that it no longer posed any threat, and to bring all the hostages home. Over 33,000 people have been killed during Israel's offensive in Gaza since then.

At the Nova music festival, which was taking place near Kibbutz Re’im, 364 young people were killed and 40 taken hostage.

In the days following the attack, the BBC pieced together the events at the festival using video, social media posts and facial recognition technology.

Footage revealed murder at point blank range, beatings and kidnappings, all being repeated over and over again.

It's impossible to know if Hamas fighters knew the festival was taking place at that location - but they would surely have heard the music reverberating across the quiet countryside.

We also know that, whether they found the site by accident or not, they came prepared to kill. Gili Yoskovich, who was among hundreds of young people at the festival, told BBC News how the militants "were everywhere with automatic weapons" and how she heard more weapons being unloaded from a van.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Israel publishes the names of individual Hamas leaders it says have been killed since 7 October. It has named 113 people since then, most who were reportedly killed in the first three months of the war.

The deputy leader of Hamas's military wing, Marwan Issa, was killed in a strike on a tunnel complex beneath Nuseirat refugee camp last month, the IDF confirmed.

Hamas political leader Saleh al-Arouri died in an explosion in Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiyeh in January - Israel is widely considered responsible for that attack.

Arouri was killed in a drone strike along with six others - two Hamas military commanders and four other members, Lebanese media reported.

White House official Jake Sullivan has said other Hamas leaders are believed to be in hiding, "likely deep in the Hamas tunnel network" in Gaza.

• Read more here

Image source, MEDIA SOURCES

Image source, EPA

Six months into the conflict, virtually the entire population of Gaza is dependent on food aid to survive.

At least 27 children are reported to have died as a result of malnutrition since October, according to the World Health Organization.

As we reported earlier, a recent UN-backed report offered evidence that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is turning into a man-made famine.

In March the BBC reported the story of Ali, a Palestinian baby boy who had recently died of malnutrition and dehydration at northern Gaza's only paediatrics hospital.

His father, who did not want to be named, told BBC Arabic's Gaza Lifeline radio service that "Ali was born during wartime and there was no food or anything for his mother to eat - a matter which caused his kidneys to fail".

Israel says it will open a crossing to northern Gaza, where starvation is most acute, and will also open its deep water port a short distance north of Gaza - but has not yet detailed how these routes will operate.

It follows the Israeli military's killing of seven aid workers on Monday, which prompted the US to tell Israel to prevent civilian harm and humanitarian suffering if it wanted to maintain US support.

The attack has intensified fears of famine. World Central Kitchen paused its operations in Gaza after the incident and four days later, no aid trucks had entered northern Gaza, residents told the BBC.

More aid from Jordan would also be allowed to enter via the Kerem Shalom Crossing in southern Gaza, Israel said.

• Read more about how the aid routes will work

Image source, .

British maritime security firm Ambrey says two vessels have been targeted off the Yemeni coast in an area where Houthi rebels have been attacking shipping.

The Houthis are an Iranian-backed rebel group which considers Israel an enemy.

The security monitoring company says one ship was attacked south-west of the Yemeni port city of Mukalla.

Earlier, it was reported that a projectile fell near a ship south-west of Yemen's port city of Aden.

The Iranian-backed rebel group says that in the last three days, it has launched rockets and drones against a British ship and two Israeli vessel heading to ports in Israel, and also at several US frigates in the Red Sea.

Six months on, Israel's allies are asking tough questionspublished at 16:29 British Summer Time 7 April

16:29 BST 7 April

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

From the very start of this war, Israel’s staunchest allies offered powerful and very public backing as it launched retaliatory strikes, vowing to destroy Hamas.

The 7 October attacks shattered Israel’s security and its sense of self. It says it’s a different country after the largest loss of Israeli lives in a single day, and the seizing of more than 250 hostages.

But six months on even Israel’s best friends, including the US and the UK, are asking tough questions about the way Israel is fighting this war.

Israel says it is doing everything it can to protect civilians, blaming Hamas for putting them in the line of fire by hiding inside densely-populated neighbourhoods.

But women and children, aid workers and journalists, are being killed in staggering numbers, breaking all records of recent wars.

There’s growing concern this grievous war will create new hatreds, and hostilities, in Gaza and far beyond. And there are louder calls for a ceasefire to ease suffering, bring hostages home, and search for solutions to resolve this intractable conflict.

Image source, FAMILY HANDOUT

Half a year on from the start of the Israel-Gaza war, the death toll in Gaza is rising day by day.

In the Israeli military campaign that followed the 7 October Hamas attacks more than 33,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, have been killed, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Alma Jaroor, 12, was buried under the rubble of a five-storey building for more than three hours after the building she was in was bombed.

Relatives say the building where they were sleeping was brought down by an Israeli air strike. The Israeli army told the BBC in March it could not comment on this claim without co-ordinates for the building.

Image source, FAMILY HANDOUT

Her entire immediate family were killed by her side - her parents Mohammed, 35, and Naeema, 38; brothers Ghanem, 14, Kinan, 6, and Tarazan, 18 months; and sister Reehab, 11.

"We were happy together as a family," Alma told the BBC last month, speaking from Rafah where she was sheltering with her uncle and his family.

