Fuel reserves at Gaza hospitals likely to run out in 24 hours, UN warns
With updates from Rushdi Abu Alouf in Gaza; Lyse Doucet, Lucy Williamson and Nick Beake in southern Israel; Jeremy Bowen, Yolande Knell, Tom Bateman, Alice Cuddy and Joel Gunter in Jerusalem; Anna Foster in northern Israel; and Hugo Bachega in southern Lebanon.
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Edited by Aparna Alluri
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Iran warns the situation could 'spiral out of control'
Iran's mission to the United Nation says that "if Israel's war crimes and genocide are not halted immediately, the situation could spiral out of control and ricochet far-reaching consequences".
In a post on X, the mission wrote that if that happens, "the responsibility lies with the UN, the Security Council and the states steering the Council toward a dead end".
Israeli strike hits Aleppo airport - Syrian officials
The Syrian authorities say Aleppo airport has been hit by an Israeli air strike, for the second time in a week.
"The Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport, which led to material damage to the airport and it being out of service," the Syrian defence ministry is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
The airport had just returned to service after being hit on Thursday, in what Syrian officials say had also been an Israeli strike.
There's been no comment from the Israelis.
On Thursday, Syrian state media said Israeli forces had hit the country's two main international airports in Damascus and Aleppo with missiles, putting them out of action.
The airports not only handle civil aviation but also host military bases, which are reportedly transit points for Iranian arms sent to Hezbollah - a militant group which is powerful in both Syria and Lebanon.
Read more here.
Israelis protest asking information about hostages
Tom Bateman
Reporting from Jerusalem
I’ve been speaking to Yotam Kipnis, whose parents and six other family members are missing after the atrocities at kibbutz Be’eri.
He had just been at a protest outside Israel’s defence ministry in Tel Aviv by families demanding more information about those missing and the hostages held by Hamas.
Kipnis criticised the intelligence failure to detect the attacks. He also believed the area around Gaza was left unprotected because troops had been deployed to the occupied West Bank by the hardline, ultranationalist government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
“It feels like the government abandoned us not only on this Saturday but before that. Because forces… were sent to the West Bank, forces that would have been vital in defending the [south of Israel], defending the people who live there.
“It’s called the IDF, the Israel Defense Force and that’s supposed to be its goal, to defend us, not to secure some crazy adventure of settlers in the West Bank which only harm the security of Israel and the security of its soldiers who are protecting those settlements.”
Kipnis’ parents Lilach, 60, and Eviatar, 65, have yet to be found. In a desperate phone call early last Saturday his mother told him she was sheltered the room and there were gunshots. That was his last call with her.
Biden speaks to both Netanyahu and Abbas
US President Joe Biden has spoken to both the Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in separate phone calls on Saturday.
He reiterated the US' unwavering support for Israel and affirmed his support "for all efforts to protect civilians", the White House said in a statement.
Biden discussed with both leaders US co-ordination with the UN, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and others in the region to ensure humanitarian supplies reach civilians in Gaza.
In his call with Abbas, Biden condemned Hamas’s "brutal attack" on Israel and discussed humanitarian efforts, offering the Palestinian Authority his full support in achieving those.
They also discussed US efforts to prevent the conflict from widening, and the need to preserve stability in the West Bank, a separate statement said.
US confirms 29 citizens killed, 16 still missing
The US State Department has confirmed 29 American citizens have been killed in Hamas attacks in Israel.
In a statement, the State Department added it was aware of 15 more citizens and one permanent resident of the US that are still unaccounted for.
Evacuation orders to hospitals are a death sentence - WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it strongly condemns Israel's orders for the evacuation of 22 hospitals treating more than 2,000 patients in northern Gaza.
WHO said that the lives of those in intensive care or who rely on life support; newborns in incubators, and many others hang in the balance, in a statement.
"Forcing more than 2,000 patients to relocate to southern Gaza... could be tantamount to a death sentence," the statement says.
The WHO says that health workers have overwhelmingly chosen to stay behind, rather than risk moving their critically ill patients, a choice it calls "impossible".
It also warns that many civilians are seeking refuge around hospitals, saying that their lives, too, are at risk "when health facilities are bombed".
The WHO ends its statement by calling for Israel "to immediately reverse evacuation orders to hospitals in northern Gaza," and calls for "the protection of health facilities, health workers, patients, and civilians".
