Image source, Reuters

As a reminder, this latest conflict erupted on 7 October when Palestinian militant group Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, external, the US and the European Union, launched an attack on Israel.

Hamas fighters entered communities near the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,400 people, carrying out rocket strikes, and taking scores of hostages.

Gunmen began a rampage through several kibbutzim in Israel after they broke through the border wire from Gaza, with civilians describing a massacre in these Israeli communities.

The capture of Israeli hostages is thought to be designed to pressure Israel to free some of the estimated 4,500 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Hamas said it has hidden the hostages in "safe places and tunnels" within Gaza, and threatened to kill them if civilian homes were bombed by Israel without warning.

Read more here about the latest attacks here.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of meeting with the families of hostages taken by Hamas.

Addressing the Knesset, Israel's parliament, Netanyahu said he listened "with tremendous pain" to the stories of the families, embraced them, and spoke of his commitment to reunite them.

"We are relentless in this effort to bring back our brothers and sisters, men and women, children and babies," he said.

Netanyahu offered thanks to US President Biden for his support, and also thanked Britain, Germany, France and Italy for their "assistance".

• Israel says at least 199 people are being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.

Why is Blinken back in Israel already?published at 14:42 British Summer Time 16 October 2023

14:42 BST 16 October 2023

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

For four days, America’s top diplomat, Antony Blinken, has toured the Middle East, visiting no fewer than six Arab nations: Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

His aim was to listen and learn and discuss how best to get humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and allow foreign nationals to leave.

But the tour was also designed to let the region know the US was seeking to deter Iran from intervening in support of Hamas, which the country has long funded and armed. The presence of the US carrier group in the eastern Mediterranean is there explicitly to deter Iran’s other regional proxy, Hezbollah, from attacking Israel’s northern flank from Lebanon.

Another part of the US strategy to prevent escalation is to urge restraint on Israel.

Blinken has returned to Israel to report back on his tour. And one message will be: The way Israel seeks to destroy Hamas in Gaza - in particular the way it treats civilians - will shape how the region responds.

Image source, Reuters

Water is now "running out" in Gaza, Jason Lee of Save the Children told the BBC this morning from Ramallah in the West Bank.

He said the aid agency had had reports that the water was flowing in parts of southern Gaza again, but that without fuel or electricity to pump it, it would not be available to the general population.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA told the BBC on Monday that the 6000 displaced people at its Rafah logistics base were down to one litre of water per person per day.

It also posted on social media, external that a quarter of a million people had moved to its shelters in the past 24 hours - the majority of them in Unrwa schools where "clean water has actually run out".

The UN’s office for coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said on Sunday that Israel had partially resumed water supply to the eastern Khan Younis area but that the volume and impact of this supply was unclear.

OCHA also said in its report that Gaza’s last functioning seawater desalination plant shut down on Sunday and that some people were resorting to consuming brackish water extracted from agricultural wells.

The main suppliers of clean drinking water are now private vendors who operate small desalination and water purification plants mostly run by solar energy, the organisation said.

Jason Shawa, a translator working in Gaza, said he was watching out for water tankers and paying to fill up a cubic-metre sized container - which "maybe will last us for two days if we ration it".

Image source, EPA

More than 1,000 are still missing under houses and buildings destroyed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza, the Palestinian civil defence said yesterday.

And this morning, Eyad Al-Bozom, spokesman for the Hamas-run ministry of interior in Gaza, also confirmed this number of people were missing.

At least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded since 7 October in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

Among them, 11 were Palestinian journalists, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.

And in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority's health ministry said that 58 people had been killed and more than 1,250 wounded in the West Bank.

As we reported earlier, the US's top diplomat Antony Blinken has returned to Israel to continue discussions.

It's expected he'll be echoing sentiment from President Biden, who told American news channel CBS yesterday that the US would provide Israel with whatever it needs, and said he believed Hamas needed to be eliminated.

"Israel is going after a group of people who have engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust. And - so I think Israel has to respond.

"They have to go after Hamas. Hamas is a bunch of cowards. They're hiding behind the civilians."

When questioned over the ongoing siege of Gaza, where water, fuel and power have been cut off, Biden said he believed a humanitarian corridorshould be established.

