Israel's military has confirmed that it fired missiles at a Gaza tower block housing the offices of news outlets Al Jazeera and the Associated Press.

Israel said in a statement on Twitter that the building had housed "military assets" belonging to Hamas, which had used the occupants as "human shields".

The building - which contained other offices and apartments as well - was evacuated before the strike after a warning from Israeli authorities.

Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva

The UN human rights commissioner has warned both the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian armed groups that air strikes and rocket attacks on densely populated civilian areas - as well as the use of live ammunition by Israeli security forces against protesters - may amount to war crimes.

In a statement issued in Geneva, Michelle Bachelet called for an independent investigation into all allegations of violations of international law, and appealed for a de-escalation of the violence.

"Over the past 10 days, the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel has deteriorated at an alarming rate," she said.

"The situation in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem, triggered by threats of forced evictions of Palestinian families; the heavy presence of Israeli Security Forces and violence around the al Aqsa mosque during Ramadan; the severe escalation of attacks from and on Gaza; and the shocking incitement to racial hatred and violence in Israel have all led to vicious attacks and mounting casualties in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in Israel," added Bachelet.

She appealed directly to the Israeli government to take steps to stop the outbreak of violence between ultra-right wing groups, including Israeli settlers, and Palestinian citizens of Israel, in cities including Lod, Jaffa, Ramle and Haifa.

Bachelet said the violence appeared to be organised, adding that she was particularly concerned at reports that Israeli police failed to intervene when Palestinian citizens of Israel were being "violently attacked".

She also condemned what she described as "inflammatory rhetoric" from all sides which appeared "to be seeking to excite tensions rather than to calm them".

A tower block in Gaza, housing the offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera news outlets, has collapsed after being struck by an Israeli strike.

The building had been evacuated beforehand after the owner received a warning by Israel in advance of the attack, Reuters news agency says.

The tower block also contained a number of apartments and other offices.

Image source, Getty Images

• Thirteen people were killed as a result of Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to Palestinian health officials, raising the territory's death toll to 139
• Ten of the victims - including eight children - were members of an extended family whose a house was hit by an Israeli air strike at a refugee camp west of Gaza City, Palestinian officials say

• A man in his 50s died during a rocket attack in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan. He's the ninth person to be killed in Israel since fighting began
• Israeli officials reported about 200 rocket launches from Gaza overnight, with homes hit in the southern cities of Ashdod, Beersheba and Sderot
• Israel's air force said it struck a "large number" of rocket launch sites in Gaza as well as apartments belonging to Hamas operatives and the shaft of a Hamas tunnel beneath a hotel in northern Gaza
• A US envoy has arrived in Tel Aviv for de-escalation talks between the two sides. Hady Amr will take part in mediations with Israeli, Palestinian and UN officials to reinforce what US diplomats said was the need for a "sustainable calm"

Occupants of a high-rise building in Gaza - including media outlets - are being told to evacuate because the site will be bombed by the Israeli military within the hour, according to reports.

Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press (AP) both have offices in the building.

AP quoted the owner of the building, Jawwad Mahdi, as saying he was told to make sure all residents had left. He was told he had an hour to ensure the building was evacuated, AP reported.

The Israeli military has not commented.

Image source, Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Muhammad Hadidi, the father of four of the children killed in an Israeli air strike on the Shati refugee camp in Gaza, has lost almost everyone. His wife, Maha, and the children were staying with her brother when the building was hit.

His five-month-old baby, Omar, is said to be the only survivor, found trapped in the rubble next to his dead mother.

Hadidi wants "the unjust world to see these crimes", he told the AFP news agency, speaking outside Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

"They were safe in their homes, they did not carry weapons, they did not fire rockets," he said of his children, who were killed "wearing their clothes for Eid al-Fitr", the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

In total, the air strike killed 10 people from an extended family, including eight children, according to Palestinian officials in Gaza.

More now on today's fresh rocket strikes reported across central Israel. Israeli medics say a man in his 50s was killed when a rocket struck a building in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

Police quoted by the Times of Israel say the area was struck by two rockets and that several other people had been wounded.

Explosions have also been reported in Rishon Lezion and the Arab town of Taibe, near Tel Aviv, but it is not yet clear if there are casualties.

Since the conflict began this week, about 2,300 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza.

But about 90% of these rockets have been intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system, according to the Israeli military.

The Iron Dome, in operation since 2011, is specially designed to protect against a range of incoming short-range threats.

Considered among the most advanced defence systems in the word, it uses radar to identify and destroy incoming threats before they can cause damage.

Sirens are sounding in towns and cities across central Israel amid a fresh barrage of rockets from Gaza, Israeli media report.

One rocket is said to have struck a building in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

Witnesses report seeing several projectiles brought down by Israel's Iron Dome defence system.

Hamas said the rockets were a response to the deaths of 10 Palestinians in a refugee camp in Gaza.

Image source, AFP

As we reported earlier, diplomatic efforts are under way to end the fighting, and are likely to intensify following the arrival of US envoy Hady Amr.

But veteran Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi told the BBC she didn't hold much hope that Amr's involvement will lead to a stop in the fighting.

The Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry in Gaza has just updated the number of people who have died as a result of the conflict in the territory.

It's now saying that 139 people have been killed since Monday, including 39 children and 22 women. More than 1,000 people have been injured.