Watch: How Hamas co-ordinated huge Israel attack
How did the militants manage to carry out last Saturday's brazen operation? The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera looks at Hamas' own videos, to find out what it tells us about the shock attack.
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There is no safe place, says Gaza resident
Tom Bateman
Reporting from Jerusalem
Mahmoud Shalabi is ignoring Israel's order to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip.
"I will not go south, basically, because it's lies, there is no place that is safe," he tells me on a WhatsApp call that keeps dropping out from his house. He says his point is proved because an explosion killed dozens of civilians as they evacuated on Friday.
Many see taking the road as a deadly gamble.
Shalabi, who works for the humanitarian group Medical Aid for Palestinians, says even basic painkillers are running out for the wounded.
An air strike that sounds dangerously close suddenly stops our conversation.
"Do you need to move?" I ask him.
"Man, there is no safe place. The safest place you can be is at home, there is no safe place in Gaza," he says.
"I will die in dignity in my home where I have a bed to sleep in, and where I still have some water, some connection to talk to my loved ones and let them know that I'm still surviving," he says.
The latest from Israel and Gaza
It's been a week since Hamas attacked Israel killing 1,300 people and taking hostages.
As the expectations for a ground operation by the Israeli army in Gaza are ramping up, here is the latest we know:
WATCH: 'Water, medicine running out here in Khan Younis'
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Khan Younis in south Gaza has to accommodate an additional half a million people after they were forced to evacuate the north by Israeli authorities.
The BBC's Rushdi Abu Alouf, who has had to move to the city with his family, described the situation as "tragic".
"Water is running out. In the hospital here, medicine is running out. Very little fuel, doctors told me, is left to run the generators," he said.
'We are not animals, we are human beings'
Muhammad, his wife and their three young children reached the Maghazi camp in southern Gaza on Friday after fleeing the north, but they still don't feel safe.
"We are suffering from having nothing, no relief," he told the BBC. "The situation is so bad, even moving is not safe."
Muhammad, aged 31, said the last three days had been "unspeakable".
"We are hostages here for both sides, for Israel and for Hamas," he said.
"If Israel are not able to find Hamas, they must not bomb the civilians and the infrastructure.
"We are not animals, we are not in a zoo, we are human beings."
Israel preparing for lengthy offensive
Tom Bateman
Reporting from Jerusalem
The statement released by the Israeli army is the most detailed yet about its preparations for a ground assault.
It basically says that its forces are still getting ready but makes it clear this will be a massive - and potentially lengthy - operation.
It says the army is now at a "critical juncture" after regaining control of all the Israeli territory that was overrun by Hamas.
But much of the focus is on the vast scale of the logistics involved for a "comprehensive offensive" by land, sea and air.
"This involves the establishment of forward logistics centres to streamline the equipment supply process, enabling our troops to equip themselves efficiently," a statement says.
That suggests they are still getting a system in place to supply forces at the front once they go in. And that's been a huge operation, involving the biggest call up of reservists in 50 years.
Will America's embrace of Israel help it shape aftermath?
Barbara Plett Usher
US State Department correspondent, BBC News
Antony Blinken's whirlwind tour of the Middle East - seven countries in four days - is his most intense trip since taking office.
The US Secretary of State is trying to get Arab governments to clearly condemn the Hamas attack, limit criticism of Israel’s counter offensive, and prevent the conflict from expanding into the region.
On the first, only Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have explicitly denounced the Hamas assault. Most of the Arab states are not fans of the Palestinian militant movement. But they're focused the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, because their citizens are.
Doha opposes "collective punishment" and "targeting civilians" said Qatar’s foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, in pointed language clearly directed at Israel.
In his public remarks, Blinken has been putting greater emphasis on protection of civilians.
At each stop he is also urging Arab governments to do what they can to ensure other actors in the region, especially Iran, don't get involved in the war.
There's some mention of the day after: "We need to work together to find a way out of this cycle of violence," said Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
It's not clear yet how America's forceful embrace of Israel in this time of war will affect its ability to shape the aftermath.
UN shelters in northern Gaza 'not safe anymore'
The UN relief agency operating in Gaza has said its shelters in the northern part of the territory "are not safe anymore" - calling it "unprecedented".
"This war should be no exception," UNRWA said in a statement. "Protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure including UN buildings applies to this conflict too."
It said that despite the order from Israeli authorities for Palestinians to leave for the south, many people including pregnant women, children, the elderly and those with disabilities will not be able to flee the area.
