Tom Bateman
Reporting from Tel Aviv

Central Tel Aviv is locked down.

Hundreds of armed Israeli security forces are in front of barricades forming a ring around the venue President Biden will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

I’m among an international press corps now waiting for his arrival at the venue. It’s chaotic here.

At one point a US security official ordered press members back from a crowded check point inside, amid rowdy confusion about who was allowed past.

It’s a sign of how quickly this has all been slapped together. It’s extremely rare for a US president to make a visit to a conflict zone at such short notice.

And now, after last night’s blast at Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, the second part of this trip is already cancelled. As we've reported, Biden was supposed to meet Arab leaders in Amman later today.

The sense of crisis surrounding this trip is showing.

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Image source, European Parliament

Let's break away from Hagari's statement for a moment.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has just told the European Parliament there's no excuse for hitting a hospital full of civilians in Gaza, calling the Al Ahli explosion a "senseless tragedy".

"All facts need to be established and those responsible must be held accountable," she said, without attributing blame.

Von der Leyen has faced some criticism for her visit to Israel last week, in which she did not caveat her message of solidarity by stressing Israel also had to follow humanitarian law.

In this morning's address she made clear "Europe stands with Israel in this dark moment", adding that Israel had a right to defend itself in line with international law.

But she also emphasised that the EU had always been the biggest donor for Palestinians and "this will not change".

A follow up question now from Jeremy Bowen. He points to Hagari's remark that Middle Eastern leaders are following BBC coverage in order to make up their minds about what happened.

"I'm impressed you think we have that much clout in the world," he says. "They [the countries] have their own sources."

Bowen says the countries released statements "long before" he filed his report on what happened.

Hagari responds by saying he is not blaming the countries for releasing statements, adding that people feel "empathy" when they see a blast at a hospital.

"I'm just trying now to fix it," he says. "We're taking the time to be credible."

Hamas is like ISIS, Hagari says. "It's media, and sword."

Next up is a question from the BBC's international editor Jeremy Bowen.

He asks Hagari whether he thinks the governments of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - which last night condemned Israel for the hospital blast - will believe his claims.

Hagari says all the countries mentioned are "watching the BBC carefully" and "looking carefully at what the BBC says".

He hopes, following the IDF's analysis, that "the BBC will now share this investigation and those countries will listen".

He adds that the IDF intends to share the analysis with the US - and any other country that wants to see it.

Hagari's taking questions now - and there's one from US outlet CNN about the IDF's "credibility".

The reporter asks why the media should believe his claims, using an example of the Israeli government once blaming Palestinian militants for the death of a journalist. He says it's now known this isn't true.

Responding, Hagari admits Israel has, in the past, been "fast to go to conclusions".

But he says after the hospital blast, officials "took their time" because they wanted to "double check" they had all the facts right.

"We wanted to ensure we were credible, as opposed to the other events you mention," he tells the reporter.

"Unlike Hamas," Hagari tells reporters, "the IDF launched an immediate examination" of the attack.

Explaining how the Israeli military has concluded it was an Islamic Jihad rocket, he gives the following reasons:

1. Confirmation there was no IDF fire from "land, sea or air that hit the hospital"
2. Israel's "radar system" tracked rockets fired from within Gaza - he says there are two independent videos that show the failure of the rocket launch
3. There is intelligence, which shows communication between militant groups about failed rocket launches - he goes on to translate some of that apparent communication.

Hagari repeats the Israeli claim that 450 rockets from Gaza have misfired and landed in Gaza since the latest cycle of violence began.

The BBC has not been able to verify Hagari's claims. Our team is looking at the incident to try to work out what happened, using weapons experts.

Image source, IDF

Hagari now goes into more detail, holding pictures of the blast site.

He says if the IDF was responsible for the blast there would have been a "crater" or some "structural damage".

Showing a diagram of the hospital, he says there is no such damage - "the walls stay intact".

He says this is because the blast was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket, which "failed to launch" properly and was "misfired".