He urged Israel to exercise caution as its ground forces prepare for an offensive in the territory, saying it would be “a big mistake” for Israel to occupy Gaza.

Biden is weighing up an invite from Israel to visit the country, and may fly there in the coming days.

Israel has continued its bombardment of Gaza in the past 24 hours.

Israeli media say more than a 100 military targets were hit overnight, including compounds, command posts and launching sites for anti-tank rockets.

Palestinian health officials say more than 2,700 people have been killed since the airstrikes began.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, .

In Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis, Mohammad Ghalayini, a British citizen who lives in Manchester but returned to his hometown in Gaza last month, is sheltering.

The fuel shortage in Gaza has stopped civilians from using home pumps to access water, he says, after municipal pumps were switched off last week when Israel cut off supplies of fuel, power, water and other goods after the Hamas attacks.

Supplies of drinking water are being distributed "very sporadically", he tells the BBC.

Ghalayini says he has heard from people sheltering in UN schools, of which there are thousands, who told him their food rations consist of "a can of sardines and a can of corned beef, with no bread... people are really struggling".

Image source, Getty Images

The border between Egypt and Gaza is still closed, despite earlier reports that it was about to reopen to foreign nationals.

Crowds have gathered at the Rafah crossing, waiting to be let through.

Rafah is on the border between Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Hamas-governed Gaza and is the only crossing into the territory not controlled by Israel. You can see it marked on the map below.

There is no way for people to leave Gaza right now - as all crossings are closed - and no way for aid to get in.

Image source, .

Egypt's foreign minister said Israel has yet to take a stance to allow the crossing to open.

And Benjamin Netanyahu's office has denied reports of a ceasefire that would have facilitated the opening of the crossing.

Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has arrived in Israel to discuss allowing aid supplies into Gaza as desperation grows for food, medicine and fuel.

Read more: What is the Rafah crossing and why is it Gaza's lifeline?

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

On the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing there are long lines of lorries waiting with hundreds of tonnes of desperately needed aid - while on the Gaza side, there are crowds of Palestinians with foreign passports, hoping to leave.

Reports of the border opening have proven to be premature.

Instead, only about 150,000 litres of fuel have been transferred from Egypt - a local official told me - to run water and sewage pumping stations in Gaza.

UN officials warn of “an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.

They say hospitals are set to run out of fuel within a day endangering the lives of thousands of sick and wounded people.

Jeremy Bowen
International editor, reporting from southern Israel

The kibbutz of Kfar Aza overlooks Gaza and is one of those where a massacre took place.

When we visited just after it had been recaptured, a gunfire battle broke out as we entered and they were still removing bodies.

Now, it’s much calmer and there is a constant stream of soldiers coming to and fro, stacking lorries, clearing houses, preparing food and munitions.

It’s clearly a base for setting up supply and command posts and there is a real feeling they have organised themselves - which makes me think they are almost ready.

Image source, PA Media

During his visit to a Jewish school in north London this morning, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was asked by a student to give some guidance on the line between protesting for Palestinians and supporting Hamas.

The prime minister said given Hamas was a proscribed terrorist organisation, "it's very clear under the law that support for Hamas is illegal" and punishable by jail. So too are actions that incite violence or stir up religious hatred and racial violence, he said.

Speaking to broadcasters during the visit, he said: "I know it's an anxious time for many families who will have loved ones who are impacted or missing.

"We're providing all the consular support through the Foreign Office that we can and also providing direct support to the Israelis."

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Jerusalem

Image source, Handout

One of the last messages Abdalhadi Alijla has had from his 10-year-old niece Aya read: “Dear Uncle, God willing, everything will be OK.”

Then she sent a crying emoji, and some pictures of fresh damage to their home in Gaza City from an Israeli air strike.

Then, in the final message he has received: “Uncle, I love you. I don't want to die. I want you to be with me."

That was Thursday morning, four days ago. Alijla had been messaging with Aya every day before that, checking in with her and sending messages of strength. “We are very close,” he said, in a phone interview from his home in Sweden.

Aya is his sister’s daughter. She loves painting and playing football, Alijla said. The whole family live in Gaza City but now Alijla has no idea where they are. Three of his other siblings who live in Gaza and all of their children are also now out of contact.