"Wars have rules," UNRWA said. "Civilians, hospitals, schools, clinics and UN premises cannot be a target."
Can Israel's ground offensive reach its ambitions?
Returning to the news in the last hour that Israel is planning an air, sea and land attack.
There were few specifics in the military's statement but a ground offensive into Gaza has been expected.
But what are Israel's goals in any offensive and can they be met?
It has pledged to wipe Hamas from the face of the Earth. The goal of Operation Swords of Iron appears far more ambitious than anything the military has planned in Gaza before.
The BBC's Paul Kirby examines whether Israel could, in reality, dismantle Hamas and what Gaza's future holds.
Read the full analysis here.
Father saves daughter he hadn't seen for six years
Nick Beake
Reporting from Tel Aviv
It has been seven days since Hamas launched its attack against Israel and stories of extraordinary courage, and horror, continue to emerge.
Neta Portal was shot six times when Hamas gunmen stormed the Kfar Aza kibbutz in southern Israel.
She and her boyfriend had jumped from a window to escape a grenade, only for Hamas militants to open fire.
Neta told the BBC she knew there was only one person who could rescue her from almost certain death - the father she hadn't spoken to for six years.
Read how Shimon Portal got to his daughter and saved her life.
Two Lebanese civilians killed in southern Lebanon - mayor
Hugo Bachega
BBC Middle East correspondent
Two Lebanese civilians have been killed in shelling of the southern Lebanese village of Shebaa, its mayor says, as cross-border violence intensifies.
Mohammad Harb told the BBC the victims were a couple in their late 60s.
“They were killed by four Israeli rockets as they were sitting at home around dusk,” he said.
The BBC could not independently verify the claim, and the Israeli military has been approached for comment.
The village is located near the disputed Shebaa Farms/Mount Dov area, in the Lebanon-Israel-Syria border area.
Violence in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel has escalated since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, a week ago.
Militants in Lebanon - including from the Hezbollah group - and the Israeli army have exchanged rockets and shelling in recent days.
Earlier, Hezbollah said it had attacked an Israeli surveillance and monitoring centre in Shebaa Farms/Mount Dov.
Humanity is failing, UN aid chief says
Staying with the humanitarian situation in Gaza for a moment, the UN has been speaking more about its fears on this.
The conditions are "fast becoming untenable," UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said.
There is no power, water or fuel in Gaza, and food is running dangerously low, Griffiths said, adding that families have been bombed "while inching their way south along congested, damaged roads, following an evacuation order by Israel".
"I fear that the worst is yet to come," he added. "Humanity is failing."
Amid calls from the UN for ramping up efforts to let humanitarian aid into Gaza, a total number of at least five planes carrying humanitarian relief have arrived in Egypt's Sinai, the Red Cross officials said.
The World Health Organization said a plane carrying trauma medicines and health supplies had also landed.
Al Arish airport on Sinai is about 45 km (28 miles) from the Gaza border, but the Rafah crossing remains closed.
Turkey's and Germany's foreign ministers are in Egypt today, working with Egyptian officials to get aid into Gaza.
Germany and the US are also working on taking their citizens out of Gaza to Egypt through Rafah.
European Union to triple humanitarian aid for Gaza
Sofia Bettiza
BBC News, Brussels
The European Commission said it will immediately triple humanitarian assistance for Gaza.
That's an extra 50m (£43m) euros in humanitarian aid - for a total of 75m euros. The EU is already the largest foreign donor to the Palestinian people.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said she is working in close cooperation with the UN to ensure that this aid reaches those in need in the Gaza strip.
"This tripling of EU humanitarian assistance will help ensure that civilians in Gaza can be provided with the basic necessities required," said Janez Lenarèiè, the Commissioner for Crisis Management.
"It is essential that safe and unrestricted access for humanitarian aid is ensured."
BreakingIsraeli military planning attack by land, air and sea
The Israeli Defense Forces released a statement a short while ago, saying their forces are preparing to expand their operations on the ground.
"IDF is gearing up for a comprehensive offensive" with the help of hundreds of thousands of reserve personnel, it says.
No timings were given. A ground offensive into the Gaza Strip has been expected and Israel has asked residents in the north to flee.
It says they plan an offensive "involving air, sea, and land" forces, according to this new statement.
"Essential combat equipment has already been dispatched" to the relevant locations, and the "IDF battalions and soldiers are strategically deployed across the country" it added.
It concluded that the soldiers have "a strong emphasis on a substantial ground operation".