German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for an end to the violence as soon as possible while speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

However, she expressed Germany's "solidarity" with Israel in the conflict.

"The chancellor again sharply condemned the continued rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel and assured the prime minister of the German government's solidarity," her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said. "She reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself against the attacks."

The statement added that given the civilian casualties on both sides, Merkel "expressed her hope that the fighting will end as soon as possible".

Paul Adams
BBC diplomatic correspondent, Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

Israel is not done in Gaza. There’s every sign that its military strikes will continue for some time.

Officials describe a phased series of attacks, with the overall aim of destroying as much of Hamas’s infrastructure and manpower as possible in the time available.

And how much time is available?

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, tweeted last night that “the violence must end immediately".

But President Joe Biden has so far backed Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that Israel has the right to defend itself.

And the US has blocked efforts at the UN Security Council to issue a statement calling on Israel to stop.

Mr Netanyahu knows that he still has time to achieve more in Gaza, provided Israel can avoid killing too many more civilians.

Last night’s strikes, while heavy, don’t appear to have killed anyone, except a senior commander from the other militant organisation based in Gaza, Islamic Jihad.

But as many as 40,000 civilians have been forced from their homes by the fighting, and the UN is warning of a worsening humanitarian situation.

The clock is ticking.

A former top US advisor on the Middle East, Dennis Ross, has said the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians "is not a conflict that anybody on the outside can resolve".

Ross spoke to the BBC's Newshour programme after the US called for an immediate end to the violence.

"There are outside parties like the United States that can play a role in helping to ameliorate conflict, can... create a context for a diplomatic approach that an not just ameliorate it, but resolve it over time," he said.

"But, ultimately, responsibility resides with the Israelis and Palestinians alike."

Overnight air raids in Gaza are reported to have been some of the heaviest so far. The Israeli military said it had targeted the homes of Hamas leaders. Main roads and power lines were also damaged. These are some of the latest pictures from the strip, and an update from BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams.

Israeli diplomat Mark Regev has told the BBC's Newshour programme that Israel doesn't "want to see this end in a way that we're just back to square one a month from now".

Regev is a senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and ex-Israeli ambassador to the UK.

"How does that solve anything, if Hamas launches rockets at Israel next month and we are forced to respond?" he said. "We need a real solution, we want to come out of this with a sustained period of quiet. If Hamas just gets a ceasefire to recuperate, to regroup, to rest with its military machine then nothing has changed."

Mr Regev added: "A premature cessation of hostilities, which gives Hamas a victory - that's not going to help anyone. If Hamas comes out of this empowered, that's bad for Israel, that's bad for Palestinians, that's bad for peace."

Image source, Reuters

US President Joe Biden has approved a $735 million sale of precision-guided weapons to Israel, the Washington Post has reported, external.

According to the paper, Congress was officially notified of the proposed sale on 5 May - almost a week before the current violence began.

Some of Biden's fellow Democrats are now criticising the sale, the paper reports.

One Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee told the paper that "allowing this proposed sale of smart bombs to go through without putting pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire will only enable further carnage."

Sally Nabil
BBC News, Cairo

A number of wounded Palestinians have arrived at Egyptian hospitals in the Sinai Peninsula, via Rafah border crossing with Gaza strip, local sources told the BBC.

The Egyptian Red Crescent said they had already sent medical supplies to the strip. The Egyptian authorities made it clear hospitals in Sinai are ready to receive and treat victims of the Israeli air strikes.

Egypt has also been trying to broker a truce between Israel and the Palestinians, but no progress has been achieved so far. Israel has reportedly rejected an Egyptian ceasefire proposal, leaving officials here in Cairo quite frustrated.

Image source, Reuters

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has thwarted an attempt by Hamas militants to attack Israel by sea with a “submergible naval weapon”.

In recent days, Israeli naval forces had spotted suspicious activity in northern Gaza, close to the assets of Hamas's naval forces, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) tweeted.

“Today, using IAF aircraft surveillance and naval capabilities, several of the suspects were spotted with a vessel, suspected of being a Hamas submergible naval weapon.”

“The vessel was being taken to the shore, and appeared to be on its way to carry out a terror attack in Israeli waters. A short while ago, an IDF naval vessel and an IAF aircraft targeted the operators and the weapon in order to remove the threat.”

The IDF separately posted a video of the strike, external, which it said killed several militants.

Rocket sirens are reported in the city of Kiryat Malachi and other communities across southern Israel, local media report.

One rocket hit a main road close to Yakhini, south of Sderot, blocking traffic in both directions, the Times of Israel reports.

Earlier, Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service said several people were hurt when a rocket struck a block of flats in the southern city of Ashdod.

Sirens have also been heard in the cities of Beersheba and Ashkelon.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs the Gaza strip, says today's barrage of rockets is in response to continued air raids by Israel.

