The Royal Air Force has been brought in to evacuate UK citizens from Israel, according to flight tracking websites.

Data showed an Airbus A400M transport made two return flights from Cyprus to Tel Aviv on Friday night, with the Foreign Office only confirming that it had made arrangements to get Britons out of the country after commercial carriers suspended services to Israel/

A statement said that "further flights are expected to leave in the coming days while commercial options are limited".

Last week's attack by Hamas on Israel left more than 1,300 people dead. The AFP news agency has compiled a list of more than 100 foreigners who have been confirmed dead, missing, or taken hostage, based on information from their national authorities. Many more are unaccounted for:

• US: 27 dead
• Thailand: 24 dead
• France: 15 dead
• Nepal: 10 dead
• Argentina: Seven dead
• Ukraine: Seven dead
• Russia: Four dead
• UK: Four dead
• Chile: Four dead
• Austria: Three dead
• Belarus: Three dead
• Canada: Three dead
• China: Three dead
• Philippines: Three dead
• Brazil: Three dead
• Peru: Two dead
• Romania: Two dead
• Australia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Colombia, Paraguay: One dead
• Germany, Mexico: Several hostages taken
• Italy, Paraguay, Sri Lanka, Tanzania: Several missing

Image source, Reuters

Jordan's foreign minister has said any move by Israel to impose a new displacement of Palestinians would push the region to the "abyss" of a wider conflict.

In a statement, Ayman Safadi also says Israel's blocking of humanitarian aid to Gaza and its order for citizens in the north of the territory to evacuate are a "flagrant" breach of international law.

United Nations' World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says in a post on X, external that an aircraft with medical supplies to support urgent health needs has landed in the Egyptian city of Arish, about 28 miles (45km) from the border with Gaza.

He says supplies are ready to be deployed to Gaza as soon as humanitarian access through a crossing is established.

It follows a meeting he held with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Monday, during which they discussed supplies for Gaza.

Image source, Reuters

More than 1,300 buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed during Israel's near week-long bombardment, the United Nations says.

The UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said "5,540 housing units" in those buildings were destroyed and nearly 3,750 more homes were so badly damaged they are uninhabitable.

Image source, EPA

Earlier, we reported that the bodies of some of the Israelis seized by Hamas during the attack last Saturday have been recovered.

In an update, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it found an unspecified number of bodies and had notified the families of the dead.

"What we know is that the build-up of troops around the Gaza perimeter has, in the last 24 hours, performed what they have called localised raids," the BBC's Middle East correspondent Tom Bateman tells Radio 4's Today programme.

He says it is notable that this is the first time the IDF has given an update on the activity of its troops, which he says seems to confirm they were initially sent over the border "to try and destroy rocket-launching squads".

The troops were also sent in to gather information about the missing Israelis, Bateman says.

Image source, Reuters

Jan Egeland, the Norwegian former diplomat who was involved with the Oslo Accord and facilitated talks between the Palestinians and Israel, tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Israel's evacuation order for northern Gaza is a forced transfer of people, considered a war crime under the Geneva Convention.

Egeland, who is secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. adds there is now no practical way of approaching the humanitarian "catastrophe" underway in Gaza.

There are "many children under the rubble that no-one can dig out... tens of thousands destroyed or unliveable housing units... thousands of people fleeing for their lives," he says.

Egeland says the scale of the crisis in Gaza has not yet been grasped fully by the West.

"The UK, US and EU have rightfully said we're with Israel in fighting terror," Egeland adds. " I hope they haven't given a green light to smash a million children."

It was a week ago today that Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel. Hundreds were killed, prompting Israel to launch retaliatory air strikes on Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians.

Here is an abridged recap the key developments from this first week of war:

• Amid soaring Israeli-Palestinian tensions, Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, with its fighters entering communities near the Gaza Strip. More than 1,300 people were killed and up to 150 were taken hostage
• Israel launched a bombing campaign against Gaza in the aftermath, killing nearly 2,000 people and displacing around 338,000 others
• A total blockade was also enforced on Gaza by Israel, with fuel, food and water running out. It said the siege would not end until Israeli hostages were released
• Israel has massed tens of thousands of soldiers, including some 300,000 reservists, on its border with Gaza

• About 1.1 million people living in the northern Gaza Strip have been told to evacuate south ahead of an expected ground offensive by Israeli forces. The UN called the order "horrendous"

• The UK government chartered a flight on Friday to bring British citizens home from Israel

Image source, .

