Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

How big is the area?

The area of the Gaza Strip where Israel has ordered an evacuation within 24 hours covers around a third of the territory - north of a seasonal watercourse known as Wadi Gaza, which cuts through a narrow band of mainly agricultural land.

The order includes the whole of Gaza City and two major refugee camps, Jabalya and Beach Camp. It also includes the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, which are both adjacent to the main Erez crossing point at the northern end of the Strip.

Taken together, this represents one of the most densely populated parts of the Gaza Strip.

How many people live there?

At least 1.1 million people live in the affected area. Gaza City has a population of around 600,000. Beach Camp is home to around 90,000 people and Jabalya, the largest camp in the Gaza Strip, has 116,000.

There are at least six hospitals in the area, along with around two dozen primary care clinics.

How will people get out?

Any mass movement of civilians will inevitably prove chaotic and extremely hazardous. There is only one main north-south road, along which everyone will be expected to move.

Fuel is in very short supply, streets in Gaza City and elsewhere are already full of rubble, and there’s no sign yet that Israeli air strikes have stopped to allow an evacuation to start.

Image source, .

We're seeing more photos emerging of people in Gaza City packing up and moving from their homes, after a warning from Israel to move south.

Among those trying to get to safety are children. Nearly half of Gaza's population is under 18.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Here's video of the moment rockets were fired from Gaza earlier today.

At 11:29 local time (09:29 BST) several rockets were launched from Gaza City.

Our BBC team later reported seeing a rocket land in Ashkelon, southern Israel.

Tom Bateman
Reporting from Jerusalem

Most residents in Jerusalem are scared to go out - not only due the risk of rocket fire. I’ve seen how easily the streets of this city can be plunged into bloody confrontation and sectarian violence.

Amid growing tension on Tuesday, two young Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces in the neighbourhood of Silwan, which borders the Old City and its holy sites; police said they were killed for throwing firecrackers and stones.

Israelis are reeling with shock and anger, appalled at details continuing to come out about the atrocities by Hamas gunmen in southern Israel.

Palestinians are watching the siege on Gaza and the growing number of civilians killed in the Israeli bombardment.

As everyone awaits the next phase of fighting in the south, fear and suspicion is growing in Jerusalem.

We've just heard from Jeremy Bowen, who is on the ground near al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. Earlier this week, Hamas called for mass rallies around the holy site after Friday prayers to protest against Israel's bombardment of Gaza.

The al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, is located on a hilltop complex known by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and by Jews as the Temple Mount. Jews revere it as the location of two Biblical Temples and it is the holiest site in Judaism.

Image source, .

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor, reporting from East Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

Noon prayer is finishing soon at the al-Aqsa mosque.

There is very tight security and restrictions on who can enter the mosque to pray. Younger men have been banned by the Israelis. Some are praying in the streets in groups on the approaches to the gates of the Old City. Armed paramilitary police are standing over them to stop them getting closer.

Palestinian officials say people are very cautious and staying at home as they are nervous about an extreme Israeli response to trouble.

A worker at Israel's embassy in Beijing has been attacked, Israel’s foreign ministry says.

A disturbing video shared on social media purportedly from the incident - which the BBC has not verified - shows a man being attacked with a knife in the street.

The attack on Friday did not take place at the embassy compound and the motive is being investigated, Israel's foreign ministry said.

"The employee is being treated at hospital and is in a stable condition," the statement says.

Social media users in China have shown widespread support for Palestinians in recent days, while there have also been anti-Israel posts online. Somehave criticised Israel for its relations with Taiwan.

China has said it is “deeply concerned” about the Israel-Hamas war, and that it was “saddened by the civilian casualties caused by the conflict”.

In response, Israel expressed its “deep disappointment” over China’s lack of condemnation of the Hamas attack.

BBC Arabic's reporter Adnan Elbursh and his team discover their own neighbours, relatives and friends are among those injured and killed.

Warning: This video contains details that some may find distressing.

Image source, Ge

A number of figures from the film and TV world, including Gal Gadot, Jerry Seinfeld, Jamie Lee Curtis and and Chris Pine have put their name to a letter showing their support for Israel.

The letter, which has more than 700 signatures, external, was created by the organisation Creative Community for Peace and condemns the mass killings by Hamas.

It says: "This is terrorism. This is evil. There is no justification or rationalisation for Hamas’ actions.

"These are barbaric acts of terrorism that must be called out by everyone. They are a terrorist organisation whose leaders call for the murder of Jews everywhere."

It also asks those in the entertainment community to make sure they weren't using their platform to share misinformation about events that have taken place in the last week.

"Our thoughts are with all those experiencing unfathomable levels of fear and violence," the letter reads.

Yolande Knell
BBC Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

As the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken meets Jordan’s King Abdullah and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, a large rally in support of people in Gaza has formed after Friday prayers.

Protesters are sharing social media videos of Jordanian soldiers using tear gas to push back their demonstrations close to Jordan’s border with the occupied West Bank.

The Allenby or King Hussein crossing – which is controlled by Israel on the Palestinian side – was shut.

The Jordanian military could not be reached for comment.

Many Jordanians are Palestinian refugees or have Palestinian roots - including Queen Rania.

In a story to her more than 10 million Instagram , externalfollowers she wrote: "It isn't self-defense if you are an occupying force..." before reposting stories depicting what is happening in Gaza.

