The European Union has opened an investigation into X - the social media platform that was known as Twitter - over the possible spread of violent content and hate speech, after the Hamas attack on Israel.

The probe - the first under the bloc's Digital Services Act - will also look into whether there have been other breaches linked to illegal content and disinformation, and the way complaints are handled.

X was ordered to provide its answers this month.

Earlier, X said it had taken down or labelled tens of thousands of pieces of content. It is estimated that more than half a billion are posted each day.

Image source, EPA

Staying in France - police in Paris have clashed with attendees of a pro-Palestinian rally.

France announced a ban on such demonstrations earlier, claiming they were "likely to generate disturbances to public order". Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has threatened to deport foreign nationals who break the rules.

France has a Jewish community of about 500,000 people, and there are around 5 million Muslims in the country.

Darmanin told French radio that 100 antisemitic acts had been recorded since the Hamas attack on southern Israel - most involving graffiti showing "swastikas, 'death to Jews,' and calls to intifadas against Israel".

In a separate move, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared "zero tolerance" for antisemitism.

He told parliament a pro-Palestinian group that had celebrated the murders of Israeli civilians on Saturday would be banned.

Berlin police have also banned planned pro-Palestinian demonstrations, citing the risk of antisemitic statements and glorification of violence.

Image source, EPA

Image source, AFP

French president Emmanuel Macron says he is doing everything he can to bring back 17 French citizens who have been missing since the Hamas attacks on southern Israel last Saturday.

Another 13 French citizens were killed in the attack.

Macron accused Hamas of "blind murderous hatred" towards Israel, and said Israel had a right to defend itself.

Speaking on French national television, he said Hamas was a terrorist organisation which wanted the death of Israel's people.

He added that security in the region must include security guarantees for Israel and a state for Palestinians.

Earlier on Thursday, French anti-terror prosecutors said they were opening a terrorism probe into the attack by Hamas.

The probe is into murder, attempted murder and kidnapping, including of minors, by a "terrorist organisation", the prosecutors said in a statement.

A doctor at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza says there are no beds for the injured and whole families of wounded patients are lying on the floor.

Speaking to BBC News earlier, Dr Mohamad Matar said: "The worst problem we have now is lack of supplies – we are running out of supplies in every way."

Dr Matar explained that in his nine years as a doctor in Gaza, he "watched many of the escalations, the wars between Israel and Palestinians" but said that this one was "much, much different".

He added: "Most of the casualties I receive are civilians. Many are children, women. No-one understands what is going on here".

Barbara Plett Usher
US State Department correspondent

A $6bn (£4.9bn) account for humanitarian assistance to Iran appears to have been caught up in US politics after the Hamas attack on Israel.

The fund was set up as part of a recent prisoner swap deal that released five Iranian-Americans held by Tehran.

Reports suggest the administration has quietly stopped Iran's access to the fund though officials have found no evidence of a direct link between Iran and the Hamas attack on Saturday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the money comes from Iran's oil sales, is held in Qatar and is only to be used for food and medicine - and the US has to approve every transaction.

Blinken did not explicitly confirm the block to Iran's access to the fund. It would be a provocative move at a time when the US is trying to prevent Iran - and the militant groups it backs - from joining the Israel-Hamas conflict.

US officials would no doubt also be concerned it could lead to more arrests of Iranian-American citizens.

The UK is deploying surveillance aircraft and two Royal Navy ships to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel.

The aircraft will begin patrols tomorrow to "track threats to regional stability such as the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "We must make sure the types of horrific scenes we have seen this week will not be repeated."

• Read more here

Image source, Reuters

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has met Jordan's King Abdullah II and called for "an immediate end to the comprehensive aggression against the Palestinian people".

It's the first time Abbas has publicly spoken since the surprise Hamas attack on Israel last Saturday morning.

According to a statement released by the president's office, Abbas rejected "practices related to killing civilians or abusing them on both sides".