The Israeli military says it has killed "a number of terrorists" after they attempted to cross from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), external, the "terrorist cell" was identified a short while ago.

The Israeli Air Force carried out the strike using an an unmanned aerial vehicle, it adds. No further detail was given about the number killed nor the group they belonged to.

The BBC has not verified the claim.

Civilians living in northern Gaza have been told by the Israeli military to use two roads to head south today, according to a spokesperson.

In a statement posted in Arabic on X, external, formerly Twitter, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Avichay Adraee said two routes can be used between the hours of 10am and 4pm local time (7am to 1pm GMT) "without any harm".

Those living in Gaza City have been advised to move south from Beit Hanoun to Khan Yunis, ahead of a potential ground offensive by the Israeli army.

People living near the beach and west of Zeitoun will also be allowed to move on Daldul and Al-Sana Streets towards Salah Al-Din and Al-Bahr, Adraee adds.

Paul Kirby
BBC News

Israel's expected military operation is at the mercy of several factors that could derail it.

Hamas's armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, will have prepared for an Israeli offensive. Explosive devices will have been set, and ambushes planned. It can use its notorious and extensive network of tunnels to attack Israeli forces.

In 2014, Israeli infantry battalions suffered heavy losses from anti-tank mines, snipers and ambushes, while hundreds of civilians died fighting in a northern neighbourhood of Gaza City.

That is one reason Israel has demanded the evacuation of 1.1 million Palestinians from the northern half of the Gaza Strip.

Israelis have been warned the war could take months, and a record 360,000 reservists have reported for duty.

The question is how long Israel can continue its campaign without international pressure to pull back.Read Paul's analysis in full.

Image source, AFP

Turning our attention now to Beijing, where EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has just told a press conference that Israel's evacuation order for people in northern Gaza was "utterly impossible to implement".

Tens of thousands of civilians began fleeing to the south of Gaza yesterday after Israel told people to leave the area ahead of an expected ground offensive.

"To imagine that you could move one million people in 24 hours in a situation like Gaza can only be a humanitarian crisis," Borrell said, on the final day of a three-day diplomatic visit to China.

Despite the EU's expression of support for Israel, he also warned that it was also obligated to follow international humanitarian law in the process of defending itself.

"The position is clear," said Borrell. "But, as any right, it has a limit. And this limit is international law."

The anticipated ground offensive into Gaza dominates Saturday’s front pages.

The Daily Telegraph quotes a spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces asasaying the localised raids carried out on Friday ahead of the offensive were intended to locate Israeli hostages and "cleanse the area of terrorists and weaponry".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is quoted by the Daily Mail saying the operation will be "just the beginning" and vowing that "we will end this war stronger than ever".

The i reports that the UN has warned that Gaza is descending into a "hellhole" and is on the "brink of collapse", while the Financial Times says the body estimates that more than 423,000 people in the territory have already been internally displaced.

"Give innocents chance of life," reads the headline in the Daily Express. The paper carries a plea to Israel from the Archbishop of Canterbury that "the sins of Hamas are not borne by the citizens of Gaza".

The Daily Mirror says that here in the UK the Met Police are on high alert and braced for a terror attack ahead of pro-Palestine demonstrations set to take place in London on Saturday. Deputy assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor is quoted saying a "very significant policing operation" is in place.

Yolande Knell
BBC Middle East correspondent, Jerusalem

Image source, Getty Images

More than a million Palestinians in the northern half of the Gaza Strip are facing an Israeli deadline today to relocate to the south. The UN estimates that tens of thousands have moved.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his country’s heaviest bombardment ever of Gaza in recent days was “just the beginning”.