On 7 October, the BBC’s Middle East bureau chief Jo Floto received a text from a correspondent in Gaza saying: “They’ve started a war.”

In the six months since then, Floto has co-ordinated the BBC’s coverage of this unprecedented conflict from his office in Jerusalem.

In an episode of The Global Story podcast, he tells Katya Adler what it has been like for his team, professionally and personally, and how he sees the war unfolding in the months to come.

• It is available here on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts

Israel's troop reduction may not presage any major changepublished at 15:47 British Summer Time 7 April

15:47 BST 7 April

Sebastian Usher
Middle East analyst, in Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

On the surface, Israel's announcement that it has pulled all but one brigade out of southern Gaza would seem to suggest a noteworthy shift in the Israeli army's strategy there. But it may not presage any major change.

Israel has previously withdrawn other troops when their military objective is judged to have been completed.

An army statement said the 98th commando division had left Gaza in order to "recuperate and prepare for future operations". The military stressed that a "significant force" remains in Gaza, with the ability to preserve the Israel Defense Forces' "freedom of action".

That sends a message that the pull-out is tactical and does not suggest the war may be moving closer to its end. But a military operation that focuses on narrower targets may lessen the likelihood of heavy civilian casualties.

That is something that Israel's closest and most powerful ally, the US, has been applying increasing pressure on the Israeli government to do.

The US would certainly be extremely concerned if the move proved to be related to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's repeatedly stated intention to mount an operation against Hamas in the southernmost Gazan town of Rafah, where more than one million displaced Palestinians have taken refuge.

Image source, Yuri Gripas/ABACA/EPA

The Israeli military's regrouping of its troops in southern Gaza appears to be a "rest and refit" move, and is not necessarily indicative of any new operations, White House national security spokesman John Kirby says.

Asked about the reduction in troops in an interview with ABC News, Kirby says Israeli troops have been on the ground for months and the understanding is that they are getting tired.

He adds that it's hard to know exactly what the IDF move tells us.

Earlier, an Israeli military official told the BBC that Israel had reduced the number of its forces in southern Gaza as it prepares for further operations.

Image source, EPA

The UK's foreign secretary has posted a video on X, external to acknowledge the six months of the Israel-Gaza war, and reiterates calls for Hamas to release "every one" of the hostages it holds.

Lord David Cameron recalls meeting family members of many hostages, and says, "they are showing incredible courage in the most unimaginably difficult circumstances".

"It is utterly inhumane to extend their agony," he adds.

Earlier, Cameron insisted the UK's support for Israel "is not unconditional", days after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers in Gaza.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Cameron said: "We expect such a proud and successful democracy to abide by international humanitarian law, even when challenged."

Israel's military has announced the deaths of four more of its soldiers in Gaza.

It says they were ambushed by Hamas gunmen in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip's largest city.

The Israeli government says 604 of its soldiers have killed in conflict since 7 October.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid tribute and named them in an address as Cpt Ido Baruch, Sgt Amitai Even Shoshan, Sgt Reef Harush and Sgt Ilai Zair.

A UN-backed report , externalsays Gaza is facing a man-made famine.

It says a number of children have starved to death in northern Gaza where it is especially difficult to deliver aid, which has been entering the territory from the south.

Last week, under pressure from the US, Israel said it would open a northern aid route into Gaza, to allow more aid in and alleviate the hunger.

The entire enclave is suffering severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine, the UN says.

Aid agencies say Israeli security checks on aid going into Gaza are complex and arbitrary, while Israel denies impeding aid and says agencies are failing to distribute the goods that are allowed in.

Gaza's health system is in a state of collapse and hospitals have been repeatedly attacked by the Israeli military, which says it has been targeting Hamas gunmen using the facilities as cover.

• Read more here

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Gaza's largest hospital al-Shifa has been reduced to ashes by Israel's latest siege, leaving what it describes as an "empty shell" with many bodies.

The head of WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been posting on social media, external and says a team, who were visiting the site on Friday, have seen "at least five dead bodies during the mission".

The WHO chief goes on to say an "in-depth assessment by a team of engineers is needed" to work out "if the remaining buildings are safe for future use".

"WHO and partners’ recent effort to support the revival of basic services at Al-Shifa are now lost, and people are once again deprived of access to lifesaving health care services," he adds.

Dr Tedros also reiterates international calls for a ceasefire and the protection of what is left of the medical facilities in Gaza.

During a raid of the hospital last month, the IDF said it killed 200 "terrorists", including a senior commander of Hamas's internal security force, while in November, the IDF said it had found tunnels used by Hamas underneath al-Shifa.

Correction 17 April: This post originally reported that the IDF said it killed 20 “terrorists” in a raid of al-Shifa hospital last month, and has been amended to make clear the number was 200.

The Israeli military says a gunman has opened fire on vehicles on a highway in the West Bank, injuring a 19-year-old Israeli soldier.

The female soldier was “severely injured” and a civilian lightly hurt when a gunman left a car and fired on vehicles before fleeing, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says.

Ground troops and an aircraft are in the area to pursue the gunman, the IDF adds.

There has been a rise in violence in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war six months ago.

At least 459 Palestinians and 17 Israeli soldiers and civilians have been killed there since 7 October, according to AFP news agency, citing the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.