The two leaders met in Amman to discuss "ways to stop the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and deliver aid and relief" to Gaza.

According to the statement, he also stressed that Palestinians "renounce violence and adhere to international legitimacy" and said that the targeting of civilians by both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants "contravenes morals, religion and international law".

Abbas, the head of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA), is a bitter rival of Hamas. The militant group took control of Gaza in 2007, ejecting forces loyal to the then-governing PA and Abbas’s Fatah movement after a violent rift.

It's just after 21:00 local time in Israel and time to take a look at the latest developments from today:

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a visit to Israel, described seeing photos of 'a baby riddled with bullets, soldiers beheaded and young people burnt alive' by Hamas

• Blinken said the next stop on his visit was Jordan, to meet King Abdullah and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
• Police in Jerusalem say a "terrorist with a submachine gun" has been "neutralised" after he opened fire towards officers
• The number of Israelis killed by Hamas has risen to 1,300, with at least 150 hostages taken into the Gaza

• Earlier, Israel said the siege of Gaza would not end until Israeli hostages were released

• More than 1,400 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched retaliatory air strikes, with 338,000 displaced

• The World Food Programme warned of a "dire situation" in the territory, where Israel has cut off food, water and fuel supplies

We've now a had some more detail from Israeli police on the shooting incident near Jerusalem's Old City, in the occupied east of the city.

They say a "terrorist with a Carlo submachine gun" , externalopened fire towards police officers at the entrance to the Shalem police station.

The shooter then attempted to flee the scene, was pursued by police offers and then "neutralised by gunfire".

Two police officers were injured, one seriously and the other lightly, the police said, adding that officers are conducting searches in the area to rule out any accomplices.

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, Getty Images

There's been a huge military and police response close to Jerusalem's Old City in the past hour, with reports on Israeli media of a shooting near a police station.

Israeli media is reporting that two Israeli police officers have been wounded and one gunman shot.

The atmosphere at the nearby Damascus Gate, in occupied East Jerusalem, was extremely tense, we saw soldiers pointing their rifles into passing cars and shouting at drivers to stop.

A helicopter was hovering overhead as they sealed off the area and ordered people to move back from the gate. Soldiers stopped and searched two passing civilians before letting them go.

Lucy Williamson
Reporting from southern Israel

There are self-propelled artillery pieces dug into the fields along the highway here near Netivot in southern Israel. Their guns raked at different angles, firing every few seconds towards the Gaza Strip.

The urban centres of Beit Hanoun and Gaza City are just a few miles away. Israel is laying siege to Gaza - turning off supplies of water, food and electricity until, it says, the hostages held by Hamas are released.

The only thing reaching Gaza from Israel now are shells and bombs.

Image source, Getty Images

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby says that 27 Americans are now confirmed killed whereas 14 are unaccounted for.

Yomit Keider was at the Supernova Festival last Saturday when Hamas militants staged their incursion into Israel and started to attack.

She tells the BBC that she survived the attacks by driving out of the party, saving seven others in her car.

Yomit describes scenes of gun shooting, screaming and crying, with people running in all directions.

Yomit says: "I'm a mother of two and I was with my two friends who are also mothers of children.

"We just wanted to leave and get to our homes, to our children. We were one of the first to leave from the parking area."

Yomit explains that cars were moving in all directions and people were in "hysteria" because Hamas militants were shooting at the cars.

Yomit tells us she tried to help others and her car doors were open, seven others people ended up being saved in her car.

"I was just driving, I did not look back. Me and my friend were panting from fear.

"Then we saw a military soldier who told us to go to a nearby military base. If he hadn't told us we would have ended up at a base that had been infiltrated.

"We think of him as an angel who saved us."

Blinken is asked whether he'll allow Israel to continue fighting Hamas in Gaza until the militants are completely eradicated from the region. He says: "I've been very clear, we stand with Israel in its determination to defend its people. In that determination, we of course as you know, provide assistance."

