Civilians are fleeing northern Gaza by car, on the back of trucks and on foot after an Israeli warning that civilians should move south
About 1.1 million people living in northern areas have been told to leave ahead of an expected ground offensive by Israeli forces
The UN described the order as horrendous, while the US urged Israel to take every precaution to avoid killing civilians
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said he was working with Israel to secure "safe areas" in Gaza
Hamas fighters kidnapped at least 150 people and took them into Gaza during brutal attacks on Israel at the weekend that killed 1,300 people
1,900 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched retaliatory air strikes, authorities say
A total blockade is being enforced on Gaza, with fuel, food and water running out
Meanwhile, Reuters says one of its journalists has been killed while working in southern Lebanon
Benjamin Netanyahu has just addressed the nation and said that Israel's counter-offensive in Gaza is "only the beginning".
We will bring you more lines as we get them.
Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editor
It's tempting to view Vladimir Putin as a James Bond-style villain sitting at a giant control panel, in a mountain hideout, sowing chaos around the world.
He presses one button and there's unrest in the Balkans.
He presses another and the Middle East explodes.
It's tempting… but probably inaccurate. It exaggerates the Kremlin leader's global influence.
Yes, Russia has ties to Hamas and has become a close ally of Iran. According to the US, Moscow and Tehran now have a fully-fledged defence partnership.
But that doesn't mean Moscow had direct involvement in, or prior knowledge of, the Hamas attack on Israel.
The first US flight taking Americans out of Israel has landed in Athens, an official from White House told Reuters.
Additional charter flights are scheduled between Athens and Tel Aviv until at least 19 October, a separate source told the news agency. They added that more than 400 Americans had signed up for the first flight.
The US government is also exploring evacuation options by sea, according to White House spokesperson John Kirby.
CCTV shows how Hamas militants broke into kibbutz Be'eri
Here is a CCTV video that shows how Hamas gunmen had hidden in an empty surveillance booth before 06:00 local time lass Saturday morning. They ambushed a car used by civilians at the entrance of kibbutz Be'eri.
Then then used the open the gate to get inside the kibbutz.
Image source, ReutersIsrael has a right to “deal with Hamas” the UK's defence secretary said on Friday.
When asked whether the UK government supported Israel’s warning that 1.1 million people had to evacuate northern Gaza in 24 hours, Grant Shapps told the BBC's Today programme it was very important that Israel provided advance information.
“It’s good that they provided information in advance, Hamas certainly didn’t do that before they went in and slaughtered people,” Shapps said.
He added that the details of the Israeli plan were unknown and that President Biden made clear that Israel needed to comply with international law.
He also said he had ordered the deployment of ships, helicopters and planes to provide monitoring, surveillance and act as a deterrent.
“The UK is trying to play its part in making sure that it doesn’t spread further,” Shapps said.
Nomia Iqbal and Rebecca Hartmann
BBC News, Washington
Relative of five Israeli hostages has message for Biden
Five members of Abbey Greenberg Onn's family are missing.
Abbey moved to Israel from Massachusetts eight years ago.
The first question I ask her feels inadequate: "How are you?"
She smiles and says, "I showered today, so that’s good and I’m just trying to press through."
Her relative, 80-year-old Carmela Dan, who has lived in Israel her whole life, is missing and she has a heart condition.
Two other relatives have been confirmed by the Israeli government as being held hostage.
They have seen another - 12-year-old Erez – in a video, apparently showing him in the hands of Hamas.
When we asked for her reaction to Israel's order to the people in Gaza to evacuate in 24 hours, knowing that her family is likely to be in Gaza, she said she had "a lot of fear".
Quote MessageI just want people to understand that Hamas is a terror organization, and that the people in Gaza are being held hostage also by Hamas, and that this doesn't end well for civilians on either side."
Image source, PA MediaFirst Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf, at Bute House in Edinburgh
The Scottish First Minister has said Israel is "going too far" and that the innocent civilians of Gaza cannot simply be "collateral damage".
Humza Yousaf told BBC's Political Editor Chris Mason that he "fears for the situation" of his family members in Gaza.
He was speaking shortly after posting a video of his mother-in-law describing the situation on the ground, and said she was in a "real state of distress".
Yousaf called on the international community to "step up", and said there needed to be a ceasefire and a humanitarian corridor to allow supplies in and to allow people out.
Asked about Israel's actions, he said his message is pretty simple: "Innocent men, women and children cannot be victims. They cannot be simply thought of as collateral damage. The ends cannot simply justify the means. Collective punishment cannot and is not justified."
The Foreign Office has said Britons in Gaza should follow Israel's evacuation order.
Image source, Getty ImagesPalestinians are fleeing their homes in Gaza City
It's just gone 2000 in Israel and Gaza and the night is arriving. If you're just joining us, here are the latest developments:
Jeremy Bowen
International Editor, reporting from Jerusalem
Image source, Getty ImagesPalestinian citizens inspect damage to their homes caused by Israeli airstrikes
The Gaza strip is about 25 miles long, very narrow in places and heavily populated.
Towards the south, where people are being told to move by the Israelis, there are refugee camps, open agricultural land and some towns. But it’s already a very overcrowded area and there are no resources.
Part of this may well be – as some say in Gaza – psychological warfare to put pressure on the population. But it sounds as if the Israelis want to be able to have even more scope to use a lot of firepower in the northern part of the Gaza strip and in Gaza City itself.
Civilian casualties are already a huge difficulty and Israel will be concerned about those numbers increasing.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the point in Jerusalem yesterday that Israel absolutely has the right to defend itself, but that it’s very important they do it in the right way and respect international law.