Last week, Israeli authorities declared a "complete siege" of the territory, saying electricity, food, fuel and water would be cut off, in response to the Hamas attacks which have left 1,400 people dead.

Israel’s retaliatory bombing campaign in Gaza has destroyed telecommunications infrastructure there, leaving internet or telephone connection all but impossible for many.

“My family was all living in the heart of Gaza City, now I know nothing about where they are or if they are OK,” Alijla said.

“Every day I try to call, over and over, but nothing works. Everything has been cut off.”

Image source, Reuters

One of the most senior United Nations officials says the UN is "deep in negotiations" to get the first aid into Gaza since Israel launched its bombardment nine days ago in response to the wave of killings by Hamas.

Under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs Martin Griffiths believes around one million people from the north of Gaza have moved south in response to Israel's direct request.

He said there had been "no movement" on the release of the hostages, and said their capture was "an egregious, illegal, unaccaptable, immoral act" and "they have to be released immediately".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said there as a requirement under international humanitarian law that civilians should be able to move out of harms's way, with access to aid, and this is "being breached".

"We need aid in. We need clarity about places of safety which will ... not be attacked, will not be a part of the war between the two sides and, of course we need a corridor which people can rely on.

"Movement needs to be voluntary, it needs to be accompanied by humanitarian assistance, it needs to be safe - so, please, no bombing as they move.

"And we are in detailed discussions, by the way, with the Israelis about all of those issues."

Griffiths spoke to the BBC this morning - we've since heard he will be travelling to the region on Tuesday.

Israel does not want to occupy Gazapublished at 11:32 British Summer Time 16 October 2023

11:32 BST 16 October 2023

Jeremy Bowen
International Editor, reporting from Ashkelon

Image source, EPA

Israel needs to decide exactly what its forces do and where they go when they’re in Gaza, and just as importantly, what happens afterwards.

There are more than 2.4 million people in Gaza and if Hamas is removed - who is going to take control and govern there?

There is some speculation the rival Palestinian faction Fatah might come in - but that would effectively be on the back of an Israeli tank and would therefore lack credibility.

The Israelis don’t want to occupy Gaza, but they might be forced to for a while if there is no viable alternative.

So this war is not going to be clean and easy in any sense.

In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is visiting a Jewish school in north London to show his support for the Jewish community.

Sunak offers his assurances that Britain is doing everything it can to provide support to the families of UK nationals taken hostage by Hamas.

The prime minister also said he had spoken to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to urge him to open the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza - the only crossing out of the area not controlled by Israel.

Sunak also said had "raised with the Israeli prime minister the need to minimise the impact on civilians as best we can".

Rushdi Abu Alouf
Reporting from Khan Younis

I am standing in front of this long queue where people are just waiting to buy bread.

The bakery opened this morning after a small shipment of wheat arrived from southern Gaza.

Hundreds of people are waiting to get some. I asked some of them, and they believe not all of them will have the chance to get this bread.

They are only giving each person five pieces.

Everyone in the queue has two, three... five families that fled from the north, from the south, from everywhere and they have come to Khan Younis for refuge.

Image source, .

A reminder that you can head to our topic page where you can find explainers, personal stories, long reads, and a wealth of video gathered and produced by our teams in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon.

Also, our correspondents will be on hand later today to answer any questions you may have.

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If you're just joining us or need a recap, here is what you need to know:

• Around a million Palestinians are now believed to have fled southwards from northern Gaza - a top UN official says - ahead of what is expected to be a major ground offensive by Israel
• Israel's military says 199 people have been taken hostage by Hamas - an increase of 44 from the figure given yesterday
• Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas have denied reports earlier that a truce was in place in order to allow aid to get in through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt
• The Rafah crossing remains closed despite crowds of people gathering at the gates and growing calls for food, medical supplies and fuel to be allowed into Gaza
• America's top diplomat Antony Blinken has arrived in Tel Aviv for meetings after several days of diplomacy, travelling between Arab nations

Image source, Reuters

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has landed in Israel again just four days after his previous visit.

It's expected he'll meet with leaders in Jerusalem to continue discussions over the war in Gaza.

Blinken first went to Tel Aviv on Thursday to show America's support for Israel, then travelled to six Arab states to continue diplomatic discussions.

There's also speculation that President Biden will visit Israel in the coming days after receiving an invitation from the country.