At least 1,900 people in Gaza have been killed in strikes carried out in retaliation for the killing of 1,300 Israelis in surprise attacks by Hamas gunmen one week ago.

There’s been panic in the northern part of the densely populated Gaza Strip since Israel dropped flyers instructing residents to leave. While long lines of people and vehicles quickly formed on routes south, many said they’d defy the order or haven’t yet moved.

The UN and other organisations have warned of a disaster if so many Palestinians are forced to flee, calling on Israel to lift its siege of Gaza to let in humanitarian aid.

One week after Israel suffered its deadliest ever day of attacks, it’s continuing its heavy bombardment of Gaza saying it aims to eradicate the Islamist militant group Hamas which governs the territory. Hamas has vowed to fight to the last drop of blood.

With preparations laid for a ground invasion, the Israeli military says its forces have already carried out limited raids inside Gaza targeting Palestinians firing rockets and gathering information on dozens of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.

Lt Col Conricus says Israeli reserve soldiers are in formation all around the Gaza Strip getting ready for the next stage of operations.

"Our aim is very clear, the end stage of this war is that we will dismantle Hamas and its military capabilities, and fundamentally change the situation so that Hamas never again has the ability to inflict any damage on Israeli civilians or soldiers."

He talks about an event close to the Lebanese border which we reported on earlier.

"Hezbollah fighters fired an anti-tank missile towards Israeli troops, there was short battle and the situation eventually calmed down," he says. "Afterwards Hezbollah sent drones into Israel and also fired surface-to-air missiles against Israeli aircraft."

He says those two attempts were successfully intercepted but the situation on the northern border "remains very tense".

The Israel Defense Force has just given an update on the hostage situation.

"As of this time, the IDF has confirmed that over 120 civilians are being held captive in Gaza by the Hamas terrorist organization," it posted on X, formerly known as Twitter., external

The Israel Defense Force spokesman says there are things he wants to "clarify and emphasise and make abundantly clear".

"Palestinian civilians in Gaza are not our enemies and we do not target them as such," Conricus says.

"We are trying to do the right thing, we are trying to evacuate civilians in order to minimise the risk for them."

He says: "It is extremely sad and regrettable that so many media outlets are focusing on our actions instead of putting the responsibility on the entity that governs the Gaza strip, and that is Hamas."

He goes on to say: "All of this is Hamas' doing - we are responding to the situation. We are trying not to strike civilians or their infrastructure."

According to the Palestinian authorities, nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Israel's bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack a week ago.

The Israeli army has just held a press conference streamed live on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Lt Col Jonathan Conricus says the Israeli army "advertised our intentions in advance...because we want civilians not to be affected by the war".

"They are not our enemy, we are not trying to kill or injure any civilians we are fighting against Hamas," he says.

He says the army has seen people listening to their warnings and moving out of a dangerous area.

He says it is "extremely sad and worrying" to see Hamas trying to stop Palestinian civilians from evacuating the area.

At least 150 hostages seized by Hamas gunmen from southern Israel last Saturday are believed to be held at secret locations inside Gaza. Among them are women, children and the elderly.

Hamas had threatened to kill one hostage for each time an Israeli air strike killed civilians without warning. Israeli media are reporting that troops raiding Gaza found the bodies and belongings of some of the missing people.

This leaves the Israeli government with a dilemma. Does it attempt an armed rescue mission, something fraught with risks? Or does it wait for longer, until Hamas is so weakened by air strikes that it might be more willing to make a deal?

Michael Milstein, who spent 20 years in Israeli military intelligence, told the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner: "This is without question the most difficult hostage situation Israel has ever faced in its history".

The bodies of some of the Israelis seized by Hamas during its attack a week ago were recovered by the Israeli army during a ground raid on Gaza on Friday, Israeli newspapers report.

Haaretz, external and the Jerusalem Post, external say that the Israel Defence Forces found an unspecified number of bodies, bringing them back to Israeli territory, and found some items belonging to people missing.

Infantry and armoured units took part in the raid during which a Hamas cell which fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli territory was "taken out", the Jerusalem Post says.