The Israeli military says dozens of militants have been killed in the conflict so far.

The fighting between Israel and Hamas was triggered by days of escalating clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at a holy hilltop compound in East Jerusalem.

The site is revered by both Muslims, who call it the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), and Jews, for whom it is known as the Temple Mount. Hamas demanded Israel remove police from there and the nearby predominantly Arab district of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families face eviction by Jewish settlers. Hamas launched rockets when its ultimatum went unheeded.

Palestinian anger had already been stoked by weeks of rising tension in East Jerusalem, inflamed by a series of confrontations with police since the start of Ramadan in mid-April.

It was further fuelled by Israel's annual celebration of its capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, known as Jerusalem Day.

The fate of the city, with its deep religious and national significance to both sides, lies at the heart of the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israel in effect annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 and considers the entire city its capital, though this is not recognised by the vast majority of other countries.

Palestinians claim the eastern half of Jerusalem as the capital of a hoped-for state of their own.

Image source, Reuters

In the Israeli city of Beersheba, 19 people have been taken to hospital after rockets were fired by militants in Gaza.

People were slightly hurt while running to shelters, and three suffered from shock, Israeli media report.

Sirens sounded throughout much of the area, sending residents running for shelter.

In Beersheba and Ashdod, buildings were struck by rockets. About 200 rockets were fired at Israeli cities during the night, according to the Israeli military.

Image source, Getty Images

Egypt has sent 10 ambulances into Gaza to pick up wounded Palestinians for treatment in Egyptian hospitals, medical officials say.

The ambulances entered the territory at the Rafah crossing, which is otherwise closed for five days over the Eid al-Fitr holiday and the weekend, and is due to reopen on Monday, according to Reuters news agency.

A further five ambulances have been deployed to enter Gaza later, and three Egyptian hospitals are ready to provide treatment, local sources and health officials say.

Officials in Gaza say about 950 people have been wounded in the territory since the start of the conflict on Monday.

Analysis: Both sides need to be able to say they've wonpublished at 10:00 British Summer Time 15 May 2021

10:00 BST 15 May 2021

Jeremy Bowen
BBC Middle East editor, Jerusalem

The end games in the wars between Hamas and Israel have followed a pattern since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Foreign mediators have thrashed out a variety of ceasefires. That's what the Americans, Egyptians, the UN and others are trying to do now.

For that to work, both sides need to be able to tell their people they've won.

Hamas will want to say that it is the real protector of Palestinian rights, not just in Gaza but also in the occupied West Bank including Jerusalem.

Israel will want to show its people that it has done serious damage to the Hamas infrastructure. A much used phrase is "restore deterrence". That means showing their enemies that hitting Israel will only bring pain and suffering.

Both sides will struggle to find words for bereaved families or traumatised children.

Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting are likely to intensify following the arrival of US envoy Hady Amr - we have more on that here.

Martin Indyk was the US ambassador to Israel and assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs during the Clinton administration, and told the BBC World Service there was a good chance the fighting will cease soon.

Indyk also thinks US President Joe Biden has put significant pressure on Israel.

Toby Luckhurst
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

As fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants escalates on the ground, TikTok has become a forum for airing tensions.

Once known primarily for viral dance trends, the video app has also become a key platform for sharing news.

The Chinese-owned site has a vast, mostly younger audience, with an estimated 700 million active monthly users worldwide.

Footage of rocket fire over Israel, destruction in Gaza and Palestinian protests have all gone viral on the site. It has brought the conflict to people's phone screens around the world.

But there are also concerns that it and other social media sites are spreading falsehoods or extremism.

Shaydanay Urbani works for First Draft News, an organisation set up to counter mis-and disinformation online.

"A lot of the things we have seen are old media taken out of context," she told the BBC. "[Stories] circulating from a totally different time and a totally different place."

Paul Adams
BBC diplomatic correspondent, Jerusalem

Palestinian officials in Gaza say at least seven members of two families were killed in an air strike which hit a building in a densely packed refugee camp along Gaza's coast.

A five-month-old baby is said to be the only survivor, found trapped in the rubble next to his dead mother.

The director of the health ministry in Gaza - a member of the militant group Hamas - called the attack a "massacre". The group's armed wing said it fired rockets into southern Israel in response.

Israeli officials report around 200 rocket launches overnight, with direct hits on apartments in the cities of Ashdod and Beersheba, but no casualties.

Today is the day when Palestinians commemorate what they call al-Nakba, or the catastrophe, when Israel came into being in 1948 and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were dispossessed.

After a day of violence in the West Bank on Friday, in which 11 Palestinians died in clashes with the Israeli army, the prospect for more trouble is very real.

Image source, Reuters

We're resuming our live coverage as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians enters a sixth day. Here are some of the latest developments:

• US envoy Hady Amr has arrived in Tel Aviv for de-escalation talks with Israeli, Palestinian and UN officials in the hope of agreeing on a ceasefire
• Early on Saturday, the Israeli military conducted air strikes in Gaza, and officials in the territory say seven people from two families were killed
• Hamas militants responded by firing more rockets at cities in southern Israel, but there were no reports of casualties
• At least 133 people have been killed in Gaza and eight have died in Israel since the fighting began
• This week's violence in Gaza and Israel is the worst since 2014