This all also puts massive additional pressure on the authorities in Gaza - who are probably mostly in bunkers and tunnels. So it’s going to be bedlam.
A Reuters news videographer has been killed while working in southern Lebanon, the news agency said in a statement.
"We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed," the statement said.
"Issam was working as a part of a Reuters crew in southern Lebanon who was providing a live video signal.
"We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region, and supporting Issam’s family and colleagues."
Reuters journalists Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh also sustained injuries and are seeking medical care, according to the statement.
The Israeli Air Force posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that over the last 24 hours the Israeli military carried out "local raids" in the territory of the Gaza Strip to "cleanse the area of terrorists and weapons".
It added:
Quote MessageIn these operations, an effort was also made to locate missing persons."
Ahmad Abou-Foul, 37, an NHS doctor from Birmingham, is extremely worried about his 16 relatives who live in Gaza City.
They have been surviving with no electricity and diminishing water supplies amid Israeli strikes.
Early this morning, Ahmad called his family to alert them of Israel’s evacuation order: "I called them at 5:00 UK time and told them: 'You have to leave, the instructions are you have to leave.'
"They have had to rehearse what to do so they were mentally prepared [to evacuate]. They had their valuables in one bag ready to go so once I told them they hit the road within five minutes."
The family are now staying with "a friend of a friend of a friend" in a flat in the south of Gaza.
“This time it’s different to any other time," Abou-Foul says.
Quote MessageIt’s very hard. I'm a professional, I work full-time. We've got two little ones aged five and six. It's very hard for us to manage our family and worry about our family back home [in Gaza]."
We earlier reported that the IDF had told people in Hanita - an Israeli community close to the Lebanon border - that an alert was activated about an "infiltration into the community".
IDF has now released another statement, saying that following searches in the area, they have ruled out any "infiltration".
"Furthermore, a shooting was identified toward a number of military posts at the Lebanese border. IDF soldiers responded with tank fire toward Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure. In addition, IDF artillery fired toward the source of the shooting. IDF soldiers are deployed in the area," the statement added.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has just held a joint press conference with Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, in Doha.
Here are some of the key points:
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Palestinian Health Ministry says 11 people have been shot dead by Israeli soldiers during confrontations in the West Bank.
The deaths followed clashes in towns and cities including Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron and Tulkarm. More than a hundred demonstrators are reported to have been wounded.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Friday to march in solidarity with Palestinians forced to flee their homes in Gaza.
Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have lived under Israeli occupation since 1967.
Image source, .
Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent
Image source, AFPFor Palestinians in Gaza, Israel’s warning for them to leave has profound historical and psychological implications.
Many are descended from the 200,000 Palestinians who arrived in the Gaza Strip in 1948, during what they all know to this day as the "naqba", or catastrophe.
They fled or were driven from their homes by the forces of the newly created state of Israel. Many came from areas surrounding the Gaza Strip where Israelis live today.
The thought of being driven from their homes once more is profoundly traumatic.
"Hold on to your homes," is the message being broadcast from mosques this morning. "Hold on to your land."
Israel withdrew a few thousand Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005. The settlements have long gone and no Israeli government has ever proposed setting them up again.
But in the panic surrounding last night's Israeli warning, Palestinians inevitably fear another naqba might be looming.
Watch: Residents leave Gaza City in vehicles loaded with people and possessions
People are leaving northern Gaza in the hope of finding safety in the south of the enclave after Israel issued a 24 hour warning to evacuate.
This video shows civilians fleeing Gaza City in vehicles packed with families and personal possessions.
Barbara Plett Usher
US State Department correspondent
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked with Israel's government about the need to establish safe areas for civilians in Gaza.
This is what a state department official told journalists earlier today before travelling to Qatar, the second stop on Blinken’s Middle East trip.
He had little to say about UN warnings that a 24-hour evacuation order for northern Gaza issued by the Israel Defense Forces would have disastrous consequences.
But he underlined that the administration was working with the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to create these safe locations, possibly in the south of the strip.
Blinken’s message has been laser focused on rock solid support for Israel, and on restraint in the region – a warning for other armed Iran-backed groups not to join the fight.
In Qatar he’s also discussing attempts to rescue hostages held in Gaza. Doha has contacts with Hamas and has taken the lead in trying to facilitate their release.
Critics have denounced America’s unwavering support for Israel as a green light for forceful Israeli military actions in Gaza.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has condemned the hostage taking during the attacks on Israel by Hamas, saying "our hearts go out" to those who have lost family members or are worried about loved ones.
"We reiterate our call for their immediate release and stand ready to conduct humanitarian visits," the organisation, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, said.
The group added it was also concerned about the recent evacuation orders.
"The instructions issued by the Israeli authorities for the population of Gaza City to immediately leave their homes, coupled with the complete siege explicitly denying them food, water, and electricity, are not compatible with international humanitarian law," it said.
The ICRC went on to warn that it would not be able to send humanitarian aid until there are "pauses in the fighting to work safely and effectively".
On Thursday, the ICRC said it was in contact with Hamas and Israel in a bid to secure the return of Israeli hostages taken into Gaza. These were not negotiations, the organisation stressed - taking hostages is a violation of international law, and the Israeli civilians held in Gaza must be released.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Cairo today, expecting to arrive later in the day, to talk about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Baerbock has said that she is in talks with Egypt and the United Nations on safe spaces for civilians in Gaza, especially after more than one million civilians were ordered by the Israeli army to move south in anticipation of a ground offensive.
Egypt controls the Rafah crossing, its only crossing with the enclave.