The US has requested "details" and a "justification" from Israel for an air strike on a building in Gaza that housed international media outlets, including Associated Press and Al Jazeera,.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a Copenhagen press conference that as he hadn't personally seen any information shared by Israeli officials, he didn't want to comment on the legitimacy of the strike.

"Israel has a special responsibility to protect civilians in the course of its self-defence, and that most certainly includes journalists," he said.

He also called for an immediate end to the violence, saying the US had been working "around the clock through diplomatic channels" to try and bring an end to the conflict.

Image source, Reuters

Helen Ottens-Patterson, head of mission in Gaza for Médecins Sans Frontières, has said the heavy bombardment of Gaza over the past week has been “catastrophic”.

Roads, water, sanitation and other infrastructure have been damaged, putting extreme pressure on the territory's already fragile health system.

“Hospitals are now inaccessible, except to people literally carrying their wounded on stretchers," she told BBC Arabic on Sunday.

“The Gaza power plant is about to run out of fuel so electricity will be cut very soon, we expect. This of course is also going to have a devastating effect on the health system,” she added.

“We are extremely concerned for the civilian population, gravely concerned for the rising numbers of deaths and casualties, and concerned that the health system will not be able to cope much longer.”

Ms Ottens-Patterson said medics in Gaza were treating people with shrapnel injuries, blast injuries, lacerations, fractures and crush injuries. MSF is trying to relieve the main hospitals of mild to moderate cases, so they can focus on critical cases.

“Psychologically, people are devastated. I’ve had phone calls with staff and medical colleagues and they are literally collapsing," she warned.

As we reported earlier, the US secretary of state expressed concern about the conflict, now in its second week. This is what Antony Blinken said on a visit to Denmark.

Image source, EPA

More from the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He has urged both sides to "protect civilians, especially children" while reiterating that Israel "as a democracy has an extra burden" to do so.

"We'll continue to conduct intensive diplomacy to bring this current cycle of violence to an end," he said at a press conference in Copenhagen.

"We are ready to lend support if the parties seek a ceasefire."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken - speaking on a visit to Denmark - calls on both Israel and the Palestinians to protect civilians.

"The United States remains greatly concerned by... the escalating violence - hundreds of people killed or injured including children being pulled from the rubble," he said.

"We are also alarmed at how journalists and medical personnel have been put at risk. Palestinians and Israelis, like people everywhere have the right to live in safety and security."

Image source, EPA

Here's a reminder of what's happened so far today as the renewed conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants enters a second week:

• Israel conducted some of the heaviest air strikes since the fighting began, targeting what it said were facilities belonging to the militant group Hamas and several commanders' homes in a 20-minute pre-dawn operation
• The strikes also damaged homes, main roads and power lines in Gaza and some residents have spoken of their fear. "I was getting ready to die. I had to be at peace with it," one Palestinian humanitarian worker told the BBC
• The overnight strikes came after Palestinian militants fired a barrage of rockets into southern Israel. Rocket sirens have sounded in the area throughout Monday and several people were injured when an apartment building was struck
• Meanwhile, international calls for a ceasefire are mounting. Egypt's president said his country was "going to great lengths to reach a ceasefire... and hope still exists"

Image source, Getty Images

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has started providing emergency help to more than 50,000 people in northern Gaza.

"One of the most pressing needs at the moment is food," the WFP said. "The quickest and most effective way we can provide support is with cash, in the form of e-vouchers."

"Food is available for the time being and many local shops are still open," the statement read.

But the WFP warned that food prices could rise - and the availability of food could decrease - if crossings into Gaza remain closed long-term.

Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service says several people were injured when a rocket fired by militants in Gaza hit a block of flats in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.

It posted a video showing emergency personnel outside a damaged building.

Warning sirens are sounding again in southern Israel, minutes after the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s armed wing said it had launched a large barrage of rockets.

The Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades said the rocket-fire was a response to last night’s Israeli air strikes on Gaza, which Palestinians said were some of the heaviest they had seen in the past week.

Israeli media said sirens were heard in the cities of Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon.

Israel has conducted dozens of air strikes on Gaza today and Palestinian militants have fired barrages of rockets at southern Israeli cities, as the violence continues unabated.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The Israeli military says the commander of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad’s northern Gaza division has been killed in an air strike.

Hussam Abu Harbeed was behind several anti-tank missile attacks against Israel, including one that lightly injured an Israeli civilian, and led rocket launches during the latest round of hostilities, the military tweeted, external.

There was no immediate confirmation from Islamic Jihad, but Reuters news agency cited a source in the group as confirming Abu Harbeed’s death.

Gaza media reported, external that he was killed in an air strike on his home in Beit Lahiya on Monday.