Image source, EPA

While Israel was striking targets in Lebanon, US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the phone.

It was the pair's fourth call since the fighting broke out. The US is, after all, one of Israel's foremost allies. It has so far opposed a joint UN Security Council statement on the conflict.

A White House readout of the conversation, external said the two leaders had a "detailed discussion" about the situation on the ground and "ongoing diplomatic efforts" to secure a truce.

"The president conveyed to the prime minister that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire," the readout concluded.

Earlier Netanyahu said the Israeli military was "taking care of objectives", adding "we're not standing with a stopwatch".

Israeli defence sources also told the BBC that there was "still no ceasefire on the table”. Hamas officials said truce efforts were "serious and continuing”, but accused Israel of being "stubborn".

Image source, Reuters

After a flurry of developments - let's take a step back. While it may seem as though Israel's shelling of Lebanon has come out of the blue, the neighbours have long shared a tense border.

In fact, both countries have remained in a formal state of war since the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1948-49.

It is one of the region's tensest frontiers, where Israel forces face those of the Lebanese army and Hezbollah, and peacekeepers attempt to maintain calm.

Hezbollah, which is heavily armed and funded by Israel's arch-foe Iran, is the most powerful armed force in Lebanon alongside the Lebanese army. It operates predominantly in the south and along with its political allies is an influential force in the government.

In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war that killed some 1,190 Lebanese and 163 Israelis. The conflict ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire.

Rockets have been fired several times from southern Lebanon into northern Israel over the past 10 days, with the previous such attack reported on Monday.

None of the rockets caused any damage, and Israel's military said most of the projectiles were either intercepted or landed in uninhabited areas.

No injuries have been reported after Lebanon fired four rockets into Israeli territory.

One of the rockets was intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome defence system - while the rest fell in open areas.

Police have shared the below image of one of the rockets which came down in a field.

Some more detail now on the Israeli artillery strikes on Lebanon.

The country's military has just tweeted that it is ready for "any scenario on any front".

Security sources in Lebanon have told Reuters news agency that four rockets were launched from Seddiqine, a village near to Lebanon's southern coastal city of Tyre.

It is not immediately clear who fired the rockets, and there have been no initial reports of damage on either side.

Israel's military says its artillery has attacked "a number of targets in Lebanese territory," in response to rocket fire from within the country.

In an earlier tweet, external, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said four rockets had been fired into Israel.

Several militant groups operate in Lebanon, including Hezbollah which fought a month-long war with Israel in 2006.

A number of rockets have been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel.

Israel's military said four rockets were launched: one was intercepted, and another landed in an open field. Two more landed in the Mediterranean Sea.

Warning sirens were activated in the area of Haifa and its surroundings, including Shfaram, Acre and the Krayot region, the Times of Israel reported.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Krayot residents had heard three large explosions.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

A senior Russian official has told Israel's ambassador that any actions leading to more civilian casualties in Gaza would be "unacceptable," Russia's foreign ministry says.

Earlier this week, Russia joined a growing number of countries and international groups - including the US, EU and UN - who have called for a ceasefire.

Dozens of foreign diplomats are currently in Israel trying to broker a peace deal.

At least 219 people, including almost 100 women and children, have been killed in Gaza so far, according to the territory's health ministry. Israel has said at least 150 militants are among those killed. Hamas, however, does not give casualty figures for fighters.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us, here are some of today's biggest development, as clashes continue between Israel and the Palestinian territory of Gaza:

• Israel has conducted a waves of fresh air strikes in Gaza. Among its targets has been a network of tunnels which Israel says is controlled by the Hamas militant group
• Meanwhile, militants in Gaza are continuing to launch rocket attacks into Israel - mostly in the country's south. In the last few hours, several rockets are said to hit Ashdod and Ashkelon, though no casualties have been reported
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel is fighting to restore quiet, and to maximise the time that any truce with Hamas will last. On the issue of a truce - which many allies of Israel are pressing for - Netanyahu told foreign diplomats he was not "standing with a stopwatch"
• Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, for his part, has accused Israel of committing war crimes during the conflict. Israel says it only attacks military targets, and has made efforts to prevent civilians casualties

Image source, Getty Images

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has accused Israel of carrying out “organised state terrorism and war crimes” in Gaza.

In a televised statement, Abbas said Palestinians would "not hesitate to pursue those who commit such crimes in front of international courts”.

Israel says that it only attacks military targets and has made efforts to prevent civilians casualties, including warning nearby residents about incoming air strikes.

Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched an investigation into possible war crimes committed by Israel and Palestinian groups in 2014, when the last major conflict in Gaza took place. The ICC has expressed concern about this latest round of violence between the two sides.

Paul Adams
BBC diplomatic correspondent, Jerusalem

If Israel is getting ready to halt its air strikes in Gaza, as reports here have suggested, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was giving nothing away when he spoke to foreign ambassadors.

Israel, he told them, was involved in forceful deterrence. We’re not standing with a stopwatch, he said. It’s not possible to set a time frame.

The intensity of the exchanges has eased somewhat in the past couple of days, leading some to conclude that this crisis is nearing its conclusion.

With the UN Security Council due to meet again on Thursday and the Americans now calling for a ceasefire, Netanyahu knows that while he may not have a stopwatch, others do.

Image source, Reuters

The head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK has said the latest outbreak of fighting is part of a much bigger historical picture.

"This isn’t a confrontation between Netanyahu and Hamas, this as a confrontation that has lasted for 100 years, between Israel and the people of Palestine," Husam Zomlot told the BBC.

The confrontation has primarily been based on negation, he said, adding the negation started with the 1917 Balfour Declaration which "promised our land to others without consulting us".