And on whether the US would step in if Hezbollah militants in Lebanon opened a second front in the region, he said the Americans are determined that "there will not be a second front" and that no-one should "try to take advantage of this moment".

The attacks on Israel by Hamas in Israel have been likened to the September 11 attacks on the US. Before the conference ends, Blinken is asked: "What lessons might you have for Israel looking back at the aftermath of 9/11?"

He replies that if you look at the attack in the proportion to the size of Israel's population, "this is the equivalent of ten 9/11's" in terms of loss of life. "That's how devastating this attack has been."

Asked by a reporter about graphic photos, Blinken says that what they show is “beyond what anyone would want to imagine. Babies riddled with bullets, young people burned alive... It's simply depravity in the worst imaginable way.”

He's then asked about the situation in Gaza.

He repeats a line said by President Biden in his speech earlier this week.

"Hamas continues to use civilians as human shields", Blinken says, stressing the perspective that Hamas has been intentionally putting civilians in harm's way.

Around 1,400 have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched retaliatory air strikes.

Blinken says he's spoken to Israeli officials about options to provide civilians safe passage who want to get out of Gaza.

Blinken describes the path to making the region more peaceful is a "clear" one.

And then, he says, "there's the path that Hamas has shown in a stark clear light. Terror, destruction, nihilism. The choice could not be more clear.

He reaffirms that he stands alongside "our Israeli friends and all those who reject terror", and that "as long as there is a United States, Israel will never be alone".

It's a message he echoes from earlier when he appeared on stage with the Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

He moves on to audience questions.

From Israel, Blinken will travel to meet with other leaders across the region in the coming days "to keep the conflict from spreading", and to discuss how to get Hamas to release hostages.

Next, he says he will travel to Jordan where he'll meet with King Abdullah and Palestinian Authority President Abbas.

He then will meet with other Middle Eastern leaders.

Antony Blinken starts by reiterating that the US stands with Israel and its people, "today, tomorrow, everyday."

The US secretary of state also says he has met with families of American citizens who have been killed or kidnapped and that the "enormity of their anguish is immeasurable."

​He says the "unrelenting agony" of not knowing the fate of their loved one is something no-one should ever have to endure.

He says the US is one of more than 30 countries which has been going through tragedy because of the "disdain for life" shown by Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is speaking to the press during his visit to Israel.

He is visiting the country in a show of support after the weekend's deadly attacks by Hamas.

Earlier today, Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where he was thanked for the US support.

During a joint press conference, Blinken told Netanyahu that "you may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists you will never, ever have to".

We'll bring you more of his latest remarks on this page. You can also stream live by clicking the play button at the top of this page.

The Israeli military says it has been striking parts of a huge network of underground tunnels used by Hamas under the Gaza Strip trip to hide its leaders, fighters and weaponry from Israeli bombardment.

Describing the dense network of underground warrens this morning, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said: "Think of the Gaza Strip as one layer for civilians and one layer for Hamas."

Hamas is believed to have built hundreds of miles of tunnels since it took control of Gaza in 2007 – using them not just as bunkers but also to smuggle weapons and launch cross-border attacks on Israel.

During the 2014 war in Gaza, the Israeli military said it destroyed more than 30 cross-border attack tunnels, each of which ran for several kilometres into Israeli territory. Israel later extended its security barrier underground – although it has not totally stopped new, deeper tunnels from being built. The military said it suspected Hamas militants used such tunnels to infiltrate Israel and kill Israeli citizens during Saturday’s unprecedented attack.

The graphic below was created with information released by Israel during the 2014 conflict about tunnels that were found and destroyed by its troops on the ground in Gaza at the time. In another conflict in 2021, the Israeli military said it had destroyed 60 miles of tunnels built by Hamas underneath Gaza's cities – part of what it dubbed the "Gaza Metro".

Image source, .