Image source, Reuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan.

Abbas, who is based in the West Bank, is a political rival to Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip.

Blinken is also meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman after arriving there earlier today. Yesterday he was in Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau - where he was shown graphic photos of dead children killed by Hamas.

Image source, Reuters

Thousands of Iraqis are gathering in Baghdad in support of Palestinians in Gaza. "This rally is aimed at condemning what is happening in occupied Palestine, the bloodletting and the violation of rights," Abu Kayan, one of the organisers, told AFP news agency.

It's just one of several rallies planned for today across the Middle East, after senior Hamas and Hezbollah figures called for people to protest following Friday prayers.

Fomer Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal yesterday urged people to “go to squares and open spaces across the Arab and Islamic world” to rally.

Several such gatherings are expected in Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan today.

Security forces are also braced for unrest at al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.

First order of this kind in modern timespublished at 10:26 British Summer Time 13 October 2023

10:26 BST 13 October 2023

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor, reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, EPA

There has not been, in modern times, an Israeli order of this kind for Gaza that I am aware of. Previous incursions have been for limited areas, with warnings that everyone should move out within a mile or two of where they might come in.

In 2014 we saw people get into cars, or carts, or sometimes even walk, and move down into Gaza City, where UN schools can be used as refuges.

There is massive damage in Gaza, a lack of food, no fuel, the water is cut off and now more than a million people are being told by the Israelis to head south for their own benefit in the next 24 hours.

Imagine trying to do that, in those circumstances, with your family, with everything you need for the next few weeks and, if you have got a car, no fuel.

So I think what the UN says is accurate - this is going to be a very hard, very difficult thing to do.

As we've been reporting, people living in the north of Gaza - about 1.1 million people - have been told to relocate to the southern part of the Strip.

Residents are being told to relocate to the south of the Wadi Gaza, which is a river valley - shown here on our map:

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari says Israel's military is aware that evacuating 1.1 million people from northern Gaza - as Israel has called for - will take some time.

"This is a war zone, we are trying to provide them the time and we are doing a lot of effort, and we understand it won’t take 24 hours," he said in response to a BBC question at a briefing just now about Israel's timeframe,

He pointed out that Hamas was telling people to ignore Israel's order.

"We understand the problem. Sad reality? It’s Hamas’ responsibility."

When pressed on whether he was saying the IDF understood it would take more than 24 hours to evacuate Gazans, Hagari responded:

The World Health Organization said local health authorities in Gaza had informed it that it was impossible to evacuate vulnerable hospital patients from northern Gaza, in the wake of Israel’s evacuation order.

"There are severely ill people whose injuries mean their only chances of survival is being on life support, such as mechanical ventilators," said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic.

"So moving those people is a death sentence. Asking health workers to do so is beyond cruel."

Rockets are currently being fired from Gaza into southern Israel, targeting Ashkelon.

A BBC team on the ground saw one impact.

Hamas's military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, are claiming to have fired 150 rockets.

Lyse Doucet
Chief International Correspondent, reporting from southern Israel

Israel’s order to all Palestinians in the northern half of the coastal strip to move south within 24 hours is a command issued in the name of “safety and protection". It’s also a recipe for what the UN calls “devastating humanitarian consequences".

It’s not even possible to move more than one million people in a day: roads are broken; bombs are falling; homes are destroyed; the elderly and the ill need help.

And one of the world’s most densely populated pieces of land would become utterly uninhabitable. It already is.

Under pressure from its closest allies, including the US, Israel wants to be seen to be taking precautions to limit civilian suffering as its military operations intensify.

One of its main targets now is Hamas’s underground tunnels - destroying them means smashing residential areas above ground.

Gazans, terrified by non-stop bombardment and the agony of diminishing food and fuel, are now bombarded by a demand from Israel to go, and messages from Hamas telling them to stay.

And a people with a history of being pushed from their homes from one war to the next know that any temporary movements become permanent.

It's coming up to 11:30 in Israel and Gaza today, here's what's been happening:

• Israel's order - Israel has told everyone in Gaza City to relocate to the southern part of the Strip in the next 24 hours for safety ahead of an expected ground offensive
• Hamas says don't move - But a Hamas official has described Israel's order for people in the north of Gaza to relocate to the south as "fake propaganda", and has urged citizens there to ignore it
• UN says it's impossible - The UN has called on Israel to withdraw the order, saying 1.1 million people in northern Gaza has been told to move which is "impossible"
• More leaders visit region- The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin are visiting in Israel today to continue the show of solidarity. The US's top diplomat Antony Blinken is already in the region talking to leaders

• Coming up later today - we'll be watching for any protests after Hamas and Hezbollah called for anti-Israel rallies today "across the Arab and Islamic world". Meanwhile, more repatriation flights are taking off from Israel - with the US sending its first one

At least 13 Israeli and foreign hostages held in the Gaza Strip have been killed in Israeli air strikes in the past 24 hours, Hamas’s armed wing says.

"Thirteen prisoners... including foreigners" were killed in five locations targeted by Israeli fighter jets, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.

Hamas took about 150 people captive when it launched its surprise attack on 7 October. It has threatened to kill hostages if civilians homes are bombed by Israel without warning.

As the reports came in, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps told ITV he would treat the claims with "caution" but "deep concern".