As a reminder, Hamas and Palestinian authorities have blamed Israel for the blast at the hospital.

Hagari continues, saying Hamas understood the blast was caused by a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket, but launched a "global media campaign" to blame Israel.

"They went as far as inflating the numbers of casualties," he says. "They understood with absolute certainty that it was a rocket misfired by Islamic Jihad that damaged the hospital."

He says aerial footage confirms there was no direct hit to the hospital itself and there was no damage to nearby buildings.

He said the only location damaged is the parking lot outside the hospital.

After some technical difficulties with his microphone, the IDF's Hagari is now speaking.

He says the Israeli military has concluded the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group was responsible for the Al Ahli hospital blast.

"We did an immediate review with all relevant branches of the IDF," he tells reporters.

He says a barrage of rockets were fired by Hamas to Israel at 18:15 local time on Tuesday - before the hospital blast.

Then, at 18:59, he says a barage of around 10 rockets was fired by PiJ from a nearby cemetery. At the same time, there were reports of an explosion at the hospital in Gaza City, he says.

We're expecting to hear from Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in the next few minutes.

It's thought he'll be addressing the blast at Gaza's Al Ahli hospital last night.

We're listening in and will bring you the key information.

You can also watch by pressing play at the top of the page.

Hundreds of Palestinians are feared dead after a blast ripped through a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday night.

Hamas blamed an Israeli air strike. Israel says the blast was caused by rockets misfired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.

Here are the latest images from outside the Al Ahli hospital, where emergency services are picking through the rubble.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Following the blast at Gaza's Al Ahli hospital, a meeting between Joe Biden and Arab leaders - including Palestine's Mahmoud Abbas - was cancelled.

Biden had been due to head to Jordan after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; there he would've met King Abdullah of Jordan, President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt and Abbas.

Late last night, though, Jordan's foreign minister said the meeting could only be held when the parties could agree to end the "war and the massacres against Palestinians", blaming Israel for the hospital blast.

The Israeli military says the blast was caused by a rocket belonging to another group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second biggest militant group in the Gaza Strip.

In a tweet, Biden said he was "outraged and deeply saddened" by the blast - and directed his national security team to "continue gathering information about what exactly happened".

Biden's visit to Israel has got a lot more difficultpublished at 07:21 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

07:21 BST 18 October 2023

Jeremy Bowen
International editor, in Jerusalem

Joe Biden’s personal intervention was always a gamble. The destruction of Al Ahli hospital makes it even more difficult.

He wants simultaneously to protect and support Israel, and alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe among Gaza’s civilians.

Israel insists the hospital was destroyed by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a faction that is smaller than Hamas and closer to Iran. The Israeli military says the projectile malfunctioned and fell short of its target in Israel.

Millions of Palestinians and others in the Middle East will not believe that. Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are among the countries condemning Israel.

The question now is whether anger caused by the attack increases the chances of a wider war.

Image source, Facebook

Videos have emerged from the 7 October attacks by Hamas on civilians in southern Israel, showing some of those targeted being held in their homes and live-streamed by the attackers themselves.

More than a week on from the attacks, relatives of the victims desperate for information are using these videos to try to piece together what happened to them, and some have expressed frustration with the Israeli authorities' lack of progress in finding their loved ones.

One of those is Nir Darwish, a UK-based relative of a family of five who disappeared from the Nahal Oz kibbutz.

The family - Noam Elyakim, his partner Dikla Arava, her 17-year-old son Tomer, and Noam's two daughters Daphna, 15, and Ella, 8 - are seen apparently being held in their home by the attackers. The girls, who live with their mother, were thought to be visiting their father to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the kibbutz.

But on Monday this week, the extended family got news from the authorities that Dikla and Tomer had been killed and that their bodies had been found outside the kibbutz.

Read in full here.

As we've been reporting, Israel is denying responsibility for a blast at a Gazan hospital last night which hundreds are feared to have been killed in.