The declaration - issued on 2 November 1917 - stated that the British government supported "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".

Read more on the Balfour Declaration here.

Photographers on the ground in both Israel and Gaza have captured the emotional toll the violence is taking on families there.

Earlier today, Mahmud Hams attended the funeral of 19-year-old Mahmoud Shtawi who died in an air strike on Gaza City overnight.

He documented the grief and loss experienced by the family.

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

And last week, photographer Avishag Shaar-Yashuv attended the funeral of an Israeli soldier, Omer Tabib, who died during clashes at the Gaza border.

She took the images below.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Israel is assessing whether conditions are right to halt its air campaign - but is preparing for "more days" of strikes if necessary, an Israeli military source has told the AFP news agency

"We are looking at when is the right moment for a ceasefire," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

They added that Israel was evaluating whether its objective of degrading the fighting capacity of Hamas had been achieved.

"The question is whether Hamas understands the message" that its rocket barrages towards Israel cannot recur, said the source.

Image source, Reuters

A Palestinian journalist was among those killed in Israeli air strikes in Gaza City overnight, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

Yusef Abu Hussein, a journalist at Hamas’s radio station Al-Aqsa Voice, died when warplanes bombed a house near the Sheikh Radwan cemetery in northern Gaza City, Wafa says, external.

Three other people were killed in a strike on a house in the western al-Rimal district, it adds.

Local sources earlier told the BBC’s Rushdi Abualouf in Gaza, external that two militants were killed when warplanes targeted an apartment in Gaza City.

Doctors also told him, external that a woman suffered a heart attack and died when a neighbour’s home in Khan Younis was hit during a wave of air strikes in the southern city.

Wafa's report says the strikes targeted the al-Katibah area of Khan Younis, as well the nearby town of Bani Suheila and a site west of the city of Rafah, which is on the border with Egypt.

The Israeli military says it bombed part of a Hamas tunnel network in the area.

Gaza’s health ministry says 219 people, including 63 children, have been killed there since the hostilities began on 10 May. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 160 militants.

Image source, Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu has just briefed foreign journalists on the efforts to end the fighting.

“We’re not standing with a stopwatch," he said. "We are taking care of the operation’s objectives.”

He said earlier that Israel was fighting to restore quiet and to maximise the amount of time that any truce with Hamas would last.

"There are only two ways that you can deal with them. You can either conquer them - and that's always an open possibility - or you can deter them," Netanyahu said.

"We are engaged right now in forceful deterrence, but I have to say we don't rule out anything."

As the fighting rages on, there's growing concern over the toll the violence is taking on civilians.

Striking images have captured the human cost of the conflict over the past few days, as air strikes and rocket attacks turn homes and possessions into rubble and force people to rush for shelter.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

You can see more pictures from both sides of the conflict here.

Image source, Getty Images

Meanwhile, the fighting is continuing to make waves within the international football community.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has defended two of his players for holding up a Palestine flag during a game yesterday evening, saying the club respected "their right to a different point of view".

Image source, Getty Images

Paul Pogba and Amad Diallo appeared to be given the flag by a fan as the team did a lap of honour to mark their last game of the season at Old Trafford.

"We have players from different backgrounds, different cultures, different countries and we need to respect their views if they differ from someone else's," Solskjaer said.

"If my players think about other things than football, that's a positive thing."

Image source, Reuters

Rocket warning sirens have been sounding in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other communities near the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media.

The Haaretz newspaper says, external seven rockets fired by militants in Gaza landed in one area. Some properties were damaged, but no casualties were reported.

Two agricultural workers from Thailand were killed and eight others were injured on Tuesday when a rocket hit a packing plant close to the Gaza border, Israeli medics said. The dead men have been identified as Sikharin Sangamram and Weerawat Krunboorirak.

The Israeli military says more than 3,750 rockets have been fired towards Israel since the fighting began, killing 12 people in total. About 550 rockets have landed in Gaza, while the Iron Dome missile defence system has intercepted 90% of those that have crossed into Israel, it adds.

Image source, Reuters

Turkey has rejected accusations that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made anti-Semitic remarks about Israel.

Erdogan recently accused Israel of "terrorism" against the Palestinians, saying it was "in their nature".

US state department spokesman Ned Price described the remarks as "reprehensible".

Earlier today, Omer Celik, a spokesman for Erdogan's political party, said the Turkish leader had given very strong messages against anti-Semitism, adding: "Accusing our president of anti-Semitism is an illogical and untrue approach. This is a lie."

Image source, AFP

Residents of Gaza have been hunkering down after another night of air strikes on the territory.

Randa Abu Sultan, 45, told AFP news agency that her family gathered in one room to wait out the latest wave of strikes.

"We're all terrified by the sound of explosions, missiles and fighter jets," said the mother of seven. "My four-year-old son tells me he's scared that if he falls asleep, he'll wake up to find us dead."

One Gazan, Ahmad Al-Astal, spoke to Reuters news agency as he sifted through the rubble of his former home.

"This behind us, reflects the humanity in [the Israelis], demolishing the houses while it's inhabitants are inside," he said. "In spite of all this we will remain on our lands."

At one Gaza hospital, Mohammad al-Hadidi is caring for his baby son Omar - his only surviving child after an Israeli strike killed his wife and four sons.

"They've gone to find God, we don't want to stay around for much longer," he told AFP.

Across the border in Israel, thousands have sought protection in bomb shelters - which all new homes are required to have by law. But many older buildings do not have shelters, forcing residents to improvise.

Moshe Loutati shelters his eight children under a staircase when the rocket sirens sound. "There is nowhere to run to," he told Reuters. "The shelter is very far away and neglected and we can't put eight children in a neglected shelter."