Faisal Islam
Economics Editor at the World Bank annual meetings in Marrakesh

Image source, Getty Images

The UK's International Development Minister, Andrew Mitchell, has told the BBC that a review of funding for Palestinian refugees could mean the UK government fast-tracking support. He said they could move "essential humanitarian supplies" nearby in order to respond quickly to what was most needed.

While some European nations suspended bilateral aid after the Hamas attacks, the UK is making some preparations to accelerate support to the UN refugee programme. "We will do whatever is necessary to play our part in meeting humanitarian need," Mitchell said.

He told the BBC that the support for Palestinians was "watched 24/7" to ensure there was no leakage to, for example, the Hamas administration in Gaza.

But he said he was pretty confident about aid to the "respected" UN Relief and Works Association, which has offered relief to Palestinians for decades, and he pointed out that the US had also increased its aid to the body.

Image source, Getty Images

The Israeli military says it has struck a "terrorist target" in southern Lebanon belonging to the Hezbollah militant group.

It says it acted after it intercepted two "unidentified targets" above the northern city of Haifa, which is close to the Lebanese border, and after an unidentified UAV (drone) crossed into northern Israel. An Israeli military drone was also fired upon, the Israelis say.

Israeli forces have exchanged limited fire with Hezbollah several times this week.

Like Hamas, the Lebanese group has been designated a terrorist organisation by the UK, US and other countries.

Backed by Iran, it has a strong military and political presence in Lebanon, and wields considerable power in a country without a functioning government or president. In 2006, it fought a devastating war with Israel in which 1,200 people died.

Read this report on the situation at the Lebanese border by BBC Middle East correspondent Anna Foster.

Barbara Plett Usher
US State Department correspondent, BBC News

Image source, Reuters

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has arrived in Saudi Arabia. It’s his fifth stop on a tour of six Arab countries as he tries to prevent the conflict between Hamas and Israel from spreading to the region.

Blinken wants Arab states to clearly condemn Hamas and to also show restraint over Israel’s response.

But as he arrived in Riyadh, the Saudi foreign ministry issued its strongest criticism of Israel yet, condemning what it called the targeting of defenceless civilians.

The Saudis had been in talks to normalise ties with Israel but that’s apparently on hold now.

They did resume relations with Iran earlier in the year, and the Saudi crown prince had a phone call with Iran’s president this week.

Blinken will want to hear about that because he’s asking allies to warn Tehran against getting involved in the conflict.

The US secretary of state will also be visiting Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza. There he’ll discuss efforts to set up a corridor for humanitarian aid and to establish safe zones for civilians inside Gaza.

While the death tolls in Israel and Gaza grow, up to 150 hostages are being held captive by Hamas while their families live in hope and fear.

The Palestinian militant group says it has hidden them in "safe places and tunnels" within Gaza but has threatened to kill them if civilian homes are bombed by Israel without warning.

Among them are Channah Peri, 79, and her son Nadav Popplewell, 51.

Channah's daughter Ayelet Svatitzky told the BBC she had been speaking to them on the phone when gunmen burst in. She said the militants had sent pictures of her two relatives, who both have diabetes, with armed men in the background.

Here are the stories of people confirmed by the BBC, or credibly reported, to have been taken hostage by Hamas from Israel. They include 13 children and at least eight over-60s

It's coming up to 03:00 in Israel and Gaza and these are the latest developments:

• Palestinian civilians have been fleeing northern Gaza by car, on the back of trucks and on foot after an Israeli warning that civilians should move south inside 24 hours
• 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
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken 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 attacks on Israel a week ago which 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
• A Reuters news agency journalist, Issam Abdallah, has been killed while working in southern Lebanon

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

The Israeli army says it's launched localised raids inside Gaza. Here's what we are hearing about its latest movements:

• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say they have conducted raids in Gazan territory "to eliminate the threat of terrorist cells and infrastructure".
• The IDF also say soldiers collected evidence that will aid in locating hostages.
• They posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying, external: "The Israeli Air Force continued striking Hamas terrorist targets and anti-tank missile launchers in Gaza immediately after they were used to attack Israel."
• The air force said the IDF had carried out local raids in the Gaza Strip "to complete the effort to cleanse the area of ​​terrorists and weapons" and try to "locate missing persons".

Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, where thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing their homes in the north of the Gaza Strip ahead of further Israeli military action.

It is a week to the day since Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack out of Gaza, killing more than 1,300 civilians and soldiers inside Israel.

The death toll in Gaza, from Israel's retaliatory strikes, has risen to 1,900.

I’ve just taken over from our evening team here in London and, together with my colleague Jen Meierhans, will be bringing you the latest on what's happening in the region and its impact across the world.

Gary O'Donoghue
Washington Correspondent

Image source, Zarefah Baroud

This week, 24-year-old US-Palestinian Zarefah Baroud who lives in Seattle, Washington, lost six members of her extended family.

They were in Khan Younis in southern Gaza during bombardments on Monday afternoon.

Five of them were under the age of 18.

"They were having a party, they had just gotten out of the celebration. My cousin Anas was 18, he had just finished high school and started his first semester at the university," she recalls.

Image source, Zarefah Baroud

"My other cousin Walid, who was 15, had just finished memorizing the entire Quran. They were very intelligent and very motivated and an incredible family."

Through tears she tells of how other young relatives had to pull the bodies from the rubble.

She believes many other relatives have been killed, after losing communication with family on Wednesday. She says that phone battery life is "like gold" as there is no electricity in the areas they are in.

Baroud explains why her relatives did not want to leave Gaza City despite Israeli warnings to evacuate northern Gaza: "They believed this was either to be a trap, as they would be hit in their cars en route, or that they preferred to be murdered in their home than to live perpetually as refugees."

Image source, Zarefah Baroud

The number of people who have been killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes has reached 1,900, according to the Gazan ministry of health.

The number of wounded stands at 7,696, according to a spokesman for the ministry.

He added that 60% of the dead and wounded were women and children.