But this morning its air force said it has attacked dozens of other "military targets throughout the Gaza Strip" - in the process "eliminating" two more members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In a tweet it names the two men as Muhammad Alwadia, calling him the commander of the anti-tank system of Hamas's Gaza City Brigade, and Akram Hijaz, a dealer in weapons and "terrorist funds".

Describing some of the places its fighter jets have hit, the air force says in the last day it has "attacked", among other places, "operational headquarters", "rocket and anti-tank launching positions" and so-called "terrorist infrastructures".

Image source, EPA

Omens for Biden's visit could not be worsepublished at 06:26 British Summer Time 18 October 2023

06:26 BST 18 October 2023

Paul Adams
in Jerusalem

Joe Biden is due to arrive in Israel in the coming hours. The omens for his visit could not be worse. Israel and the Palestinians are locked in claim and counter claim about what happened last night at the Ahli hospital in Gaza.

It’s thought that as many as 500 people were killed – patients and people sheltering in the grounds, thinking the hospital was safe.

The Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas - based in the West Bank, not Gaza - has blamed Israel, calling it an unforgivable crime. He’s declared three days of mourning.

Israeli officials insist the carnage was caused by a Palestinian rocket which misfired. They’re promising to provide evidence to back up their claim. All around the region, furious protestors have taken to the streets.

In the West Bank, Palestinians clashed with their own security forces, throwing stones and chanting against Abbas, who many blame for not being able to protect them. But there were protests too in Lebanon, Jordan, Libya and Iran.

Speaking in Beijing, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, to ease what he called the "epic suffering" we are witnessing.

Image source, EPA

Israel has reiterated a warning to people still in Gaza City to move south.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) says there is a "humanitarian zone" with aid available in Al-Mawasi, 28km (17mi) down the coast of the Palestinian enclave.

The IDF called on Gaza City residents "to evacuate south for their protection", in a post on social media.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have left northern Gaza as Israel readies for an expected ground offensive against Hamas.

Read more: 'We are not leaving' - The families who won't evacuate Gaza City

It's nearing 08:00 in Israel and Gaza now, and we've been covering the aftermath of a blast at a Gaza hospital where hundreds of people were sheltering and getting treated for their injuries.

If you are just joining us, here's the latest:

• Hundreds of people are feared dead after a blast rocked Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City. Hamas said the Israeli military was responsible for the strike. Israel in turn has blamed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an armed group based in Gaza
• Protests have broken out across the occupied West Bank and major cities around the world, and many world leaders have condemned the blast, with several calling for a ceasefire
• US President Joe Biden is expected to land in Israel in just a few hours, but a planned summit in Jordan with Arab leaders has been cancelled following the hospital bombing. Biden will have to balance his support for Israel and concerns about the humanitarian cost of the fighting during his extraordinary warzone visit
• As a humanitarian crisis continues to deepen in Gaza, the US has said it is "getting close to a framework for aid to get into Gaza from Egypt". The Rafah crossing on Gaza's border with Egypt - the only entrance into Gaza not controlled by Israel - remains closed
• Reuters is reporting that the UN Security Council will vote on Wednesday on a Brazilian-drafted resolution calling for "humanitarian pauses" in the conflict to allow aid access into the Gaza Strip

Image source, Reuters

Footage from Gaza City shows chaotic scenes outside the Al Ahli hospital as emergency workers attended to casualties and took them to a nearby hospital.

Hamas says an Israeli air strike hit the hospital. Israel says the blast was caused by rockets misfired by another group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and both sides deny blame.

The BBC is working to verify what happened.

The situation at the Al Ahli hospital has been described as "unparalleled and indescribable", by the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.

"Doctors are performing surgeries on the ground and in the corridors, and some of them were without anesthesia," said the ministry's spokesman Dr Ashraf Al-Qudra said in a statement posted on Facebook , externalearly on Wednesday.

"A lot of people are still waiting for operations, and the medical teams are trying to save their lives in intensive care."

He added that many of the victims were children and women who have "lost their features", adding that many of the injuries sustained are "beyond the capabilities of our medical teams".

Image source, Reuters